Bidding

This is the fun part! Each vehicle will be driven through the building. The auctioneer will announce the lot number and describe the vehicle, announcing everything we know about it, whether good or bad. Then the bidding starts.

This process goes very quickly and can be confusing the first time. Read the following description and watch as a few vehicles are sold to get a feel for how it works.

The auctioneer will suggest a starting price: "Who'll give me one thousand dollars to start?" If nobody wants to start at that price, the auctioneer will lower the amount until someone bids. To bid, simply raise your hand and display your bidder number. A "bid catcher" will point to you and shout, "YES, sir!" The auctioneer will start asking for higher bids: "I have eight hundred dollars, do I hear nine hundred?" If someone wants to bid $900, he will raise his bidder number, the bid catcher will point to him and shout, "YES, sir!" If you raise the bid, the bid catcher will point to you and the other person will be out. The process continues until nobody wants to bid any higher: "I have nineteen hundred dollars, who'll give me nineteen-fifty? Going once, twice, third and final call: SOLD! For nineteen hundred dollars to bidder number 268." A clerk will write down the winning amount and the buyer number. If yours is the winning bid, the vehicle is now YOURS! At this point, please go to the office immediately to make a deposit.