Want ‘a very good deal’ on a used car? This Boise auto auction sells repossessed vehicles

Steve Hale hopped into the cab of a gray 2007 Range Rover and started the engine. The car, one of more than 80 vehicles parked outside a Meridian warehouse, slowly rumbled to life in Saturday’s 90-degree heat.

Within a few hours, it would be auctioned off — sold to the highest bidder.

As Hale sat in the front seat, his daughter, Brooklyn, opened one of the passenger doors and peered inside. She turned 15 in April, and the pair were looking to buy her a starter car for around $2,500.

“We’ll definitely be making some bids,” said Steve Hale, of Middleton. “She just got her license. She wants to get a car and pay us back.”

Surrounding the Range Rover, packed inside a paved lot like sardines, sat various trucks, sedans, SUVs and even a couple of classics, including a blue 1987 Chevrolet Corvette and a red 1992 convertible Jaguar, as well as a few motorcycles, boats and RVs. The sun glinted off the cars’ windshields as prospective buyers moved about them, inspecting under the hoods and checking out the interiors.

All of the vehicles come from around southern Idaho.

Bidders are allowed — in fact, encouraged — to examine the cars and start them up before the auction begins, but they’re not allowed to take them for a test drive. Every sale is final.

Ken Heninger and his son, Mike Heninger, perused each line of vehicles, searching thoroughly for the next additions to their shop in Ontario, Oregon. The father-son duo scoop up used cars at auctions and sell them for a profit. Their business, named A2B LLC, because its vehicles get you from point A to point B, sells around 150 used cars a year.

“We don’t come with a preset amount to buy or sell,” Ken Heninger said. “I’m here looking for bargains. We’re licensed to do that.”

Next to the lot, inside the warehouse, is a world of fast-paced transactions. It’s Musick Auction’s first live auto sale since the pandemic began, and the attendees are keen to get a good deal.

Cars are driven through while an auctioneer stands behind a podium and rattles off prices into a corded microphone. Bidders sit on fold-up chairs in the crowd, watching, checking their notes and waiting for the right time to raise their hands. Each vehicle takes about 2 minutes to sell. The weekend auction is scheduled to occur once a month at 1346 N. Hickory Ave.

“This is how we used to do it before COVID-19,” Ken Heninger told the Idaho Statesman. “You bid on the cars as they go through. And it goes really fast.”

He’s sure to avoid certain makes and models, including anything manufactured in Germany, like BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi. Not because they’re bad cars, but because they’re expensive to fix, he said. Anything else is fair game.

Repossessions going up

Josh Sharp, the owner of Musick Auction, said most of the vehicles at Saturday’s sale are repossessed, which happens when a borrower falls behind on loan payments, giving the lender the right to seize the vehicle.

Banks, credit unions, wholesalers and dealers work with Sharp to get their cars into the auction. In the last year, repossessions have skyrocketed, according to Ryan Hawkes, who appraises vehicles for Capital Auto Loan in Meridian.

Hawkes calls himself a remarketer. He determines the current market value for the cars and has them cleaned them up to be resold.

“There’s a big problem with car loans right now,” Hawkes said, a veteran of the auto industry. “Even people with really good credit scores are defaulting on their payments. We started to see it creep up after last summer.”

Some of the cars he’s appraised were repossessed from people who were living in them. One truck had been a temporary home for a mother and her daughter. An infant car seat was squeezed in the backseat among a slew of other belongings and a garbage bag full of Huggies diapers.

“This is the sad part of the business,” he said.

But not all the cars are repossessed. Hawkes also helps individuals sell their cars by representing them at the auction. Sometimes a person will get a new car and need to get rid of on old one. Sometimes a person dies and a family member brings the vehicle in. It’s a quick and simple way to offload a car, while still getting a decent return.

Green stickers secured under the windshield wipers of some cars displayed Capital Auto Loan’s logo and its offer to finance up to 100% of a buyer’s bid price.

“(The auction) has a broad reach,” he said. “A lot of people have been taken advantage of at a dealership, so they don’t feel comfortable going that route. Here, you’ve kind of peeled that back.”

‘The buyer sets the price’

Thom Brown, of Flagship Motors, a used car dealer in Nampa, was one of the bidders.

He paid close attention to the auctioneer as people milled in and out of the warehouse. He told the Statesman he planned to bid on three cars during the hours-long auction that drew about 50-75 people from around the Treasure Valley. He also said he would pay cash.

Roughly an hour into the auction, Brown bid on, and purchased, a red 2015 Subaru WRX, a compact sports car, for $4,600. He wasn’t the only bidder interested. As the price went up and up, the auctioneer tried to bring him to $5,000, then $4,900. He shook his head.

“These guys are very slick,” Brown later said. “They’re trying to get a certain amount of money for the car. It’s their job.”

In addition to the live auction, Musick Auction conducts weekly online auctions year-round. It’s the largest online auction company in the state. Sharp said the cars sometimes sell for more than retail value, but usually, they’re sold for a reasonable amount.

It all depends on who’s bidding and how badly they want the car. The buyer sets the price, he said.

“We’re trying hard to have cars that are just a step above average,” Sharp said. “We want them to be really clean and run well. Often, they’re a very good deal.”

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