What Happens to New Cars that Never Get Sold ?

I went to an auction in Pierce Nebraska about 5 years ago. The ownership of a Chevrolet dealership died and he had a lot of brand new old cars on his car lot. Most of the cars sat outside in the elements. They had several Corvairs, a C3 Corvette indy 500 pace car, some new Chevelle's and Impalas. He had about 200 other cars and trucks that were complete. Many of the cars had under 100 miles but hadn't been run for many years. Many of the brand new cars were out of the 60's. It was a very interesting auction and many NOS GM parts were sold as well.
 
at the dealership I worked at, many years ago, the oldest cars would get spiffed...and the older they were the bigger the spiff you got for selling it. We never had a problem with over age cars.
 
The same at the dealership I worked at many years ago too. New tires and a vinyl roof sold OLD cars.
The thread was about new (soon-to-be-leftover) cars.

Back then I asked a salesman which car was going to be sold first and he said, "The cheapest car on the lot. Give me a lot full of $500 clunkers".
 
The same at the dealership I worked at many years ago too. New tires and a vinyl roof sold OLD cars.
The thread was about new (soon-to-be-leftover) cars.

Back then I asked a salesman which car was going to be sold first and he said, "The cheapest car on the lot. Give me a lot full of $500 clunkers".
yep, I was referring to new cars being spiffed. We kept a list of the oldest new cars on the lot..once they hit a certain age they got a spiff. Fastest way to sell a car on a lot? Add a spiff to it. The spiff could have been on a new Buick Park Avenue...and we'd walk everybody by that car, whether they were looking for a new/used car or a truck! Amazing how many people would buy something that was a 'deal'..even if it wasn't what they were originally looking for.
 
We got our 2014 odyssey in 2015 for a great deal because it had been sitting in a display.

I think my 2004 Saab 9-3 was similar. It was a lower model with MT, sat for a while (I want to say it was a 7/03 build date), so I got a great deal.
 
I purchased a new 2000 Taurus in 2001 for a good price and the manager sent two salesmen over to me to try sell a Scotch Guard package to me as I was about to drive away. I had paid cash. I practically had to run over their shoes to leave. I guess they didn’t make a profit on it.
 
I went to an auction in Pierce Nebraska about 5 years ago. The ownership of a Chevrolet dealership died and he had a lot of brand new old cars on his car lot. Most of the cars sat outside in the elements. They had several Corvairs, a C3 Corvette indy 500 pace car, some new Chevelle's and Impalas. He had about 200 other cars and trucks that were complete. Many of the cars had under 100 miles but hadn't been run for many years. Many of the brand new cars were out of the 60's. It was a very interesting auction and many NOS GM parts were sold as well.
The owner dies and the next day boom, the doors are shut? Didn’t try to sell it? Even if the business wasn’t going to operate for long no one tried to at least sell the inventory? I've seen a few times with medium to large-sized restaurants where the owner was not the chef and there are $44 filet mignon on the menu and I always wondered how many tens of thousands of dollars of food is just thrown out. If I owned a business with significant inventory you can bet my instructions to my wife would be to keep the business open until the current inventory is sold.
 
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Old man story…
In the 70s there were new cars that were donated to tech schools and high schools for automotive classes. At our high school we had a donated Olds Omega 4 door, 6 cyl, 3 on the tree, and it was an ugly color that nobody would want. The auto body class eventually painted it but it wasn’t pretty.
 
The owner dies and the next day boom, the doors are shut? Didn’t try to sell it? Even if the business wasn’t going to operate for long no one tried to at least sell the inventory? I've seen a few times with medium to large-sized restaurants where the owner was not the chef and there are $44 filet mignon on the menu and I always wondered how many tens of thousands of dollars of food is just thrown out. If I owned a business with significant inventory you can bet my instructions to my wife would be to keep the business open until the current inventory is sold.
I have heard "specials" at restaurants, are often foods that are near expiration date- so putting it on special moves the older food. Guess car sales and have restaurant specials have some things in common.......
 
Old man story…
In the 70s there were new cars that were donated to tech schools and high schools for automotive classes. At our high school we had a donated Olds Omega 4 door, 6 cyl, 3 on the tree, and it was an ugly color that nobody would want. The auto body class eventually painted it but it wasn’t pretty.
Saturn did this with defective cars-- the engine blocks weren't cast correctly. Saturn held onto the titles but said have fun with them. Some turned into "cutaway cars", showing off their uniqueness.

Saturn didn't want the blemish to their rep. I think a lot of donated cars are under similar circumstances.
 
I have heard "specials" at restaurants, are often foods that are near expiration date- so putting it on special moves the older food. Guess car sales and have restaurant specials have some things in common.......
Yep, I never order the special at any restaurant.

I worked at a GM dealer as a kid part time, first in high school then a couple summers in college, did all kinds of odds and ends. My title was "gofor" but it was whatever no one else wanted to do. New cars never aged long. If they sat on the lot more than a month longer than average they got cleaned, maybe pinstriped or some other trinkets, and parked in front with a sale sign on them. After that they seldom lasted long, irrelevant what awful color they were.

In the very rare case where they still didn't sell - they were traded to another dealer in a different town. Sometimes we took their crap, and sometimes they took ours. What might not sell there might leave right away here sort of thing. I am sure there were plenty of backroom deals, and with most dealers now being owned by a conglomerate it would be easy to move cars around.
 
The owner dies and the next day boom, the doors are shut? Didn’t try to sell it? Even if the business wasn’t going to operate for long no one tried to at least sell the inventory? I've seen a few times with medium to large-sized restaurants where the owner was not the chef and there are $44 filet mignon on the menu and I always wondered how many tens of thousands of dollars of food is just thrown out. If I owned a business with significant inventory you can bet my instructions to my wife would be to keep the business open until the current inventory is sold.
Actually the guy kept the cars for many years while he was still alive. For some odd reason he kept the old (brand new cars) and sold newer cars even though the old ones remained unsold. Google Lambrecht auto auction for more information. There are many pictures and detail regarding the auction. I guess he would saw boards etc on the hood of the brand new Corvette pace car. Even the Corvairs brought very high prices due to the history and car museum interest. Why restore a brand new car when it has such an amazing story behind it! The owner was very successful even though his business practices were probably questioned by many people.
 
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