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Réponse de Online Car Auctions

27 janv. 2022

Dear Double J,

Thanks for leaving your feedback and we would be happy to address your points and hopefully make your next car buying experience from a dealer-only auction better. Please note that we are not owned by Copart and are a separate entity from them.

As you may know, Auto Auction Mall provides the general public with access to dealer-only car auctions. This gives our clients the ability to buy a car from auctions where dealers buy their cars for a price below retail (or what they would have paid if you bought the car from a dealer’s lot instead of the auction). Many of the auctions at Copart are not available to the general public (i.e. non-dealers) unless they have a dealer’s license and fully established account with Copart.

At Auto Auction Mall customer service and experience is the most important part of our business. We want to insure that all of our clients receive the best car buying experience during their journey with us. To that end, we take care to clearly explain the entire car purchase process from these types of dealer-only auctions, what types of vehicles the client can expect to receive, how to ship the vehicle and other related information. We also encourage our clients to have the vehicle inspected prior to using the buy now option or attending the live auction.

To that end, we are happy to work with you through this process and assist you in any way we can. If you have an inspection company that you wish to use prior to purchasing a car, you are welcome to use them and we will help you work out the logistics of that. While we are not aware of your past experiences with Copart, should you wish to try our platform to purchase your next vehicle we would be delighted to help you in any way we can.

Best wishes,

Auto Auction Mall

Réponse de Online Car Auctions

16 sept. 2021

Dear Brian – thank you for taking the time to leave us your thoughts. We are very sorry to hear that you had this negative experience with Charlie. We strive to provide a top-notch customer experience for all of our clients.

We will have a word with Charlie and continue to train him to ensure the above gold standard is met for all of our clients. Furthermore, we will ensure that we respond to your (and other clients’) calls and emails in a timely fashion. Please forgive us if we did not respond to you fast enough.

We hope that you can give us another chance in the future.

All the best,

Auto Auction Mall team.

Réponse de Online Car Auctions

4 juin 2021

Dear Jacob,

Thank you for your review and we are sorry that you did not have an ideal experience when trying to purchase your vehicle. We would like to explain our process so that you can understand why we always call the customer before we execute the Buy Now on their behalf.

In the past, when a client hit Buy Now on our site, we would execute the purchase right away without ever having to speak with the client and going over the vehicle with them. However, in the last few years, we have had issues with this process which resulted in changes to our policy. Namely, we would call the client before exercising any Buy Now purchase. The main reason for this policy change is due to many of our clients not being aware of possible issues with the car before purchase (e.g. title pending, registration, damage, condition, etc…).

In many instances, our clients do not review the entire vehicle listing page which discusses what type of title they are getting to the car, the possible damage on the vehicle, mileage disclaimers, etc… Since this is a dealer auction, there are no warranties on the cars, no refunds on purchased vehicles. Once the Buy Now is executed with the Auction Clearing House, the car must be paid for. If it is not paid, the client will lose their deposit in order to cover the re-list fee charged by the Auction Clearing House for such unpaid vehicle.

To avoid this situation we added a failsafe by which one of our auction specialists calls the customer, goes over the vehicle being purchased (based on the information we received from the Auction Clearing House and listed on our site), explains the purchase and payment process and answers any questions the customer may have. Once that is done and the customer confirms that s/he wants to go ahead with the purchase, we immediately execute the Buy Now. Our customer’s have told us that this new process has made their buying experience much better.

In your case, as you mentioned, you executed the Buy Now on the vehicle late in the evening. Our auction specialist called you at 7:30am ET the next morning and a few more times after that to go over the vehicle before completing the purchase. We tried to call you as soon as possible in the morning so as to avoid having the Buy Now disappear at 9am ET (i.e. one hour before the auctions at that location start). It is true that the Auction Clearing House removes the Buy Now option from all cars one hour before the auction begins for that location (not the car specifically, but the location where the car is located). Once that happens, we can still bid on the car (up to your Buy Now amount) as long as you approve this.

Sometimes there could be up to 1,000 cars that are going to be auctioned at a given auction location and it could be that the vehicle you are interested in will not go on the auction block for an hour or two. The auction house auctions each vehicle one by one rather than at the same time, so we have to wait until your car is on the line before we can bid. That is why Peter mentioned to you that we would call you back when your car was brought to the line.

Ultimately, you were not in agreement with our process and asked for a refund of your deposit, which we did right away (and you kindly mention that above in your review).

We are sorry that this process is not ideal for you and we would love to get feedback from you how we can make it better. We have found, however, that many of our other client’s favor this process as it ensures that they know as much as possible about the car before their Buy Now becomes final since they cannot get a refund of the money spent (and can lose their deposit) and there are no warranties on the vehicle purchased.

We hope that you would reconsider using our site for your next vehicle purchase and we would be happy to work with you again if you so decide.

Best regards,

The Auto Auction Mall team

Réponse de Online Car Auctions

2 mars 2021

Dear Mr. Uganda,

Thank you for your comment Mr. Uganda and we are very sorry to hear that you had a negative experience with Auto Auction Mall. Our clients’ satisfaction is always our top priority, this is why we want to address your concerns.

As you know, we provide the public with access to dealer-only (wholesale) car auctions which they would not otherwise be able to attend as they do not have a dealer’s licenses. This is clearly explained before beginning any process with our clients. Furthermore, we inform each and every client that the vehicles listed on our site are coming directly from the Auction Clearing House and that we do not independently inspect any of these vehicles before or after purchase. Therefore, we cannot provide any warranty or guarantee regarding the condition of the vehicle and all cars listed on our site are sold in an “As-is, Where-is” condition.

The above information was communicated to you prior to you request to purchase any vehicle and when you purchased this specific vehicle. Our site clearly states that the cars are sold “as-is, where-is” and your invoice had the same information.

The information regarding the vehicles listed on our site is provided to us by the Auction Clearing Houses and since we list over 100,000 vehicles we do not (and cannot) independently inspect each vehicle. In your specific case, the Auction Clearing House listed the car as “Run & Drive” and we set out on our site the explanation that the Auction Clearing House uses to describe “Run & Drive” vehicles. Effectively, this means that when the car is brought to the Auction Clearing House they turn on the car, put it into gear and move it forward a foot or so. They do not do any further (or more) rigorous testing on the car and, as a result, the Auction Clearing House does not provide any guarantees or warranty that the vehicle will be run and drive. Since Auto Auction Mall is a separate entity and provides its clients the information provided to it by the Auction Clearing House, we also cannot give any guarantees or warranty. The cars sold by the Auction Clearing House are sold for wholesale prices (i.e. below retail) because, in some instances, additional work may be required on the car.

As mentioned, through dealer-only auctions such as the one you bought your car from, the vehicles are sold as-is, where-is and the buyer must decide if they wish to pay a third-party inspector to inspect the vehicle before making the purchase and/or bidding at the auction (this is stated in our FAQ section). Furthermore, in the email authorization that you sent us to execute the Buy Now on this vehicle, it clearly stated that the vehicle was not inspected by us and was being sold as-is, where-is and that we make no representation, warranty or guarantee regarding the car. Having all this information, you authorized us to complete this purchase on your behalf by responding to this email and, unfortunately, we cannot reverse that sale now.

Please let us know if there is any way we can be of further assistance.

Kind Regard,

The Auto Auction Mall team

Réponse de Online Car Auctions

28 déc. 2020

Dear Ben C.,

We are very sad to hear that you had a negative experience with your vehicle purchase, and we would like to address your comments.

As you know, Auto Auction Mall provides the general public with access to dealer-only auctions. This gives our clients the ability to buy a car from auctions where dealers buy their cars for a price below retail (or what you would have paid if you bought the car from a dealer’s lot instead of the auction). Without our service, clients would not otherwise have the ability to buy from these wholesale, dealer-only, auctions because they would need a car-dealer’s license to attend these auctions.

As we explained to you during this process, since we are a broker we do not inspect the vehicles that are listed on our site as we do not have possession of the cars so we do not know the condition of the vehicle. All information and pictures on our site are taken directly from the Auction Clearing House that is auctioning the vehicle.

We advise our clients that if they have any concerns with the vehicle's condition they should hire a third-party inspection company to inspect the vehicle prior to attending the auction and purchasing the vehicle. Our FAQs point out that it is the responsibility of the client to independently inspect the vehicle as we do not have access to these cars. In addition, you were provided with the full VIN number for each vehicle you were interested in (listed on our site) and had the ability to run an accident history report before bidding on and buying the vehicle.

When you purchased your 2018 Toyota Tacoma you were informed that the vehicle had a Pennsylvania Reconstructed title. This information was clearly stated on the vehicle’s description and also on the invoice that you received and paid. Additionally, you personally picked up the vehicle from the Auction Clearing House, but didn’t mention anything about the condition of the car. The only issue, which we addressed, was the correction required regarding the mileage on the title provided by the Auction Clearing House. We contacted the previous owner through the Auction Clearing House and provided you with a Notarized Correct Odometer Mileage statement on August 31, 2020.

At Auto Auction Mall we want each and every customer to have a good and satisfying customer service experience. We do everything in our power to ensure this and have many happy and satisfied clients.

If you have any further questions, you are always welcome to contact us.

The Auto Auction Mall Team

Réponse de Online Car Auctions

Actualisé le 16 août 2021

Thank you for your comment Mr. Hampson and we are sorry to hear that you had a negative experience. We would like to address your comment as it is not totally accurate.

You purchased your vehicle on August 24, 2020 and picked it up on August 28, 2020. Dealers generally have 30-days to send the re-assignment of title following the date of pick-up of the vehicle. Due to COVID-19, that time has been increased to 45-days.

On September 11, 2020 we mailed you the re-assignment of title for this vehicle via USPS to the address you provided. You then contacted us on September 24, 2020 and told us that you did not receive it. Since this was sent by regular mail we could not track it. Instead, we offered to send you the re-assignment of title, at no additional cost, via UPS. The next day, September 25, 2020, we sent it by courier to you. We provided you with a tracking number and the re-assignment of title was delivered to you on September 29, 2020.

In all, your comment that we will not transfer the title to you is incorrect as we did try to send you the re-assignment originally on September 11, 2020. We were not aware that it was not delivered to you in time and when you contacted us stating that you did not receive the re-assignment of title, we sent out a replacement the next day via UPS with a tracking number.

We apologize for the inconvenience you experienced with the delivery of the documents. We will review our internal processes to ensure that clients get their re-assignment of title as soon as possible after they pick up the car.

UPDATE Aug 16, 2021 in Response to Mr. Phillip Hampson -

Dear Mr. Hampson,

We hope you are keeping well and safe.

Unfortunately, your follow up review update is inaccurate. As mentioned above, we overnighted the re-assignment of title to you as soon as we found out from you that you did not receive the first re-assignment we sent you. At no point did we ask you to remove the review prior to us sending you the re-assignment of title documentation. That is clearly shown as your negative review remained but you still received the re-assignment of title without delay.

In an effort for transparency, after we overnight couriered the re-assignment of title, we called you to see if you received everything. You informed us that you did. At that point we mentioned to you that if you had changed your mind about our services due to the re-assignment being lost in the mail through no fault of our own, we would appreciate an update to your review to reflect this. We made it clear it was totally up to you to amend/change your review if you felt you wanted to. We never made your review a condition of receiving the re-assignment of title.

We hope this clears up the matter and you are welcome to contact us if you have any further concerns.

Regards,

Auto Auction Mall

Réponse de Online Car Auctions

5 déc. 2019

Dear Brad,

Thank you for your review and we are happy to hear that you had a good customer service experience with our sales associates and auction specialists. We are, however, very sad to hear that the truck you purchased was not in the condition you had hoped and as good as the first car you bought from an auction clearing house with us earlier this year.

As you know, we provide the general public with access to dealer only auctions. This gives you the ability to buy a car from auctions where dealers buy their cars for a price below retail (or what you would have paid if you bought the car from a dealer’s lot instead of the auction).

When you spoke with our representative you were advised that we do not inspect the vehicles that are listed on our site as we do not have possession of the cars. We are a broker that give you access to these dealer-only auctions, but we cannot inspect the vehicles before they are sold. On our site we provided you with the information and pictures of the car that we received from the auction clearing house so that you could determine if you were satisfied purchasing that specific car. You also had the option to pay for a third party to inspect the vehicle before purchase.

We recall that the first car you purchased at a dealer-only auction through us you were happy with and got a great deal.

Regarding your point on the Run and Drive status, we explained to you (as we do to all of our clients) that this means that when the car got to the auction clearing house, they turned it on, moved it forward a foot or so and then turned it off. Neither the auction clearing house, nor us, make any representation, warranty or guarantee that the car will be run and drive when it is sold as they do not test the car for this status after that initial test. They do not take the car on any extensive road test to give it this status nor do they check the brakes or anything specific on the car. They simply turn it on and move it forward a foot or so. Therefore, there is a risk when buying a car from a dealer-only auction that it will need some repair work (which is not always the case). This is the same risk any dealer takes when buying a car from a dealer auction. That is why all cars sold through these auction clearing houses (and us) are on an as-is, where-is basis.

We would also like to refer you (and anyone reading this review) to a review left by another client of ours who understood the risks and rewards buying from dealer-only auctions and made a calculated decision. That review could be found here: https://www.trustpilot.com/reviews/5dd5de83c845450600660d9d.

Once again, we are sorry to hear that the vehicle you purchased had these issues. Please feel free to call or email us if you wish to discuss this further.

The Auto Auction Mall Team

Réponse de Online Car Auctions

21 nov. 2019

Dear Stephen,

Thank you very much for the kind words and we are very happy to hear that you had a great experience with Auto Auction Mall. Your comments are on point and we try to stress that to all clients since they are buying a car from dealer-only auctions.

Your point on "room for improvement" is well noted. Currently, we tell all clients that it could take up to 45 days to receive the title from the Auction Clearing House (per their policy on this), but we will be sure to add additional emphasis on this to all of our clients that purchase cars with title pending. In addition, for all clients that purchase a car with title pending, we follow up with the Auction Clearing House every couple of days to see if the title has arrived. Finally, for everyone's information, the Auction Clearing House does not pay the Seller of the car until s/he has delivered title to them.

We look forward to working with you in the future.

Best wishes,

Auto Auction Mall team.

Réponse de Online Car Auctions

10 sept. 2019

Dear Tarek,

We are very sad to hear that you had a negative experience with your vehicle purchase, however, you were well aware that you were buying a Salvage titled vehicle with front end and undercarriage damage.

As you know, we provide the general public with access to dealer only auctions. This gives you the ability to buy a car from auctions where dealers buy their cars for a price below retail (or what you would have paid if you bought the car from a dealer’s lot instead of the auction).

When you spoke with our representative you were advised that we do not inspect the vehicles that are listed on our site as we do not have possession of the cars. We are a broker and give you access to these dealer-only auctions (which you would not otherwise have access to), but we cannot inspect the vehicles before they are sold. On our site, we provided you with the information and pictures of the car we received from the auction clearing house so that you could determine if you were satisfied purchasing that specific car. You also had the option to pay for a third party to inspect the vehicle before purchase, but you did not have the vehicle inspected.

Prior to bidding on and buying the car, you were informed that that the car had a Salvage certificate of title and had front end and undercarriage damage (as was also advised in the car listing page). You knew about this and decided to purchase the car anyways. Finally, the purchase price that you paid for the car is exactly the price that was charged by the auction clearing house for that car. Based on the above, we did not hide the condition of the car nor the price that the car was sold for at the auction clearing house. Ultimately, you paid well below retail for this car knowing that the car had significant damage (as set out in the car listing on our site) and a Salvage certificate of title.

In all, you were aware of the type of vehicle you were buying and paid below retail value for the car because of the damage it had. You knew that we did not inspect the car and it was being sold “as-is, where-is” as clearly stated in various places on our site (and communicated to you by our representative). It is unfair now to call us “tricksters” and a “white collar scam” when you were well aware of the vehicle that you were buying and authorized us to purchase it on your behalf.

If you have any further questions, you are always welcome to contact us.

The Auto Auction Mall Team

Réponse de Online Car Auctions

21 août 2019

Dear Ali,

We are sorry to hear that you feel you had a negative experience, but we are not thieves and have never lied about our fees to you (or any other client) whether in our correspondence with you or on our site.

As you know, Auto Auction Mall provides the general public (such as yourself) with access to dealer-only car auctions without the need to have a car dealer’s license. In essence, we give you the ability to buy a car at a wholesale price and avoiding a dealer “middle-man” mark-up.

For this service we charge the following fees:

1) Auto Auction Mall fee of $249 for cars under $3,500 and $299 for cars above $3,500;

2) A Documentation Fee of $85 (to offset costs related to title and other issues) and a Bank Fee of $59 – Please note that effective August 1, 2019 these fees have been reduced as we have been able to streamline our process and wanted to pass the savings on to our clients, so now the Documentation Fee is $75 and there is no longer a Bank Fee; and

3) An Auction Clearing House fee which is the fee charged by the Auction Clearing House for the purchase of the car from their auction lot. This fee is based on the Auction Clearing House’s fee schedule and depends on the final purchase price of the car.

In this industry our fees are very competitive and on the lower end (if not lower) as compared to our competition.

Further, our fees are clearly stated on our site (https://www.autoauctionmall.com/company/fees), in the fee calculator found on each car listing page, and in our terms of use (section 6.6) which you agreed to when you registered on our site and purchased your car. We have been very transparent with you (and all of our clients) regarding the purchase process, our fees and how we operate.

In connection with the Auction Clearing House fee we generally charge on the basis of Schedule B (unsecured method of payment) which is clearly written in our Terms of Service (as referenced above). This was not a surprise to you as you had mentioned to us that you reviewed the Terms of Service in detail before purchasing the car and were, therefore, familiar with how the Auction Clearing House fee was going to be charged. Finally, the deposit that you placed with us in order to bid on and buy the car was by credit card, which is an unsecured method of payment.

In addition, when you had issues registering your car in your state, our title department spent time with you in order to help you register the car you purchased from us. Our staff was dedicated to your particular issues throughout the process and did everything we could to help you post-sale.

In all, we were transparent with you throughout our process and our interaction with you so it is incorrect to call us thieves or state that we lied to you about the fees. We are happy to continue to discuss this issue with you if you have any further questions. Please feel free to reach out to us at any time.

The Auto Auction Mall Team

Réponse de Online Car Auctions

2 août 2019

Hi Andrew,

Thank you for your comments and we are very sorry to hear about your experience. We checked our records and Richard worked with you to schedule an auction for a car that you were interested in. Unfortunately, through an error on our internal system (which has since been fixed), your auction schedule notification did not get to our auction specialist and, therefore, we did not call you back to attend the auction. This was our error and we are truly sorry for this. Please rest assured that this glitch has been fixed

With regards to your deposit, we received an email from you today (August 2, 2019) at 4:06 pm requesting a refund and at 4:26pm (i.e. within 20 minutes) on the same day we issued you a refund. It usually takes 5 - 10 days for the refund to reflect back on your credit card (depending on your financial institution).

While we are truly sorry for internal issue that resulted in us not calling you to attend the auction, we do not believe that there was any hassle whatsoever with refunding your deposit. You requested a refund and your refund was processed within 20 minutes of your request.

We would very much like to win back your business and if there is anything we can do to help you with your car buying needs please feel free to get in touch with us. We will ensure that there are no similar issues with your next customer journey with us.

The Auto Auction Mall Team