Kevin's Unfiltered Archive
Management. Sobriety. Family. Automotive. Food.
Whatever's on my mind and worth putting down.
The Golden Mile of Golden Rules
By the time I opened my own lot, I had learned enough from my father to know my edge.
Prep That Pays
Prep is not about doing more. It is about doing the right things in the right order for the vehicle you have and the time you have to work with. The sellers who make the most …
The B.A.C.O.N.
Knowing where to find a good car is one skill. Knowing how to walk in the door and buy it for less than it is worth is another. I have watched buyers with cash in their pocket…
Pricing It Right
The Eldorado took three days of calling and one Sunday morning to buy. The acquisition was a win. What happened next was a $14,500 education.
Titles, Branding and Paperwork
The car is not the product. The title is the product. A vehicle without a clean, transferable title is a pile of metal you cannot legally sell. Buyers know this. Platforms kno…
Marketing Your Listings
The first auction software I built had a problem I did not expect.
Compliance and Business Self-Defense
I started my first automotive business without a plan or a license. I was buying cars off the street, scrubbing them down, and parking them in front of my house. I put "For Sa…
Choosing Your Platform
We needed four cars for the lot in Buffalo and we needed them fast. I had heard Dansville Auto Auction was running strong inventory that week, so I called in a favor from a pi…
Physical Auctions
The first car my family ever sold at auction crossed the block at the Buffalo Auto Auction, down by the railway tracks on Broadway. My father had spent three 12-hour days on t…
Online Platforms
The Dansville trip was about reach. We needed cars and the inventory we wanted was not sitting in Buffalo that week. We went where the cars were because we had no choice.
Autura
Thirteen years ago I helped co-found Auction Simplified. We built it around what we knew; car dealers. Dealers needed a better way to run auctions. We built the tools they nee…
Dealer-Only Auctions
I had a dealer license on Bailey Avenue. What I didn’t have was any business buying in a Dealer-Only Auction.