I guess we’re going to have to keep posting these until you guys learn: The auto market isn’t the same place it was a year or two ago. You flippers out here trying to make a pretty penny off a hot model will come out disappointed. We have another example of the failure of greed here today. An attempted flip for an Acura Integra Type S that failed in spectacular fashion.
The Integra Type S hasn’t even been out six months. They’re at dealers now, but that didn’t stop one buyer from wanting to line their pockets with money instead of enjoying their $50,000 sport compact. The auction started on Cars & Bids on August 25. With just 500 miles on it, it’s essentially brand new. While the timing of everything would strongly suggest that this is a flip, the seller stated down in the comments that he was selling it because “some family issues came up” though he didn’t elaborate further.
Bidding was…strange. Despite being an auction with 26,000 views, it received just two bids. The first was a comically low bid of $2,024. The second was a bid for $49,500, below whatever reserve the buyer set and $3,495 below the Integra Type S’ sticker price. That’s were bidding stayed until the auction ended, resulting in the failure of the auction and the Type S not selling.
The comment section was a mess of course. Some were pointing out the stupidity of trying to sell this thing on an auction site when many dealers are coming to their senses and selling them at MSRP. Others pointed out errors or factual statements that they think may have contributed to the auction receiving just two bids, like the mileage actually being 490 rather than 500, and the listing saying that there was one key when there’s actually two
Ultimately though this Integra Type S failing to sell is a prime example of the cooling of the market. This isn’t a low production homologation special, it’s a performance version of a mass produced car. Even dealers are starting to feel the cool as one commenter remarked about a dealer contacting him about buying one. “Tough sell as the market near me has stabilized on these cars. Local dealer had been pushing $5K markup a couple weeks ago and called me today (last day of the month) to see if I was still interested at MSRP.”
So if you’re seeing this and thinking about flipping some car that just came out, don’t. I’ve said it before, it’s just going to make for entertainment for the rest of us. Get out, drive the car and enjoy it. You’ll be much better off.