Disaster at Mecum

Major damage from an out of control Hemi Willys:

Crash At Mecum Takes Out Corvettes and Pontiac Trans Am

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That is a mess!

I hope he had insurance or a plane ticket out of the country

The worst-hit rides were already sold—talk about buyer’s remorse.

I wonder how that works. Sold but were they paid for? Not sure how the auction part works. I’m sure you need some type of evidence you have the ability to pay before they allow you to bid/buy. Even so if I haven’t yet taken possession of it and it’s in their care, wouldn’t their insurance be responsible? Glad I don’t need to know how that all works…what a shame…

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Who was driving the Willys? If it was a Mecum employee, I’m sure that Mecum’s insurance will pay for the damage.

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They pay local car club members to move the cars, will be interested to read what the contract between the seller and Mecum is.

Bidders have to provide some financial information, preferably a bank letter of credit with lets say a $100,000 ,limit

Sounds like the insurance companies are involved according to what the willys owner is saying publicly.

Mecum went through this and worse when their tent was blown down a few years a3. This time it wa in a event center parking garage


I don’t think that Mecum can absolve themselves of responsibility if a contract employee caused an accident. The employee, their company, and Mecum would be responsible for all expenses to make the Corvette owner whole. It might cost Mecum the least to refund the new owner all fees associated with the purchase. They might want to give them a discount of some sort on future purchase.

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How would that work? All I can see Mecum is waving their fees and pass that along to the buyer

Mecum waiving their fees would be a significant discount. Roughly 10% if I remember correctly.

Who pays the fees?

Mecum eats them. They occasionally will reduce or eliminate fees to make a deal. This is occasionally shown in televised events.

Also, they could offer reduced fees in advance of another purchase. They can’t control the auction price or how much the sell gets, but they can control their fees. Offering a percentage discount on fees in advance would be good will to induce the aggrieved buyer to come back and buy another car.

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There is a sellers fee and a buyers fee.

The worse part of this is no matter how the insurance works out But how this impacts the value of the vehicles involved. How would you put a price tag on a low mileage, like-new, classic vehicle that was pristine and then had both sides of it bashed it? The “CarFox” from CarFax must be spinning in his den.. :joy:

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All of these have more of a srory attched now. Depends on how original the corvettes and trans am were. The Mosport Green vette was numbers matching but no claims of unrestored or survivor status. The seller of the willys consulted legal advice but the others are staying quiet from what i can find.

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Sheetmetal and fiberglass is just that. The value in the cars are the VINs and proper date codes on the engine and trans.

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The value has already been established by the sales price. No need to speculate on how much it might be worth. You can only be made whole on what was expended at the time. No enrichment.

The loss will be a combination of repair costs and residual value after diminished value consideration, if it is repaired. As the buyer, I would just want my money back- all of it including any fees. The car transfers to the insurance company and they can do what they want with it. I think it is a reasonable position to take- I never even had possession of the car and it is not being delivered in the condition I made the offer to purchase on.

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Don’t guess it’s like UPS/FedEx etc and you just refuse delivery…
Or PayPal and dispute the sale…lol

rhetorical, don’t need an answer…