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A
Note
From Dan Galves
Used car priceguides are
a very interesting subject within the industry. Few people are in a
position to really understand that. I’ve come to realize that there
probably aren’t a lot of people in the unique position I find myself.
Not only have I made use of Galves Auto Price List in the course of
buying and selling many thousands of vehicles over the years, but I
have also had the opportunity to become very familiar with the
other guidebooks in my various roles as a contributor/consultant/owner
of Galves Auto Price List, Inc. It’s a road not many people have
traveled.
What has
impressed me over the years as the essential truth about guidebooks
and their users is how attached users get to whichever particular
guidebook they become used to. It is, of course, usually the one they
“grow-up” with. They develop a high level of confidence in their
“book”, know how to use it, are confident that others use it the same
way, and become very familiar and comfortable with its format and how
to read it.
At one point in
my career as a buyer, I discovered that the guide they used on the West
coast was thousands of dollars higher than
the Galves book we used throughout the Northeast. Looked like easy
money! Buy by Galves, ship it for $700, sell it to the West coast
buyers using the “thousands higher” book. Plenty of spread to absorb
the shipping and still make a strong profit. Retire young. Well, I’m
still working. Unlike the northeast where you could count on selling
for “book” or more if you had a good vehicle with appropriate miles,
on the West coast they had there own method for adjusting book prices,
consistently figuring cars for thousands behind book. How they knew
how much to adjust the various years, makes, and models was beyond me,
but they did. My point isn’t that the guide was right or wrong, but that
the West coast dealers had confidence in their book, found a way to
use it successfully, worked with other West coast dealers who
understood the workings of the book, were comfortable with it and very
much attached to it. As foreign as it was to us in the eastern part of
the country, it worked for them.
So we know that
those dealers who visit our site probably have some book that they
have confidence in and are comfortable using. For many of them, it
happens to be “Galves”, and we’re very happy for that. But we know
that for many of you it is one of the “other books”, and we are clear
that whichever it is, it probably works for you and you will, and
should, continue to use it.
At the
same time, we are very proud of the “Galves Book” and are convinced,
as people who are uniquely familiar with all the other price guides
used throughout the country, that we have something special to offer
in terms of timeliness, accuracy, automotive experience, and market
awareness. Thousands of dealers use “Galves” as their primary guide
as they buy, sell, and trade vehicles. Often it’s the only “book”
they use. Many dealers, on the other, use a variety of pricing
sources as they seek to gain a better grasp of the market. We are
told by most dealers who subscribe to Galves and are located outside
of our core market area of the Northeast corridor that although we
are not their primary source of pricing guidance because they are in
an area where most dealers use another pricing guide, they know that
“Galves” is on top of the market and is consistently accurate. They
use “Galves” as a check on whatever other guide they use, knowing
that if we differ significantly with their regionally popular
“book”, they had better do some further research or risk making a
costly mistake or losing a worthwhile deal.
I hope you will take the time to
examine Galves more thoroughly and, if you are not already one of
our subscribers, join the thousands of loyal Galves’ customers
throughout the country who have learned to trust Galves to provide
them with the most accurate and current information in the industry.
Regards,
Dan Galves
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