The owner of a 2023 Honda Civic Type R may be in a tight spot financially after trying—and failing—to auction their car off after paying $20,000 over sticker. Their auction coming up short may be a sign that flipping limited-production cars isn’t as lucrative a practice as it once was.
The Honda was listed for sale on auction site Cars & Bids, with a mere 125 miles on the clock. Its MSRP was reported at $44,385, but the buyer paid $20,000 in dealer markups plus additional fees to reach a transaction price of $67,678.95. Though it was the first new Type R to be listed on the site, bidders didn’t feel it was worth nearly that much and topped out at $49,000—without meeting reserve. That means the car didn’t sell and its owner has no effortless payday to look forward to.
This flipper’s flop tickles the same Schadenfreude as another recent auction on Cars & Bids for a 2023 Toyota GR Corolla, whereafter the seller told Carscoops they lost “a substantial amount of money” on the sale.
Neither loss will garner much sympathy, as scalpers are some of the most hated people in the car world. Inserting oneself as a middleman between enthusiasts and the limited-production cars they want is widely acknowledged as greedy, shitty behavior that directly threatens the health of cars as a hobby. Fortunately, these two cars indicate the practice may not be as profitable as it was at its recent peak, as car market conditions are turning in buyers’ favor.
According to Edmunds, new car buyers paid an average of $300 below sticker in December, with only 36 percent paying more than MSRP, per CNN. New car supply is rapidly catching, if not leapfrogging demand, possibly owing to high interest rates and inflation. iSeeCars attributed those factors for declining prices in the used market, noting used car prices dropped in December for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Obviously, two flippers failing to make a buck doesn’t show flipping isn’t worthwhile anymore. Two data points do not make a trend; they’re just interesting outliers for the time being. There’s also no guarantee that scalping isn’t viable at higher price points, like with limited-production Porsches for example. But two greedy goobers getting their comeuppance is a good start, and let’s hope they’re not the last to learn that cars shouldn’t be considered “investments.”
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