WIth COE premiums not looking to form a downward trend anytime soon, we have seen industry players coming up with more innovative ways to sell their cars. Apart from your regular roadshows, you can buy a new car online directly with a dealership promising the “best car deals”, or in the case of Teslas in Singapore, adopt a more hands-on approach by buying the vehicle and secure the COE separately.

What about pre-owned cars? That dreaded trip to the 2nd hand car dealership might be a thing of the past - you will soon have more control over your car’s valuation, and have a shot at selling it for higher-than-market prices.

Dickson Group (Dickson) is launching Singapore’s first physical live auction - the first auction being held on 18 July this year. This auction offers vehicle owners the opportunity to receive higher returns for their pre-owned vehicles, on top of the selling price of their vehicles to Dickson.

How does this work, then? Vehicle owners can drive in their vehicle for Dickson’s in-house valuation specialists to view and get a fair quotation based on current market prices and the vehicles’ condition. Dickson will pay sellers for the vehicles based on the agreed prices when they hand over their vehicles on the agreed date. These vehicles will be placed on Dickson Live Auction to help sellers obtain higher-than-market prices through bidding. For sellers buying brand new vehicles, Dickson will assist them with the payment of the registration of their new vehicle before their pre-owned vehicle is handed over to Dickson.

A pre-auction inspection will be done for the vehicles at Dickson’s in-house workshop. After the inspection, it will be thoroughly washed and sanitised before it’s displayed at Dickson’s premise. Potential bidders (from Dickson’s network of over a hundred car dealers) will be given a list of vehicles that will be at the live auction before the event. They will be able to view these vehicles on-site a day before the auction.

The live auction will be conducted via Dickson’s computerised system in a dedicated auction hall at Dickson building. The bidding process for each vehicle will last for 60 seconds. All bidders will be seated in the Auction Hall, viewing the same vehicle via their computers at the same time. The results of the biddings are immediate, and the biddings for the list of vehicles will be done one after another. Sellers may view the live bidding of their own vehicle on auction through a private viewing room right behind the hall, which provides them transparency of the bidding process and final bid price.

If the final bid price is above the agreed price to Dickson, the sellers will be getting the full difference in price, with applicable fees to Dickson. If the bid price happens to fall below the agreed price to Dickson, the seller can walk away without paying back the difference.

Will atmospheres be as intense and attention-grabbing as famed auction houses in other markets? Time to read up on auction terminologies and we’ll find out in less than two months.

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Selling your car? Whatever the reason, caryousell@carousell, sell your car at the highest price today.