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Wholesale car auction coming to Bakersfield
BY JOHN COX, Californian staff writer

Felix Adamo / The Californian
The vehicles are starting to arrive for Jim Pennington's auction next week. Pennington operates out of a parking lot next to the old Meadows Field terminal. It won't sell to the general public, but a wholesale vehicle auction opening for business Wednesday at Meadows Field is expected to offer savings to car dealers and credit unions that now pay to transport used vehicles for sale outside the county.

Founded by third-generation auctioneer Jim Pennington, Western Sierra Marketing, or WSM, is the only car auction of its kind in Bakersfield. As such, the company has won the support of local businesses that buy or sell used vehicles.

"If he can make it work, I think it'll be a good thing for everybody," said Dan Hay, president and general manager of Jim Burke Ford.

Similarly, the senior vice president of lending and credit at Bakersfield-based Kern Schools Federal Credit Union, Rudy Tafoya, said transportation comprises a significant portion of a credit union's cost of dealing with repossessed vehicles.

"Any vehicle that doesn't have to be transported, if you will, to another area ... is a savings," he said.

Used vehicles make up a vital part of Bakersfield's auto sales industry. Buyers often show up to a new car lot with an older car for trade. If the transaction goes through, the dealer decides whether to recondition the used vehicle and keep it for possible resale, or immediately ship it off to auction.

While two large companies dominate U.S. auto auctions, Pennington said that smaller independents are able to compete on customer service.

But first they have to establish relationships with dealers, which is why last summer the former owner of Western Stockman's Market began meeting with car dealers as far away as the high desert, the coast and around the Central Valley.

"I kept hearing the same thing: 'If you build it, we'll come,'" Pennington said.

Linking up with two business partners, fellow auctioneer Norman Haight and auto broker Larry Champagne, Pennington leased parking space at Meadows Field's William Thomas Terminal. The first auction there is set for Wednesday, when Pennington hopes to sell 100 to 200 vehicles at a rate of one a minute.

The auction is set to take place once every two weeks, then possibly go weekly.

Only people with state-issued auto dealer licenses may participate. WSM plans to charge buyers and sellers a fee based on the price of the vehicle sold.

McClure's Monthly Motors, in Bakersfield, spends as much as $125 to have a car delivered for sale to Fresno -- more than that if the auction is in Los Angeles, owner Brian McClure said. But if WSM succeeds, he added, he can drive the vehicle to Meadows Field himself.

McClure said WSM's success will depend on how many cars the company attracts for its auctions and how many buyers show up to bid.

"I've got my fingers crossed that they're going to be successful," he said.