At first, they all laughed at me, back then, because this method of marketing was completely unknown in Germany.
Începuturi
That’s why the beginnings – as is so often the case in success stories – turned out to be so much more difficult than expected. “At first, they all laughed at me, because this method of marketing was completely unknown in Germany. But I had seen such car auctions in the USA and England,” explains our pioneer of the car auction world. "But then people realized that something brilliant had been set in motion here."
Auctions with the atmosphere of a public festival
On Sundays the cars were parked in a former car dealership in Wiesbaden for viewing, and on Monday evening the auction was held. “Somewhere along the way the viewing on Sunday developed a sort of public festival atmosphere,” says the CEO of Auktion & Markt AG, today. “Hundreds of people came, had a look at the used cars, and enjoyed a morsel from the barbecue, even though there were only roughly a 100 cars on offer.” And then, on auction day itself, the auctioneer went from car to car, with a crowd of people in tow, auctioning off the vehicles. At this time, the company was comprised of two people, and grew into an effective team over the years.
In 2001, a decision was made to concentrate business exclusively on the automobile trade. With new employees, the business of mobile auctions crystallized under the motto “The auction house comes to you”, and hundreds of auctions were held across Germany, on location at dealers.
Launch into a new era
Already two years later the www.autobid.de internet auction platform was launched, through which the company became one of the pioneers of the time in the online sector. Because, who would have thought that car dealers would pay several thousand euros for vehicles, without having first seen them in person?
Nowadays almost all the vehicles are auctioned online. The many years we were physically present on the market was certainly an important factor that played a role in today’s success in online business. Dealers throughout Europe trust us, because they know we have a history of healthy growth, and we understand our business, but we are still a very down-to-earth company.
A partnership for the future
The strong demand for professional auctions for the trade and also the close cooperation with outlets and manufacturers brought about rapid growth, which was clearly demonstrated in the founding of separate centres and in the rising number of employees. Today, Auktion & Markt AG has around 450 employees, mainly in Germany.
"We will also continue to place great emphasis on one thing in the future – collaboration based on mutual trust with our partners, either as a buyer, supplier or service-provider. We would like to you thank you very much for this and we look forward to a joint, successful future in one of the most exciting markets in the world – the automobile trade!", stated the company's founder Karl Rolf Muth.
Company founder Karl Rolf Muth