Today, June 29, is Real-Time Used Car Auction Day in Japan. It commemorates the anniversary of the first time dealers across the country could bid on a car live. The inaugural auction took place long before the world wide web was available for public use, on June 29, 1985 and was conducted via Laserdisc. Prior to the 29th, the auction company mailed out Laserdiscs to participating dealers. On auction day, dealers inserted the Laserdisc into a specialized terminal connected to a telephone line. As a specific cars came up for bidding, the central system would send a data command via the phone line telling the dealer’s Laserdisc player exactly which frame to pull up on the screen. It was a crude system, and at the time bidding without seeing the car in person was a novel idea. Four decades later, it’s the norm.
What’s your best story about buying or selling a car via auction?
The most entertaining comment by next week will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “How has The Fast and the Furious impacted your local car scene?“. Continue reading
