The "Holding Cost" Tax: Why You’re Getting Lowball Offers (And How to Fix It)
If you walk into a generic dealership or a big-box retailer like CarMax to sell your car, you are immediately hit with a hidden tax. You won't see it on the paperwork, and they certainly won't tell you about it.
It’s called the "55-Day Tax."
Here is the dirty secret of the car industry: Dealers are terrified of inventory that sits. Every day a car sits on their lot, it costs them money insurance, interest payments to the bank (floor planning), and depreciation.
The industry average for selling a used car is roughly 55 days. That means when a generalist dealer looks at your specific car, they aren't thinking, "Wow, what a beauty." They are thinking, "I might be stuck with this thing for two months."
So, they hedge their bet. They bake that risk into their offer. They offer you less today to protect themselves from the cost of holding it for 55 days.
We tracked the data, and the numbers are startling. Cars sourced through Bidbus don't sit for 55 days. They turn over in roughly 15 days.
Why? Because we don't just blast your car out to random dealerships who might want it. We match your vehicle specifically to the dealers who specialize in it.
If you have a Toyota Tacoma, we put it in front of the #1 Toyota dealer in the world, not a generic used car lot that mostly sells luxury sedans.
If you have a late-model SUV, we target high-velocity retailers like who need that exact inventory right now.
When a dealer knows they can flip your car in two weeks instead of two months, the math changes. The "risk tax" disappears.
The Economics of Velocity Standard dealers lowball your offer because they fear the "Lot Anchor" a car that sits for 60+ days racking up interest and depreciation. Because Bidbus dealers move inventory 3.5x faster than the industry average, they don't have to price in that fear.
By cutting out 40+ days of holding costs, our dealers pass that efficiency directly to you. This is why our sellers typically see $1,000 to $3,000 more than a standard trade-in offer. It’s not magic; it’s the math of a "Hot Ticket" vs. a "Lot Anchor."
Your car is an asset. Don't sell it to someone who doesn't know what to do with it.
If a dealer has to guess if they can sell your car, you pay for that guess. At Bidbus, we let the specialists fight for it.
List your car in 5 minutes. Watch the specialists compete. Keep the "55-Day Tax" in your own pocket.
Sell your car fast,
for more
Get your top dollar offer fast - We let 1,000's dealers compete to buy your car online.
