Industry Legend Has Advice for First-Time Auto-Auction Bidders.

Byline: Matt Nauman

Oct. 26--Legendary auto-auctioneer Dean Kruse has some tongue-in-cheek advice for first-time bidders coming to the Pacific Classic auction this weekend.

"Don't worry about bidding too much," he says. "I'll stop you if you get too high."

Obviously, it's the job of Kruse and his fellow auctioneers to get the highest prices possible for the cars crossing the auction block. This is a man, after all, who started out selling 100 cars in an empty lot next to a Dairy Queen in Auburn, Ind., in 1971, and created an industry powerhouse that has sold tens of thousands of cars for tens of millions of dollars over the past three decades.

Kruse International is part of eBay now, and the first fruits of that grafting of real-world and online auctions blooms in Santa Clara this weekend at the Pacific Classic.

It'll be the first auto auction for many people, but an expert said they don't have to be intimidated by the auction process or let themselves get caught up in the excitement and frenzy of a live auction.

Here is some common-sense advice from Keith Martin, auction veteran and publisher of Sports Car Market magazine, which covers dozens of auctions a year and chronicles in detail 150 to 200 transactions in each issue. Each report includes a photograph, a car's mileage, its chassis number and an on-site evaluation from one of the magazine's experts.