Dealers Auto Auction keeps Hayford Road hopping

To look back at the busy corner of U.S. Highway 2 and Hayford Road and think it wasn't that long ago when about the only two occupants of the real estate were a Savage House Pizza Parlor and the Longhorn Burger Stop.

That's kind of the way it looked when Bob McConkey and Greg Mahugh established Dealers Auto Auction in the fall of 1992.

Their original location was on the West Plains at Geiger Boulevard and Electric Avenue but DAA quickly outgrew those quarters and moved to 2215 S. Hayford Road.

"We moved into this (Hayford) address in (19)96," Mahugh, the senior vice president and general manager said. It was occupied in June of that year, but the complex had been under construction the better part of a year.

And what was also a pretty quiet section of county road has become a buzzing center of the used automobile industry, nationwide, processing tens of thousands of vehicles a year to new owners all over the country, through a massive dealership network.

DAA was launched at the present location of Enterprise Car Rental. "We officially made the deal that put us in business on Sept. 25, 1992," Mahugh said. He and partner, McConkey had a long history of work in the auction arena. For McConkey, it was a family business established by his dad in Seattle in 1954.

Mahugh started working for McConkey's father in 1978, running the Seattle business after it sold to GE Capital. But when McConkey's non-compete clause expired, the two headed east.

"A guy named George Fox had a little auction at Geiger and Electric," Mahugh explained. "We bought out his interest in what was called the Inland Northwest Auto Auction."

In the transition, the business never shut down, Mahugh said. Fox had a sale one week and Mahugh and McConkey followed with one a week later.

Their grand opening, however, was another story.

The official opening of DAA did not happen until the first part of November 1992. "It was a presidential election so we delayed it a week," Mahugh said. "We were going to have a party the night before the sale and we didn't want to have it on election night."

The following Tuesday, they officially christened the building with a party, and Mother Nature, perhaps miffed she was not invited, still gave Mahugh and McConkey a present of sorts in the first snowfall of the year.

"Now for a couple of guys from Seattle it was a big deal, we thought we were in big trouble," Mahugh said. But none of the locals thought much of it.

That was just the first of a horrible winter where it seemed to snow for weeks on end and never got above freezing, Mahugh recalled. No pun intended, but Mahugh said, "By May we were starting to get some traction and get rolling."

The business was profitable - not hugely so, but decent - by May or June. More growth followed, little by little, and after nearly 25 years in business DAA processes an estimated 50,000 vehicles a year on their campus. Mahugh chose not to reveal DAA's sales figures, but did say, "We're having a record year."

That is in large part due to a rigorous process of inspection that assures the customer - auto dealers from across the West, and beyond - a quality used vehicle that the end user, the consumer, can trust. "We've probably got the most experienced inspectors in the region," Mahugh said. "They look at literally thousands of vehicles."

DAA also has a body shop and repair facility onsite to aid in the process of providing a reliable vehicle. DAA's cars come from manufacturers, rental cars companies, leasing agencies, government pools and more.

"There's everything from the cheap, worn out beater to late model, low mileage very, very fresh, new vehicles, "Mahugh said. "And everything in between." Vehicles sell from $200 to $75,000, he added.

Auctions, conducted weekly, are done so with the help of a workforce of some 250 in Spokane. On sale days, however, there may be upwards of 450 people involved, Mahugh said.

Everything sold by DAA is done so on consignment. "We provide a service to our customers," Mahugh said.

DAA also operates in Auburn, Wash. and Kansas City, Mo.

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.