Russo and Steele

I have been going to this auction in Scottsdale and Monterey since 2010. I have been successful in purchasing some cars for reasonable prices so I keep coming back.
I have been to all of the other auctions and Russo and Steele. My impression is that These other guys could care less about classic cars as they are too rich to care about regular car guys. The owners at Russo and Steele at least gave me the impression that they cared.
I have seen Russo and Steele consistently put on a great show. This year they have absolutely killed it. You should check it out.

I wasn’t a bidder or consigner, just went to enjoy the event and see some great cars. The cars were great, but the venue stinks. Directions to find the place were confusing, no signs. The parking sucks. $ 15 to park in a dirt lot a mile from the event. Concessions were outrageous, two beer tents (one out of beer) $ 8 for a domestic draft. The music sucked.
It may be a good place to buy or sell a car, but as a fun event it is sadly lacking. Considering that this show has been running for years, you would think it was better organized. Disappointed.

Cyates-​Newport Beach, CA
Drew and Dallas with R & S are true gentlemen. I consigned a Porsche in Monteray last year. These guys never make promises on values and do their job with integrity. Too many haters out that that ROMANCE THEMSELVES WITH UNREALISTIC VALUES. THEY ARE CAUGHT INSIDE THEIR OWN GREEN AND THAT IS WHY THEY LOSE MONEY AT AUCTIONS. I paid R & S for the consignment and they gave me great, personable service from the beginning to the end.
Using them again in Newport Beach.

Great time great experience can’t wait to go again

I’ve have been waiting a long time to write this review more specifically just waiting to get my car and title back. if i could give this review negative stars I would
My 1979 Mercedes SLC was consigned to Russo and Steele Vegas sale 2014 where they worked so hard to get my car consigned than once it was consigned the customer service essentially disappears. Russo and steal does a great job of getting your car but cant bring a buyer in their run down auction to save their life. I WOULD HAVE BROUGHT MORE MONEY JUNKING MY VEHICLE, DO NOT CONSIGN YOUR VEHICLE HERE. It is one step above a wholesale auction such as copart. If you have rare car and want to bring real money go to a real auction Such as Barrett Jackson.
I ended up having to buy my own car due to the lack of buyers with a $ 1,000 consignment fee their business model is a scam get the car consigned and pay to bail it out. I bought my own car back when the bids only reached $ 2,500 with an auction estimate of $ 6,000-$ 15,000. I ended up selling my vehicle a week and a half later for triple of what It brought at the BS auction. with the way this company is going I don’t see it being around for more than 5 more years.
ON top of it I had left a previous BAD review on Unilocal when this incident occurred and a day later I get a call from Drew Alcazar the arrogant CEO of Russo and STEAL. where he stated that if i did not remove my review my car would not be released and NOT be transported back to me neither the title. When I explained to him it was extortion he seemed to not care, (I guess i would try and get all reviews removed as well if I ran a SCAM). Towards the end he gave me an Ultimatum of either removing my review or he will keep my vehicle. which is plain and clear extortion. with that I mentioned I will have to take Legal Action where he laughed at me on the phone and Proudly Said RUSSO AND STEAL has never lost a lawsuit there are links below where you can see two lawsuits they previously lost or avoided. I HOPE YOUR GRANDCHILDREN GROW UP TO BE NOTHING LIKE YOU DREW ALCAZAR.
Here is Lawsuit #1 Where their tent in arizona fell on priceless collector cars causing over 1 million dollars in damage. the lawsuit was lost
Here is Lawsuit #2 That these cowards avoided
ALL IN ALL AVOID RUSSO AND STEAL AT ALL COSTS THEY ARE A SCAM AND WILL WORK HARD TO GET YOUR VEHICLE ONCE GOTTEN THEY WILL NOT SELL YOUR CAR NOR WILL THEY ALLOW TO PUT A BAD REVIEW AND GET YOUR CAR BACK. TO SELL YOUR CAR TO GO BARRETT JACKSON OR DON’T SELL IT AT ALL.

I’ve been meaning to write this for awhile… My family and I attended the Russo & Steele auction in January (2014) in Scottsdale while we were visiting family. We went there to see the cars and my husband ended up becoming a registered bidder. Although we were out bid on the two cars we liked, the process was exciting and fun. The staff was courteous and helpful as we were first timers. We will attend the event again given the opportunity works with our travel schedules.

As an auction house, Russo and Steele is on their way out for 2 main reasons 1) customer service and 2) sales.
Do not expect to receive any sort of decent customer service for consigning your vehicle– whether it’s 5k or 500k. You’re titles, purchases and no sales– will be held hostage for a minimum of a month with no exceptions. You will get nickel and dimed with fees. They will act like they have a deal on your car and then nothing will materialize. They will barely make eye contact with you when it is all said and done.
Maybe the lack of customer service could be made up for will sales, but the truth of the matter is that they are not able to bring in buyers to their sale. You have a very small chance of getting even a bid on your vehicle let alone selling it for a reasonable price.
Overall, the company needs to seriously reconsider their practices if they expect to survive.

How can you advertise your event is open until 4, allow me to purchase tickets online the day of the show, and then when I show up at 2 tell me you decided to close early?
This is why no one goes to Russo and everyone goes to Barrett Jackson.

Absolutely Horrific Experience!!! Went to the Newport Dunes auction with my elderly and handicapped parents. We’re told that they could access the site in their golf cart to view the cars (NOTE: we asked twice if this would be ok-​and we’re assured it was fine). Paid $ 20.00 each to look at the cars, and after an hour or so, my parents started to get tired and wanted to take a break and return later. As we were leaving, we were informed that the golfcart (and my handicapped parents who rely on the golfcart to get around) would not be allowed to return to the auction. My elderly parents were very upset by what seemed to be a clear violation of ADA laws allowing equal access to handicapped persons (there was no offer of other alternatives-​wheel chairs, etc.). When we then asked for their money to be refunded, due to the fact that they were in essence being kicked out of the auction area, we were told by the Russo and Steele representative (James R.) that Russo and Steele does NOT refund admission fees under any circumstances! When confronted with the issue of ADA compliance, he was patronizing, rude, and cavalier in his responses, and staunchly refused to work with us!!! Absolutely reprehensible behavior, horrific treatment of my 84 and 82 year old parents, and abysmal customer service! A company that would condone this reprehensible treatment of elderly and handicapped people, and employ such insensitive and unprofessional employees is not the sort of company that any person of class would even consider doing business with! Do NOT support this company or their auctions!!! We will NEVER again deal with Russo and Steele, and would encourage anyone who reads this to take your business elsewhere!!!

It’s not quite refined of an experience as Barrett Jackson. They need better ventilation in the auction lane or they need to keep the people from hitting the throttle on the way in.

As a professional car builder and customizer, we expect to produce the best possible product for our customers. We recently had 2 experiences with the team at Russo and Steele which led us to decide we simply cannot do business with them any longer.
Our first experience was in Monterey in 2012. To make a long story short the cars were stored outside by the harbor and not under tents. Our car was bombed by seagulls, and to be honest, the amount of foot traffic that our car received was minimal.
During the auction, almost all the no-​reserve cars went for much lower than I would have expected, and the lots that sold most were the European marks. Not really something that you would expect from a company that prides itself on American Muscle and hotrods. Our car failed to meet its reserve, so we brought it back home.
Looking at the other results from Monterey, it appeared that none of the american car auction companies had a great experience (Perhaps RM excluded)…so we decided to take another shot at the 2013 Scottsdale auction which had a much larger and more diverse catalog of vehicles.
While all the cars were under tents, they were parked on gravel leading to a constant dust covering on the vehicles. One of their patrons even took their finger to the trunk of my 60K hot rod and wrote the words WASH ME… real class.
The main issue that we experienced… as did many many many of the other sellers that we spoke to, was a real lack of qualified buyers in the auction. No reserve lots went for incredibly small amounts and many many of the reserve lots did not sell. By the time one of our newest builds (a 1954 3100 pickup) which had been selling all day long for 33 over at the Barrett Jackson auction, there were no bidders in the house and we barely made our «reasonable» reserve of 24 000 (actually 23 000 with a lowered commission which made my take the same).
In the end, we cannot recommend Russo and Steele unless you are looking to buy cheap or just dump your classic car to spite your soon to be ex. They just don’t have the pull to bring in the qualified buyers who are all over at the Barrett auction it would appear.
We expected our take for 3 vehicles to be in the neighborhood of 100K and went home with 55K. I’m not greedy, but this is my business. I produced 3 lovely cars for this event. Their job is to bring together qualified buyers and sellers. And from the catalog I saw, they know how to find suckers willing to sell their cars, but they absolutely suck at bringing the money to the room.
On the customer service side… They work well with you through the consignment process and are very helpful… but in the end, you need to bring the money to the sellers and that they did not do.