Trucks & Auto Auctions, a Musser Bros. affiliate, plans 8,000-square-foot facility

Tri-City car and truck buyers can kick back in theater-style seats to bid on vehicles at a new Pasco auction business this fall.

Trucks & Auto Auctions, a Musser Bros. Inc. affiliate, is building a new 8,000-square-foot facility just off Argent Road near Columbia Basin College.

Cars, trucks, SUVs, ATVs and RVs will be offered at auction to the public and dealers.

“It’s a great opportunity to buy cars and save money, and buy at auction prices,” said CEO Scott Musser.

Located on 4.5 acres at 3135 Rickenbacker Drive, the new building will house offices and an auction room. Vehicles will be driven through the auction room onto a stage for bidders to see during the live auctions.

“Auctions will be held as frequently as once a week on Tuesday nights, depending on the volumes,” Musser said.

Trucks & Auto Auctions is a separate company from Musser Bros., which specializes in auctioning real estate and construction equipment, but they share resources and expertise, Musser said.

Since 1956, Musser Bros. has been serving Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. The company operates a Trucks & Auto business in Nampa, Idaho, where about three auctions a month are held, attracting an average of 550 online and on-site bidders, Musser said.

The Idaho facility employs 24 staff and when the Pasco site opens, total employment will number 50, Musser said.

The new facility will be managed by owner/operators Jake and Josh Musser. Both men were involved with the launching of Idaho’s Trucks & Auto.

“We are a family-owned and operated company and we attempt to treat all of our customers, both buyers and sellers, like family,” Jake Musser said. “Buying a car or truck at auction is exciting and exhilarating, and we’re excited to bring this to the Tri-Cities.”

Scott Musser said the Tri-Cities used to have a wholesale auction dealer more than 25 years ago that serviced the needs of dealers and moved 500 to 600 cars a week.

“Our difference will be it’ll be a public auction, not wholesale auction. We will sell for dealers, municipalities and the public,” he said, explaining wholesale auctions are open to licensed dealers only.

MH Construction of Kennewick is the general contractor for the new building, valued at $947,900, according to public building records. The building is designed by Pondera Architecture of Spokane.

The Trucks & Auto building isn’t the only construction project the Mussers have planned in Pasco.

Construction is underway on a new 9,000-square-foot airplane hangar.

Musser Bros. recently sold its old hangar, built in 2008, and began building a new one adjacent to where the Pasco Trucks & Auto Auctions building will be.

“We’re coming out of the ground with the hangar in about 45 days,” Scott Musser said.

The hangar will be used to house company airplanes, which are used to travel between the Pasco and Idaho businesses, and to host real estate auctions, he said.

Musser Bros. sold its current office and hangar at 3035 Rickenbacker Drive to Tim Bush, a partner with Bush Car Wash, which has several express car wash facilities around the Tri-Cities, Musser said. Musser Bros. leases land from the Port of Pasco.