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Cobra Jet
Well-Known Member
Not all auction cars are flood, salvage, theft or lemons...
Most are high milers, repos, have minor damages (dents from hail) or just plain need some TLC maintenance.
Do title searches on the VINs to get better clarity of:
1) How many owners
2) Where it’s been geographically (rust belt states, etc)
3) Accident damages (do note that not ALL accident damage is reported to title reporting agencies such as CarFax, Auto Check etc)
4) Documented mileage
You can get really good deals on some auction cars. Some folks will go the auction route and actually buy the wrecked ones and fix them to be road worthy again. If you have the time, money and skill set, you can save big bucks buying wrecks and fixing them to be roadworthy for daily drivers.
Buying at auction eliminates the Dealer - but be prepared because:
1) There are Sharks at these auctions. The sharks will wait until the last moment and bid up to bump out newbies who thought they were getting a good deal. Sharks have the cashola to keep going and get what they want.
2) Then there’s the shills... these bidders can work for the dealerships who are there to buy (and sell).... So if they have one of their own cars there to sell - if you’re a bidder, they’ll bid on the car against you to get themselves a higher sale (after all they have to pay the auction house fees). Shill bidders exist at every single auction in the USA - not just car auctions, ANY auction locally or even those online.
Not trying to scare you from auctions - you just need to go prepared, don’t bring your emotions (ie: the “want” or “must have”), because people lose money when their emotions take over. Watch the people around you to try and lock in on the Sharks and Shills - you can play the game too - but gotta know when to back out, otherwise you’ll end up being the “winner” when you didn’t really want it....
Most are high milers, repos, have minor damages (dents from hail) or just plain need some TLC maintenance.
Do title searches on the VINs to get better clarity of:
1) How many owners
2) Where it’s been geographically (rust belt states, etc)
3) Accident damages (do note that not ALL accident damage is reported to title reporting agencies such as CarFax, Auto Check etc)
4) Documented mileage
You can get really good deals on some auction cars. Some folks will go the auction route and actually buy the wrecked ones and fix them to be road worthy again. If you have the time, money and skill set, you can save big bucks buying wrecks and fixing them to be roadworthy for daily drivers.
Buying at auction eliminates the Dealer - but be prepared because:
1) There are Sharks at these auctions. The sharks will wait until the last moment and bid up to bump out newbies who thought they were getting a good deal. Sharks have the cashola to keep going and get what they want.
2) Then there’s the shills... these bidders can work for the dealerships who are there to buy (and sell).... So if they have one of their own cars there to sell - if you’re a bidder, they’ll bid on the car against you to get themselves a higher sale (after all they have to pay the auction house fees). Shill bidders exist at every single auction in the USA - not just car auctions, ANY auction locally or even those online.
Not trying to scare you from auctions - you just need to go prepared, don’t bring your emotions (ie: the “want” or “must have”), because people lose money when their emotions take over. Watch the people around you to try and lock in on the Sharks and Shills - you can play the game too - but gotta know when to back out, otherwise you’ll end up being the “winner” when you didn’t really want it....
