photo credit: The Talented Mr. Nimo/On Vacation

If you are interested in purchasing a car at a government or other auction, hopefully you’ve done your homework about how the auction process works, the terms of sales, and arranging for full payment after you’ve put down a deposit on a bid you’ve won. Here are ten tips for buying a car at an auction. Some apply more to online auctions and some apply to live auctions, but you should be prepared either way.

1.    Don’t bid against a seasoned car collector unless you happen to be very wealthy. Collectors can be doggedly determined to get a certain car, and are sometimes willing to bid more than the car’s original value. Of course, if it ends up being priceless, they’ve still made a good investment. Seriously, experienced car collectors play hardball, and you don’t want to bid against them unless you have plenty of money and know what you’re doing.

2.    Get a report on the car’s history. Sometimes auctions will provide these, but sometimes you have to get the information yourself. If you look over cars at a government auction a couple of days before the actual bidding, you’ll have time to do this. If not, perhaps you could have someone at home who can go online and check a VIN for you. It may be $30 or so, but it could save you major headaches if a car has been flood damaged or rebuilt.

3.    Check out auction sites to see how much cars you’re interested in generally go for. You won’t get a car from a government auction for as little as you would for a wholesale auction, but you can still get a good deal.

4.    Make sure you have enough money to bid. This seems blindingly obvious, but people do get caught up in the bidding process. You’ll have to put down a cash deposit the day of the auction, and then you’ll have a day or two to come back and pay the rest. Make sure you have the money at hand to do this.

5.    Retiring government vehicles have generally been well maintained, serviced, and cleaned. In fact, you may be able to get a copy of the maintenance history.

6.    Repossessed vehicles or vehicles confiscated over drug or tax matters could have rough histories. You definitely want to run a VIN check for a car that was seized in this way.

7.    Determine to the best of your ability whether an auction has run a thorough title check on a car. You do not want to buy a car at any price when you don’t know if it has a clean title.

8.    Factor in other costs when determining how high you will bid. There may be a “buyer’s premium” of 5 to 10%. If so, be sure to calculate this in when deciding your highest bid.

9.    Cars from rental agencies are usually maintained, clean, and only a couple of years old. These can be great choices, but you probably won’t get a former rental car dirt cheap.

10.    If you get a bad feeling from an auction, or about a particular car, listen to your gut. You have very little recourse if you buy a car at auction and it breaks down the next day.

If you do some research up front, know your bidding limits, have the necessary funding, and are able to keep a cool head in a fast-paced situation, you could do quite well buying a car at an auction.

This post is courtesy of Government Auto Auctions blog where you can get the latest news in government auto auctions.

Ten Tips for Buying a Car at Auction

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In the couple of years following Hurricane Katrina you probably heard frightening accounts of people unwittingly purchasing cars that had been damaged by flood waters. Flood damage can be easy enough to hide from the average consumer, but the damage is permanent and often progressive. While the so-called “Katrina cars” are starting to disappear from the scene, particularly at car auctions, you still run the risk of buying a car that has damage that is not readily apparent.
photo credit: mecookie

Any time you’re buying a used car, it is a good idea to buy a vehicle history report on the car you are interested in. Here are three reasons to invest in this type of report.

1.    For the cost of around $30 to $50 you have the potential to save yourself a multi-thousand dollar headache that would come with a car with undisclosed damage. A vehicle history increases the chances of making you aware if a car has been salvaged, had frame damage, been rebuilt, been in accidents, had water damage, fire damage, or any other damage. While there is no “used car lemon law,” you can find out if it was declared a “lemon” when it was new.

2.    A vehicle history report will let you know if the odometer has been rolled back, if the odometer is broken, or if the car has excessive mileage. You’ll also find out if it has been stolen, or used as a taxi. With some reports you can do a title search to make sure that the car has a clean title. This is especially important if you’re buying a seized car at a government auction.

3.    A vehicle history report gives you exactly what you need to either negotiate a price, or know your bidding limits. Information is your best friend when you’re buying a used car. With a used car dealer, don’t forget that they are in business to make a profit, not to make your life easier. With auctions – particularly government auctions – the goal is to get the vehicles off the lot so that the government can stop paying for storage and maintenance. While you can get good deals at government auctions, in general you should consider it a “buyer beware” situation, particularly with cars that have been seized for drug or income tax reasons.

There is always some risk when you buy a new car. Even if you know the owner, you may not know how well the car was maintained. The number of miles on the odometer is important, but so are the conditions under which those miles were driven. While a report on a car’s history based on its vehicle identification number (VIN) can’t tell you what kind of driver the previous owner was, it can sometimes tell you whether the vehicle has undergone any disaster: fire, flood, accidents that should cause you to look elsewhere. You can also purchase a title history, which will give you the peace of mind of knowing the car has a clean title. That’s very valuable knowledge for the price of one tank of gas.

This post is courtesy of Government Auto Auctions blog where you can get the latest news in government auto auctions.

Three Reasons to Buy a Vehicle History Report on a Used Car

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