Car Auctions

Cars Auctions - Where to Find Them

Executive Summary about Car Auctions By Monique Tarver

Car Auctions

If you’ve done your research, by now you’ve found out that finding cars auctions can be a pain in the butt. The good news is that finding a car auction near you no longer has to be so nerve racking. Depending on your location, these auctions can take place once a year or every couple of months.

If you don’t feel like waiting that long and want to access to more than just one auction in your city, your best bet is to join a car auction membership site. Upon joining, you will gain instant access to thousands of cars auctions taking place around the country. They give you info on the car auction such as the date, time and location, as well as the cars they have for sale. This saves you a lot of time that would be spent looking through the newspaper everyday or call the police station.

In conclusion, finding cars auctions can be pain free if you know the right way to go about it. You can either browse the paper, call your police department or join a car auction database.

Can You Make Money at Public Car Auctions?
Executive Summary about Car Auctions By Joshua Rose

Many people go to public car auctions (the ones you don’t need a Dealer license for … anyone can go) in order to get a good deal on their next car. But the fact is that these auctions provide serious income possibilities as well.

While there are many older, higher mileage vehicles at these auctions that I personally am not particularly interested in, there’s almost always some hidden “gems” as well that are ideal for reselling. Profits on these sorts of vehicles are usually in the $1,000 to $3,000 range.

I either look for mid-priced vehicles with high demand and a reputation for quality (perhaps something like a Toyota Corolla) with average or lower mileage. Or, I go after vehicles that are nothing special as a make, but have very, very low mileage.

I’ll then target a buying price well below its trade-in value (you’ll be surprised how often you can be the winning bidder at a price like this). Perhaps a step-by-step example would be useful here.

The first thing I do is go to my data base of auctions and scout around at upcoming auctions in my area. For cheap, 7-year-old cars, this will be a huge selling point.

The listing also tells me that these are “government vehicles”. Well, that explains the mileage and now I’m super interested. The kicker is that government vehicles are usually extremely well maintained, so these are looking like prime examples of cars I can buy very cheaply and sell fast.

The next step is to set a purchase price target, so I need to get an accurate trade-in value. What I really want to find out is what Dealers are paying for them at the Dealer auctions … this is the real trade-in value. So I call the loan department of a local bank and ask them for a Manheim Market Report (MMR) price. Most banks worth their salt subscribe to this data. They tell me prices for ones in average condition have been selling at these auctions for around $2,200.

Now, the Cavaliers I’m interested in are way below average in mileage and would likely go for more than this at a Dealer auction. But because these are at a “public” auction, where prices are often lower, I will target a purchase price of no more than $1,400.

I see they have an average sales price of around $3,500, but they have two or three times the mileage. So, I’ll target a resale price of $3,400 and my vehicle will jump off the page at prospective car buyers. I go back to my auction data base (there’s more information about data bases at the end of this article) and I find another upcoming auction. There’s four 2002 Pontiac Trans Ams. Also very interesting is the fact that these are also listed as “government vehicles”. It’s very unlikely that these were used by a local government agency. I would then go through the same pricing process to determine my “no-more-than” purchase price and resale price.

If the actual bidding goes higher than I want to pay, I will simply walk away. I’ll stay unemotional and will only purchase when there’s a tremendous price advantage built in from the get go. There’s always other days, other auctions and many opportunities to cherry-pick the offerings.

One other issue is whether or not you need a Dealer’s license to resell vehicles. Each state has its own rules on how many vehicles you can sell before you need to get a license. Well, I hope this has helped you learn how to make money at your local public car auctions. Some people simply buy cheap cars for a few hundred dollars and resell them … and that’s fine too.

Check out my other guide on Police Auctions