Vehicle auctions

[Balog]

Anyone have any experience with the police seized or repossesed vehicle auctions? How does one find out about them etc.

[wmenorr67]

Check with the county sheriff's office.

[Scout26]

When I worked at Airborne Express there was the local vehicle auction place right next door.  They sold everything, Police/Drug seizures, re-po's, trade-in's, Tow impounds, everything.  I went over a few times just to see the action/auction. 

Despite the TV ads, never saw any mint Corvettes go for $200.  Pretty much right at 10-20% below blue book for some, others (consumers bidding up the price) went for right at or just above blue book.

YMMV.

[Parker Dean]

Seized and retired vehicle auctions are supposed to be advertised in the legal section of the local paper's classifieds. Those that attend such auctions have bemoaned the fact that the public started to attend these in greater numbers some years ago and since they are inexperienced they drive prices up well beyond what the cars are worth.

Repossessed cars will go to the local used car auctions which usually require some sort of vendors status to make a purchase from. Sometimes there are public used car auctions but as a rule the cars at those are bargain basement crap.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

gov fleet auctions are good for minivans and trucks

[BridgeRunner]

Ditto on the gov't fleets, or big schools.  I go to the MSU surplus store on a fairly regular basis looking for good deals on office equipment, but they usually have some pretty decent vehicles.  Those are sold on a bid system of some kind.  I also drive past the state of Michigan surplus lot pretty frequently and they've got all sorts of vehicles, from retired state police cruisers to minivans, vans, pickups, and lots of subcompacts.  I think those are also sold through an auction system of some kind.  I've heard that there are very good deals to be had, at both of those places.  I guess it's easier when you live in or near those sites, but these days most of those are listed online.

[Firethorn]

Despite the TV ads, never saw any mint Corvettes go for $200.  Pretty much right at 10-20% below blue book for some, others (consumers bidding up the price) went for right at or just above blue book.

Dad used to go to the police auction for bicycles; he'd get lots of 5-10 miscellaneous broken bikes for next to nothing, assemble 2-3 good ones out of the parts.

For intact 'good' bikes he said that people often got into bidding wars and ended up paying double what it would have cost to buy the outfitted bike and all parts brand new.

With any auction I'd be aware of the *as is* disclaimer, especially if you don't have time/ability/knowledge to do a thorough check.

[Devonai]

A large auto auction site recently relocated to near my place of work.  Now the main access road to the base is also the primary route to and from the auction site.  This has resulted in a spectacle that has ranged from comic to concerning, as not only are there vehicles being driven and transported in all possible conditions, but the people hired by the auction site drive them like their butts are on fire.

Some of the junk I've seen can't be worth much, or anything, but there seems to be a pretty heavy demand for anything that can run.

[Gowen]

A guy I work with swears by them.  He is looking for two new cars for his twins.  He said he saw a newish H3 go for $18k last week.