I have tried searching on auto auction on fwf and didnot find any other information.

I am considering buying a used commuter vehicle. Tried cars.com, craigslist and other such places where i can get a better value for money.

My budget is about 5-6000.
I find that for my budget, i can get a "better" car if i get it from an auction. I found a guy who is registered to buy cars. He attends the auction every tuesday and gives the list on friday/weekends. According to him, the most update list comes off on monday.

I need to research based on VIN and give him the which ones i am looking for and the maximum i am willing to bid for.
He charges $600 for this.

I believe the vehicle inventory is built up based on
- cars that dealers couldnot sell
- seized vehicles by law enforcement, customs, etc.
- foreclosures and defaults on vehicle loans, banks trying to get rid of them
- Damaged vehicles [not sure flood or what?]

My question is, by doing a carfax search, is this a "better" approach in terms of:
- reliability vs say craigslist [local, so can see, get inspected before buy].
- value for money vs say cars.com or craigslist

Or is it just another one of those "scams".

This is my first fwf post and i am looking for feedback to help me decide if its a sane/safe approach.

If i haven't followed any fwf practices, please educate me instead of burning me alive

Edit1: I posted in fwf, so i can get very good feedback from masters and car purchase is an expensive one, so there is a financial view on it.

Edit2: The auction is in Triad region of NC.

this is really in the wrong forum. with that said, a great deal can be had in a car auction if you know what you are looking for. 3 of my family cars have came through the auction route and I have even resold a car at profit after using it for close to a yr. I would suggest checking out the public auctions first b/c they DO have decent cars and the $600 they want to charge you for the dealer auction seems a bit high especially considering the price range you are looking. You have to be aware that most auctions will charge you an additional % fee based on the final price of the car.

edit: in addition, carfax is really useless. you should inspect the car in person. and I've generally seen cars being sold at dealer trade in values +/- $500 for most cars at these auctions. It's a time consuming process b/c they are soo many cars to choose from. if you are not picky about the type of the car, i would just hit up a large public auction and just decide from the selection they have instead of looking for the next "best" thing.

yes, i'm interested in this discussion, because my family is needing two more cars pretty soon, for my teenage brother and my own car since my car is going near 200K miles about now.

I hear from various people that going through auctions can save me alot of money, but I'm interested in the experiences of the vets around FWF.

As Ive posted in the past, Ive been attending auctions for over 20 years now (yes since I was a small child). I view over 10,000 cars at auction per year, in addition to the ones I browse online, on eBay, etc. I buy a few cars a year, drive them , enjoy them, and resell them for 200-600% of what I paid. Some I keep 2 weeks, some I keep 2 years.

I would NOT buy from an auction unless you have some experience with cars or bring someone who does.

I would NOT buy from eBay unless its a reputable dealer with near perfect feedback. 95% feedback on eBay motors means the sell has sold SO many lemons that 5% of buyers actually risk getting a reciprocal negative feedback to complain, and the seller has kept the other 25% of unhappy buyers quiet. I have 100% feedback and have sold many on eBay motors. eBay is where you get top dollar for cars that look good but run like crap.

$600 is very high to pay a dealer. There are dealers on craigslist willing to do that for much less in my area. Also note that if the dealer only makes his $600 when you get a car, he wont be lookng out for the condition, he will just makes sure he closes the deal. If he can help you AVOID a problem car, and use his good judgment when bidding for you, that can be worth more. So you might want to create a payment structure that doesnt reward him only if he gets you a car.

The difference between auction and private sellers is that 95% of private sellers have an inflated # in their mind about what their car is worth. Less than 5% of private party cars are priced great. You can look at ads for weeks and run all over town and not come up with anything.

At dealers auctions, most of the prices will be good to great. At public auctions, the public often gets caught up in the bidding can overpay. The big advantage to a private sale is if they allow your mechanic to inspect before you complete the purchase. If you arent going to take advantage of the inspection ability in a private sale, you are taking just about as much risk as at an auction.

the public auction i used to attend near the philly region had 2 auction dates with newer/older cars. They would rate the car with green/yellow/red light and would carry a 48/hr tranny warranty for the green light cars. I was able to drive the car around the lot before the start of the auction since all keys were inserted. I think the key to public car auction bidding is that don't settle on one car, choose several and win the 1st one that you have your eyes on.

swandown said:The problem with car auctions is that you are competing with professional resellers who know EXACTLY what that car is worth. They will not allow that car to sell for a "bargain" price.

You're much better off finding a good deal from a private seller.

that's not all true. you won't find a car for $1 but you can def get one below dealer trade in value. Most of the cars in the auction are leased cards with defaulted payments. So banks are simply off loading these assets to become more liquid. For example, my current honda civic was bought for $8000 out the door with only 23,000 miles on it. That was almost 2yrs ago and i can prob private sell the same vehicle for ~6000-7000 after loading close to 40K miles on it.

what i'm trying to get at is that you have to know exactly what you are looking for before entering an auction. You really can't take the shopping for a car in a dealer mentality b/c you will either miss out on a good deal or overpay.

edit: so one of my missed opps was a mitsu eclipse, red, almost brand new that was given a salvage title due to the heavy rain in philly few years back. The car obviously didn't get water at all when we looked at it but they slapped that title on anyhow. it went for only 2k but i wasn't set on getting that model at the time..but i regret it as a great deal missed.

Where can I get more information about these dealer's auctions? Find a dealer who goes to goes to wholesale dealer auction? Thanks.

Be sure to check AutoCheck for previous history. Carfax is garbage and failed to report one of the cars we looked at as having been in a previous accident and having a lien. Sometimes dealers and or banks try to launder cars with spotty history through auctions. Some better deals can be had through dealer targeted auctions (Manheim and Adessa) but sometimes these companies require registration fees or a dealer license.

gexi said:Be sure to check AutoCheck for previous history. Carfax is garbage and failed to report one of the cars we looked at as having been in a previous accident and having a lien. Sometimes dealers and or banks try to launder cars with spotty history through auctions. Some better deals can be had through dealer targeted auctions (Manheim and Adessa) but sometimes these companies require registration fees or a dealer license.

Is AutoCheck better than CarFax? Or should we run through both?