torchedlh said:how much information can you really know about the car before bidding? i assume there's no maintenance record/receipts. can you get a pre-purchase inspection done at your cost?
You have the condition report for each car which includes notes of everything the third-party Manheim inspector could find as well as estimates for repair costs. The interior odor is noted as well as how clean it is inside. It seems that they disclose everything pretty well. Unibody damage is noted in particular. They're pretty detailed down to notes on whether the books and records are there, if the nav-cd is there, and so forth.

All the cars have the keys in them so you can start them, drive them (if there is space) and so forth. You can also buy the car guaranteed which means that you can bring it back if your mechanic finds a problem with it when you check it out in detail.

I think that you can pay for an on-site inspection, but I simply had my mechanic check it out before accepting it. Since you can't go in person without a dealer license, you'll partially need to trust the experience of the person buying on your behalf and that he knows what to look for.

I have a friend who is a dealer who got me a Ford Windstar 2003 for 8700 from an auction there. Low miles and he drove it down from Seattle to Phoenix for me for a small fee. I came out ahead of going to a used car lot.

OP thank you for sharing. I'm no expert, but based on the numbers you gave, you probably did get a good deal. Enjoy your new ride!

Been saying this very thing for years. Dealer auction is the way to go. Avoid public auctions at all cost.

Oh, I forgot to ask, is it possible to tell prior to the auction whether the vehicle was a fleet rental car? You can usually get this from carfax, etc. Just curious if this is noted by Manheim.

Also, slightly off topic, but is possible to also SELL a car directly at the auctions through a dealer (ie rather than dealing with it privately)? I know this is less financially sensible than a private sale BUT presumably much better than trading in to a dealer. Do these cars sold at manheim have a reserve? Or are they absolute auctions? If they are reserve auctions and don't hit the reserve price, what is the cost to list and re-list?

stook2001 said:Oh, I forgot to ask, is it possible to tell prior to the auction whether the vehicle was a fleet rental car? You can usually get this from carfax, etc. Just curious if this is noted by Manheim.
Manheim provides you with the VIN for each car on their website before the auction day. You can compile a list of cars you're interested in and run the Carfax report for them before the auction.

I have purchased several cars here:

http://www.executiveautogallery.com/showroom.php?type=Car

Most of his cars are all sold with "salvage titles" but include a 36 month bumper to bumper repair policy. (If sold as ready to go)

The cars I purchase are ones that I plan to drive until the "wheels fall off" and so if/when I sell them the impact of the salvage title on resale is small. (If I am selling to someone who is buying a car for $1500-$2500 they see the receipts of all the maintenance I have performed, and it is pretty easy to convince them that a they are getting a good deal, for the low price, and the car is "reliable" since I owned it for several years and all ready drove it 80 or 140K miles.)

Any of the prices listed can be negotiated 10% or 20% lower if you bring cash, and know how to negotiate.
As of now he has this car available:

2006 BMW 525XI
Description : Black/tan leather Sunroof AWD auto loaded
Miles : 19094
VIN :WBANF33506CS35158
Price :$27,900.00

I would guess you can get this for $23,0000 to $25,000 cash, without a lot of sweat or negotiating.

He publishes the VIN number, so you can do a carfax, you can also go there and test drive the cars, and take to to a mechanic you trust to "check them out", if you want, no "auction pressure", got to make up your mind quickly.

They also will tell you "what they did to the car", and why it has a salvage title.

For sellers of used cars they are "reasonably honest", and don't really care if you buy a car or not... since they do plenty of business, and have been in business doing this for a long time.

If you are more adventurous the "son" of the owner also sells cars for less money with no guarantee, prior to "fix up" with the 5+5 warranty.
5+5 Warranty= If you get the car 5 yards off the lot , and 5 minutes pass, the warranty has expired.


I have also purchased a few of the "5+5 warranty cars" mostly "flood damage", and had no problems.
Key issue to check with any flood vehicle is to be sure there is no evidence of water in the automatic transmission, (red transmission fluid will have a white milky appearance.) If you have water in the transmission, you will need to replace that, after a very few miles/weeks.

Note that folks are "terrified" of flood damage cars, and there are lots of "horror stories" on the net, but.. all automotive electronics are engineered to survive long long summers in very humid climates, and the connectors and circuits if not "killed" in the flood, do not genearlly "go bad" if they survive a "quick dunk".

One of the IC tests required is to pass 1000 hours of operation at 85C with 85% relative humidity.

Note that 85 degrees Celsius = 185 degrees Fahrenheit

I have also seen issues with flood damage impacting the motors in electric seats, but. if you are handy, most car seats are held down with 4 bolts that are easy to remove, and a couple of plugs that are easy to unhook. In other words , if you don't mind getting your hands dirty, you can save a lot of money.

I have replaced Air Bag computers and had good success with Air Bag CPUs' from auto recycling centers.
Just make sure you disconnect the battery before you start messing with the airbags.


I bought my wife a 2000 flood damage Maxima with 25000 miles on it for $8K 4+ years ago, and the paperwork and owners card and owners manual were all still in the glove box with no evidence that the "water" got in the glove box (all the books and paperwork was perfectly dry).
Drivers power seat did have to be replaced, that was it.

No I don't work for this company, and no they don't pay me to advertise, just passing on some information, believe me , if you go to any auto auction, you are "rolling the dice" and if you buy one of the "ready to go cars" here, you more clearly understand exactly what you are buying.

CPU

cpumechanic said:
No I don't work for this company, and no they don't pay me to advertise, just passing on some information, believe me , if you go to any auto auction, you are "rolling the dice" and if you buy one of the "ready to go cars" here, you more clearly understand exactly what you are buying.

CPU

Appreciate the explanation. I'd make two points though about your above comment. The same "dice" that you roll buying at auction you are also rolling with a rebuilt car (ie. you have no idea what the ownership and maintenance history is for your rebuilt car, in most cases --- I assume this is what you meant). I will grant you that you have more opportunity to back out of a deal on a rebuilt title car when compared with a dealer auction.

I believe that there is such a fundamental difference in the marketability of a rebuilt title car that for most people it is not worth the up front savings. An auction purchased car, though comparatively less "discounted" vs. retail suffers from no real liquidity constraints. Big difference (to me, at least).

By the way, these guys run a similar operation in Connecticut Imports Unlimited.

Important Note: I have never done business with them. Called a couple of times on interesting vehicles and I used to work with a guy years ago that bought a car from them and had good success. That is IT! Buyer beware.

Also, as a side note, I think I'd prefer to buy a partially stripped theft recovery vehicle than a flood car. Like all the other sheep out there, I wouldn't touch a flood car with a 10 foot pole.

I second what the guy above said about salvage title and even flood cars. Thats is the business we are in and run much the same type business. We show damaged pictures, old parts if we still have them around, show exactly what was done and recipets for genuine (non-aftermarket) parts. We certainly save people TONS and do it very honestly. We often give 3yr/36K miles warrenties as well.

As far as a 'dealer buying for you at an auction', playing devil advocate here I will tell you why we will never do this unless its a very close personal friend who we feel money is really not an option. Lets say person A on FW contacts me, wants to buy this 30K BMW. I tell him, ok, 500, I'll do it. We buy it, and he doesnt pay me, cant get a loan, etc, etc, etc...we have heard ALL kinds of excuses to that effect, which is why we will not hardly buy anyone a vehicle for just a fee. We have told people, ok, give us 25K...then we will buy a car, but obviously, that makes people un-easy. Yet they dont see why I should be uneasy going the other way.

I dont disagree that buying a vehicle at a drivethru auction is a better way than buying from some used/new car store... its just that unless you have a good friend with a license, better hope you can find a new dealer that just hasnt been burnt by someone...yet.

Good luck!

troutmd said:As far as a 'dealer buying for you at an auction', playing devil advocate here I will tell you why we will never do this unless its a very close personal friend who we feel money is really not an option. Lets say person A on FW contacts me, wants to buy this 30K BMW. I tell him, ok, 500, I'll do it. We buy it, and he doesnt pay me, cant get a loan, etc, etc, etc...we have heard ALL kinds of excuses to that effect, which is why we will not hardly buy anyone a vehicle for just a fee. We have told people, ok, give us 25K...then we will buy a car, but obviously, that makes people un-easy. Yet they dont see why I should be uneasy going the other way.

Why not use an escrow service to hold the buyer's cash and write up a contract detailing buyer & dealer obligations? I won't make an effort to value someone else's time - so it may not be worth your time for $500 - but this seems like a perfectly reasonable solution to the issue.

Buyer and Dealer just need to be smart about how business is conducted. Obviously, if the buyer isn't asked to put up money before the purchase there will be those who view the transaction as optional. Again, this is the purpose of having a contract in place and using an escrow service to ensure that the buyer completes their end of the deal. I see no reason to avoid this business for the reasons you describe.

I'll add one other comment. From a practical standpoint, you may run into financing issues with my idea above. The average person, for whatever reason, insists on financing car purchases. That said, I would put a deposit into escrow with a binding contract. The deposit should be enough to cover your losses in the event the buyer doesnt complete the purchase. Terms could be defined in the contract. This would cover you if the buyer doesnt get the loan. Again, just requires being smart about how you run the business.

Lastly, check out escrow.com for an example. The escrow service are not expensive. Frankly, seems like a decent side business to me if you are already going to the auctions in your mainline work.