Overhaulin'

Has anyone ever been to a police auction for cars?

how was it and how much were the cars selling for? im thinking about going to one and all i know is that you pay a fee to get in. does this fee go towards your bid on the car or no? i know the cars go "as is" also, im taking my friend who is a mechanic with me. but how low do the cars go for, how much should i take with me if i want to buy lets say, a Honda Civic ? like a late 90's?

Public Comments

1. There are no "average" prices when it comes to vehicle auctions. It depends on the car and it's condition and also the "crowd" present to buy. I have seen junk cars go for big money and nice stuff sell cheap. There is usually a "buyers premium" (a percentage added to the winning bid) of 5 to 10%. Some also charge an entrance fee. It helps pay the wages of the auctioneer and his staff. As far as how much to bring, I recommend making sure they take a check or bank card. It isn't wise to bring a lot of cash.
2. just go to the auction (usually they'll let enter 1 day before to look around) because prices start at about 500 and the highest bidder wins. Now that car that your looking for might not be their so be ready. Its good your taking somebody just to be sure
3. I used to do a little work (locksmith) for the lot in kc. Be prepared a lot of the cars don't have keys. Up here they used to take the higher end or newer cars to a different auction. It's a quarterly premium auction. Your city's website should have some info on the auction. Lot of junk down there so be careful I've seen a lot of people buy cars with trans problems out of there of course they don't know til I make a key for them. I've heard around 500 as well. Friend of mine bought a car out of there but he bought a car slightly wrecked. and fixed it cheap. His thinking was it was running when it was wrecked I guess the driver had some warrants. It ended up being a pretty solid car after he fixed it. So I guess it was a good way of thinking about it. Most of the cars are junk out there but there are some decent finds. Any early honda is easy to make a key for just don't go and buy a lexus with no key. In other words don't buy a car that's gonna have a programmable key or a high security key. Anything before say 96 and you should be fine. Also be careful of the stolen cars some have column damage some don't. If the switch is damaged your probably still alright. But if the housing around the switch is jacked up your looking at a column. Pretty common on the dodge/chrysler's.
4. I will say there is no fixed price, it is depend to your luck. However, the price shall be around 20%~30% chepaer then the second hand car sell outside