Not every person who drives a luxury car is wealthy. The guy next door who drives a BMW or Mercedes may have received the car as a gift, inherited it, or won it in a bet or a raffle.
If you don’t have any rich relatives likely to give or leave you a Jaguar, or if you don’t fancy your luck in games of chance, there’s one more option for you. Get a government-seized car on auction, and you’ll be able to drive the car of your dreams without paying an arm and a leg for it.
What is a government-seized automobile?
When criminals are caught, the government seizes their property, including their automobiles. The government then auctions these automobiles off.
As you might imagine, a lot of criminals drive expensive or highly customized vehicles, and these are the kinds of vehicles that end up in government-seized automobile auctions.
How do I find a government-seized auto auction?
These auctions are held at frequent intervals in different parts of the country. There is likely to be one near you, but if you’re willing to travel, that expands your range of options considerably.
You can look for auction listings in newspapers or online. If you decide to look online, you can either do your own search or use an online auction directory service (for a one-time fee). If you hire a directory service, make sure you get a money-back guarantee.
How can I participate in a government-seized auto auction?
When you’ve found an auction you want to participate in, get in touch with the auction administrators and ask about registration requirements. In most cases, registration is free, and a photo ID is all that’s required.
How do I pay for my purchases at these auctions?
Most auctions accept cash, cashier’s check, and credit card (Visa or MasterCard). Payment terms differ from auction to auction. Some auctions will require a deposit on the day of the auction and the balance the following day.
Other auctions require immediate full payment for all purchases. Auctions that allow deposits on the day of the auction might require immediate full payment for purchases worth less than a certain amount, say, $5,000. Before you go to the auction site, find out what modes of payment the auction allows.
Are these auctions for real?
It’s possible to get good deals at these auctions, but you will have to do your homework. Don’t go in there before you’ve armed yourself with information about the kind of car you want and the kind of prices such a car would fetch on the market.
The best deals at government-seized auto auctions are usually on older, well-maintained vehicles.
There are several downsides to acquiring vehicles at government-seized auto auctions. First, the selection changes all the time. You can’t specify the kind of vehicle you want. You have to settle for what’s available. And because of the constant changes in selection, you can’t expect detailed information on descriptions and prices.
What information you do get is not necessarily reliable. It would be best to check out the vehicle yourself. If the auction is far from your place of residence, you will have to travel to the auction site at least a few days before the day of the auction to inspect the goods.
Second, you won’t be able to test-drive the vehicles. You’ll be able to look the vehicle over and ask questions, though. Vehicles aren’t available for inspection on the day of the auction, but there are auction previews, usually a day or two in advance. This is another reason to travel to the auction site at least a few days beforehand.
Third, these auctions don’t offer warranties. So be sure to get as much information as you can about the car you want. Ask the auction administrators for the car’s Vehicle Information Number (VIN) and use it to get a CarFax report on the car.
The CarFax report will give you valuable information, including odometer readings and history of flood damage or accidents.
Finally, bidding can get extremely competitive, especially if the car you have your eye on is new, popular, or well-maintained. You may find yourself bidding against used-car dealers, many of whom search these auctions for bargains that they can resell in turn.
Furious bidding can push auction prices up, sometimes close to or even exceeding the actual value of the automobile. When this happens, there’s little point in acquiring the automobile at an auction. You might as well buy it somewhere else.
Have you been looking for a new used car to buy? If you have, there is good chance that you have visited a number of local car dealerships and there is also a good chance that you have kept your eyes and ears open on the way to and from work. Unfortunately, finding and buying a good quality used car isn’t necessarily as easy at it once was. For that reason, you may have spent weeks or even months searching for the perfect used car, only to come up empty handed. If that is the case, you may want to think about attending a public used car auction.
Even if you have never attended a used car auction before, you likely already know what one is. A used car auction is when used vehicles are auctioned off in a public setting. A public used car auction is one that is open to the general public. It is an auction where just about anyone, including you, can walk into. While different public used car auctions vary, depending on who is running it, you will find that a large number of public used car auctions are free to attend.
Since a large number of individuals are able to successfully buy a used car from a public used car auction, you may want to think about attending one. When it comes to finding a public used car auction to attend, you will have a number of different options. A few of your options are touched on below.
Perhaps, one of the easiest ways to go about finding a local public used car auction is by skimming through your local newspapers. A large number of auctions, including used car auctions, are advertised in the classified sections of many newspapers. This advertisement is often done in the weeks leading up to a used car auction. What is nice about checking your local newspaper classifieds to get information on a public used car auction is that you likely already get a newspaper, whether you pick one up on your way from home from work or if you a have subscription.
Another easy way that you can go about finding a local public used car auction to attend is by using the internet. When it comes to using the internet, you will find that you have a number of different options. To examine these options, it is first important that you know how some public used car auctions work. There are some auction houses or facilities that host used car auctions on a scheduled basis, like once or twice a month. On the other hand, there are some auction houses that only choose to host an auction when they have enough used cars to auction off. If you are interested in finding a public used car auction that is held on a scheduled basis, you may be able to use an online phone book or an online business directory.
In addition to using an online phone book or an online business directory to find information on an upcoming public used car auction, you can also use a standard internet search. When it comes to performing a standard internet search, you will want to keep your location in mind. For example, if you are a Chicago resident, you will likely not want to travel to New York just to attend a used car auction. For that reason, your standard internet search phrase should be something along lines of “Chicago used car auctions.” Your standard internet search should lead you to the online websites of individuals or companies who run public used car auctions. Should you find one of those online websites, you will want to thoroughly examine it to see if information is given on the cars that will be auctioned off and so forth.
In your search for a public used car auction, you may actually come across a number of different public used car auctions to attend. If you live in or around the Chicago area, you may want to take the time to examine North Shore Auto Auction.
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Your old car just went to pieces today and you have very little money in your pockets. Perhaps you could look at the very limited selection at one of those local car dealerships that offer financing on a high sticker price made even higher by the interest rates they plan on charging you. You could go to the bank for a loan and beg the loan officer to give you some cash at a very high interest rate. You could do either of these things but you wish there was another option. Well, there are other options and they are called car auction sites.
How Do Car Auction Sites Work?
If you want to avail yourself of this great money saving opportunity, it may prove helpful to learn a bit about car auction sites first. Car auction sites offer a wide range of vehicle choices due to their very nature. The automobiles being auctioned are usually placed up for bid by individuals or small auto dealerships so prices can range from the no reserve car auction to items that have a preset price or at least some reserve on the car where the seller has the right to refuse to sell unless the price goes higher than his stated reserve price. Thus if a seller put a vehicle on an car auction site with a reserve of two hundred dollars and the highest bidder only bid one hundred ninety dollars, the seller would have the choice of selling the car for the one hundred ninety dollar bid or refusing the sale and relisting the car thru another car auction site.
There are a few things to consider before bidding on car auction sites as well. One major consideration is the location of the vehicle and the cost and method of shipping. The automobiles sold on car auction sites are located around the globe so pay close attention to where the car is located before bidding because all bids are considered final and legally binding as contracts and if you win the bid you will be expected to fulfill your contractual obligations towards the purchase.
Another consideration before bidding on car auction sites is the reputation of the seller offering the vehicle you are looking at. Car auction sites such as Ebay Motors have a great way of making sure you know the sellers reputation. Every buyer and seller on Ebay has a rating. It is generally considered a very good practice to buy from sellers who have high ratings and good feedback. This helps to insure that your experience with car auction sites will be a pleasant one.
