I just dipped my toe into the copart auction madness, bought two cars. I'm sure many of y'all are ahead of me here. Got any tips to share? Stories to tell, good or bad?
I'll be happy to tell my stories and hopes but I don't want to start out by boring everybody.
And if there is a thread that covers this already, or a better place for this to go, please let me know.
Having bought a few thousand cars at auction, go view the car in person before you bid, if at all possible. Condition reports can be miles away from reality and they almost never speak to mechanical condition.
If you have the time, patience and space, identifying cheap cars with desirable parts is a low risk way to start out. If you buy it right, selling off two parts can put you in the black on that particular car.
Also be aware that buy fees can be a large % of the overall purchase price. Don't forget that you still owe more money after the bidding stops (if you win)
Other than Copart, the other name in the salvage auction business is IAA (Insurance Auctions of America.) I have an IAA location closer to me than a Copart location.
I have written extensively about my experiences in threads like this.
My lead advice is:
All my purchases we pre-covid before market craziness. I was buying sub $2k purchases (often sub $1k) and putting the cars back on the road. Since craziness, the "gambling stakes" have gotten higher than I am comfortable with now that the $2k wrecked car is a $4k wrecked car purchase.
I've bought probably 10-15 cars from Copart and IAA. John Welsh has some great info he has posted on this forum. Beside the tips already mentioned here:
As far as stories, oh boy do I have some. On a more positive note, here's one of the more fun cars I did:
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/porsch-uh-oh-build-aka-the-poorest-mans-porsche/159795/page1/
In reply to ekauppi7 :
Talk away! Share your experience. This is a very accepting group ( they tolerate me)
All solid advice! I'll chime some additional in bold.
enginenerd said:I've bought probably 10-15 cars from Copart and IAA. John Welsh has some great info he has posted on this forum. Beside the tips already mentioned here:
- If it's not immediately obvious why the car was salvaged, avoid it. Try to understand the story of the car and why it's at auction. (wow, that is said so true. I do the same but not really state it so well. I enjoy the "forensics" of learning the car through clues.)
- Avoid private sellers and stick w/ insurance companies. Google the VIN. Lots of these cars were previously sold, prettied up, and dumped back in the auction (in Ohio private party can buy the Insurance co cars but the "dealer cars" there can only be sold to dealers. I find that most of these are "trade-ins" that are so bad off the dealer doesn't want to take them to the big, more Class A auctions like Mannheim because the dealer will have to disclose too much. Their real market is as parts cars an the really low end of the used car lot market. Ohio allows private buyer to buy repos. But know that Repo likely means lots of neglect too. I did get super lucky on a repo Pontiac Vibe that actually came with a full tank of gas!)
- Run & drive does not mean much. I've bought cars with knocking or smoking engines, bad transmissions, or massive suspension damage that were 'run & drive' (yes, R&D means nothing. I have bought Prius that were listed as will not start {that I got started with a jumper} because they didn't bother to try to get in the trunk where the battery is.)
- Don't necessarily expect keys. Usually you get one key and may be missing the fob. Sometimes they will be stolen/lost and the auction company will say 'not our responsibility' even if it was sold as having keys (many deceptive shoppers will take or hide the keys so other shoppers can't try the car as a way to keep the bidding lower. Lot sabotage is a big problem.)
- Be very careful about damage to the car after the auction pics were taken. Once it's on your trailer it's generally too late to get the auction company to do anything. Nearly every single car I purchased was damaged from forklifts ranging from minor cosmetic bumper dents/scrapes to suspension/exhaust damage. Once an operator even put a fork through the quarterpanel...that was fun. (I too have been a victim of similar but only minor damage.)
Ok, a bit of my Copart newbie story. This started with my son needing a car as he his getting ready to move out and start his first professional job. Things are a bit slow at my day job so I though working together on a car project, but not too big a one, would be fun and save some $. For now I stuck with cars that are in state and clear title so I don't need to mess with a broker.
I looked carefully at photos and made lists but was not able to go look at the cars in person. Lots of people buy cars sight unseen on Copart, but I agree with OP's, it's better to look in person if possible.
Car #1 is a 2012 Nissan Altima, advertised as 'runs and drives'. 65k miles. The photos showed damage on the rear quarter and C pillar, which is not so easy to fix but it looked like the door and trunk were not damaged and would latch. Newbie mistake #1, I wanted the car too much and got into a bidding war. Winning bid was $5100 and with fees and tax it was $6369 total. That's a few thousand below private party book value so while I paid too much it may still be all right IF it doesn't need much.
The good news is that the car really does run and drive, we could have driven it home from the lot. AC blows cold, everything works, nothing leaks, recent oil change, good tires, a solid car. We got lucky, it could have been none of those things from the info I had before I bid.
The bad news is that the car has more damage than showed in the photos. Surprise! (not). A roof dent, a poorly repaired front fender crinkle and side mirror, a stone chip in the windshield, busted up front bumper cover, some bad scrapes on the exhaust system. Some of that I could have seen in the photos if I had looked more critically and some I could not.
Putting together the story of the car is interesting and a bit confusing. First thought is the roof dent is what totalled it, as the proper repair would be to re-skin the roof. And oddly, the listing said "side damage" which makes sense for the C pillar, but the sticker that Copart put on the car listed "undercarriage damage". Which was present and not pretty but no leaks nothing terrible. The radiator and AC condensor are surprisingly bent, given that they are not leaking and the front bumper cover is broken but not trashed.
Bottom line, mission accomplished. Jacob could drive this to his new job tomorrow and it would not be the worst car in the lot. If we spend some effort and just a few dollars on repairs, it'll be pretty darn nice. Way better than my first six or so cars when I was his age! We got lucky.
Second car is a 2016 VW Jetta, 95k miles, needs a front fender and a headlight, maybe a bit more. I'd earmarked it as a good candidate and when I could get it for little $ I did. Winning bid was $2400 and with fees and taxes it was $3377. This car is pretty clean and does start and run, but walking around finds a few other minor damages that I did not see up front. I think I can fix this one up and sell it well, kbb says private party value is $8000 - $9500 in good condition. I'm keeping a careful spreadsheet of money and time, so I can see how I did on it without fooling myself. I looked at parts costs before I bid.
Since then I've gone to two different Copart lots and looked at cars, with a list of candidates I found online in hand. This is really interesting and fun. I definitely found some that looked good online that I would not bid on after seeing them in person. I also found some that look worse online than I think they really are, i'll be interested to follow those auctions and see if people are scared away and they might turn out to be good deals. For "ordinary" cars I think this is the way to go, search online, make a list and then look at them in person before bidding.
I'm tempted, dreaming about finding more interesting cars that might be keepers for me, but the rarer it is the farther away they usually are. And these tend to be more expensive, so the gamble of bidding sight unseen is for higher stakes. And of course I could sign up with a broker so I could bid on more cars but that brings another layer of complexity and fees.... If I were sensible I'd fix the Jetta first and see how that works out, and keep watching and learning, before I spend more money.
I *think* the reason all the damage may not get listed on the auction is because the computer system can only accept one or two 'locations' of damage. So 'right rear' and 'right front' may use up the available choices which then leaves out 'undercarriage' or 'roof'. I'd have to log in to Copart to check for sure on my end as a seller but I'm off this week. 
ekauppi7 said:Since then I've gone to two different Copart lots and looked at cars, with a list of candidates I found online in hand. This is really interesting and fun. I definitely found some that looked good online that I would not bid on after seeing them in person. I also found some that look worse online than I think they really are, i'll be interested to follow those auctions and see if people are scared away and they might turn out to be good deals. For "ordinary" cars I think this is the way to go, search online, make a list and then look at them in person before bidding.
This was exactly me in my IAA hayday of 2017-2019. My auctions were Tuesday so preview day was Monday. By Friday they would have everything list online for the upcoming auction. I would scour the photos over the weekend using the save/bookmark feature of the website. I would then have a list of about 10 cars that I wanted to see on Monday. I am just 2o minutes from IAA Cleveland. I would arrive with that list of 10 or so and there would always be one the I considered the #1. So many times when actually seeing/touching/smelling that #1 I left realizing that I wouldn't want this car even if for free. And, likewise cars that I had a mild interest really got better with seeing them.
Many times I also realized that I didn't want any of them.
Thanks for the story/share. Keep it coming!
Auctions are all about the inspection.
I'm different I don't look for fixer-uppers, I look for parts donator's. Buy the whole car and pull the parts needed. Than haul the remnants to the scrap yard. Or the specialty wreckers.
I like burned cars because most fires aren't hot enough to melt engine or chassis parts. Typically you're only bidding against scrap metal dealers.
pictures will usually tell me all I need to know.
Well that was educational. 
I'm looking for a tow vehicle so I stumbled across this nice F350 dually with 76k miles, clear title, no visible rust or damage. This one in fact:
https://www.copart.com/lot/61540752/clean-title-2010-ford-f350-super-duty-mi-detroit
It's not exactly the truck I want, but I have a buddy who needs a work truck, the auction was coming up fast, it's local, so what the heck, I put in a ridiculously low $1200 max bid before the auction. Imagine my surprise when I won the auction for $725! But then the nice lady from Copart called me and said the seller had a reserve and did I want to pay more? I said I want to inspect it before I offer real money. So an inspection was arranged, and she told me "by the way, their reserve was $12,000, just letting you know so you don't waste your time."
Well I'm not going to bid anything near $12k for a truck I don't really need... But I thought it would be educational to go look. It sure was. This truck is an "offsite sale" meaning it's not on the Copart lot. I got there and then it got really interesting. The truck looks really nice. Some normal wear and tear but no rust and the cab is actually still shiny. So the question is, why are they selling it?
It wouldn't start. On a Copart lot that might have been the end of the story, but at this offsite lot with helpful folks I was able to get a jump. It still wouldn't start. Turns out the shift linkage is disconnected, the lever is in P but the trans is in 3, so the interlock won't let it start. Disconnected why?.. Anyway the trans was moved manually into P and then it would start. Much became clear, the engine has a very loud knock.
Copart listed the truck as "runs and drives". It might, for a few minutes. There is a damage category for 'mechanical' but this was not checked, it was listed as 'normal wear and tear' and 'minor dents and scratches'. A little unethical perhaps, but I guess all is fair in a Copart auction.
As far as I am concerned, this relates closely to what Enginerd said above, try to understand the story of the vehicle. My lesson for the day is that a vehicle with no obvious damage and fairly low miles doesn't end up on Copart looking like a great deal for no reason. There must be a reason why it is on Copart instead of some other sales channel.
I'm not going to bid on this truck. I could see bidding on a vehicle with mechanical damage, I'm a better mechanic than I am a body and paint person. If the price was right and the vehicle was worth the possible effort.
In reply to ekauppi7 :
Unfortunately this seems par for the course with these auction companies. There are a lot of shady sellers trying to unload stuff (and a few of them are actually clever in the way they mask issues). I'm actually surprised they let you inspect the vehicle after the auction...I haven't had luck with seeing anything after bidding, even if I didn't meet the reserve.
"If it's too good to be true, it probably is" has become my mantra when Coparting. I've learned to stay far far away from the normal wear/minor dents & scratches cars and now prefer immediately obvious crash damage.
Just for giggles here's a pic of the last "normal wear" car I bought from Copart 
It caught on fire in your shop??
The truck I was bidding on is up for auction again since RNM, maybe that's why I could inspect it. Or because it was off-site?
ekauppi7 said:It caught on fire in your shop??
It had a blown turbo and audible engine knock. Listed as normal wear/minor dents & scratches, run & drive, no mention of mechanical damage.
Frenchyd said that burned vehicles usually have good engines. I happen to need an engine for a tow vehicle.
What about this one? The aluminum rim looks melted. Of course the plastic intake manifold is toast, but the alternator body is still there.... I wonder if the aluminum heads are OK. Probably the iron block and internals are ok...?
What do you think?
https://www.copart.com/lot/59075382/salvage-2015-ram-2500-st-in-fort-wayne
Copart lot # 59075382 if the link doesn't work.
I've personally seen engines damaged by fire. Enough times to not trust it. His life experiences have been vastly different than mine.
I've never had shock absorbers last 385,xxx miles, and still dampen as good as brand new , nor had a wood deck trailer rot away so fast I could watch it happen. I've also had tire blow outs lead to more than a simple flat tire.
but, he might be able to look at a picture and know if the engine is ok. I can not.
I'd rather get an engine out of a wreck. You know it drove all the way to the accident.
You'll need to log in to post.
