Any experience with those?

It's the ones where you can buy a 1993 Ford Taurus for $75 or a 1991 Chevy Lumina for $50, or a van for $150, typically '96-97 cars for around a grand.
Saw a '96 Accord 5-speed with around 100K miles sell for $1200.

The downside is you don't know the condition, the maintenance history, or anything else. When you buy it, you don't know how much to fix. The auction allows time to inspect the vehicle, turn it on, but not drive it. Many vehicles have smoke from the exhaust pipe, engine noises, or something.


Well, I went to such an auction. I got a 1996 Mazda 626 and paid $1200 for it. It was the leather/V6 package. The miles not very high. The catch? Well, my first surprise was the tranny was shot. It wouldn't go beyond the 1st speed. When I tried to get a replacement, found out it is a widespread failure. Hard to find one. Had to drive 500 miles to buy one.
Found out that 90's mazda trannys are junk, sometimes requiring 3 replacements by 100K miles.

Also, the temp. gauge was dead, some electrical problems, and such. All in all, had to put a 1000 in it to make it driveable. Ended up with a $2200 car which was pretty nice but had some minor dents and worn leather.

Conclusions:

I will probably not buy a car on a salvage auction again.
I will probably not buy an automatic again, from any manufacturer.
I will probably not buy a Mazda again.

These auctions are however really nice for parts cars, but usually not cost effective to restore cars.

IMHO?

 

That is why those cars are in the auction in the first place. They are so bad no dealer would want them.

 

What about those police auctions?

 

Sometimes there's late-model stuff there as well. Our local wrecking yard keeps a steady supply of late-model totals for sale. Amazing how little damage it takes to total some of these cars. The cautionary note is there's a lot more late model used cars around that have (or had) salvage titles than you can believe. Katrina took out 200-300 new car dealerships alone.

 

Speaking of Katrina, I forget just what show it was, but on the Discovery Channel, one of the Hotrod shows done a special on restoring a car that had been damaged by flood. Just to get the Electrical working, they spent $1,200 just on parts.

If you can get the Meldew smell out of the cars, and considering the cost of a new car/truck being $25,000 Plus, this may be a chance to pick up on some real good deals if you have the know how for Electrical.

 

Only the worse unsaleable cars go to auction. If there were any real "steals" then the people who were running the auction, which are usually used car dealers themselves, would have taken the car.

 

I don't think it's gonna be a Mildew smell you will have to worry about.... there are going to be 100 different smells to get out.

Even if you have to replace the whole interior, you will be able to get a good deal.

Many of the manufacturers used to give flood damaged new vehicles to automotive tech schools to use for diagnostic and troubleshooting teaching aids. Anybody know if they still do that?

 

It depends on the auction. One I have dealt with does no sales of their own, and most are repos or accident damaged. You have to know what you are looking at and what potentiol problems there are before bidding. I picked up an86 Sunbird for $50, then after the auction had their fee, it was about $125. It had a separated ball jooint, whick then let the wheel go back and munch the fender, and damaged the CV joint and brake hose. I ran the car for 2 years with a total investment of $350 by the time I was done.
My father has bought several from there and repaired, and his investment has never exceeded $1200 total. Just gotta know what you may be facing. Wrecks are a little better in that you can assume it was operational when it was wrecked... Actually, regular auctions with vehicles on it are no safer than salvage auctions, because you still can't drive it. I think my dad has been stuck more on regular auctions than salvage auctions.

 

Not all are salvage, some are repo, some are donated due to lots of work required, like my Mazda.

I've noticed that about 95% of cars are not cost-effective to restore. Even if restored, their real prices aren't that great. It's only good if you want the car.

Ocasionally you see good things, like at one of the recent auctions there was a '96 Civic. I revved the engine, had someone watch the exhaust pipe and of course if was blown, bad stuff coming out of it. Had to assume the worst. It was a manual with about 70K miles. Also the AC was bad. And who knows what else. After engine replacement it could probably last a long time. Also had to assume needed the cat. Looking at at least a grand in repairs and much time and patience. I didn't have time or money to mess with it, busy with the long Mazda project I got there.
Now the Civic 5 speed is a cult car, which is surprising 'cause it is a little econobox. But the street prices for '96-97 are 3-4 grand which even high gas prices fail to justify IMO.

So, YMMV (YourMileageMayVary)


P.S. To find out what you may be dealing with, before buying it, check out carsurvey.org it is a pretty good feeback site, type in year and model and get back typical problems it has.

 

GM doesn't give out the flood-damaged vehicles, but many of their buy-backs wind up in Auto Tech Schools and High Schools across the country.

 

Very interesting thread. My 98 Expedition EB(see signature for info) was purchased at a coparts.com facility in PA with a salvage title. It was declared a total loss with only 37k on the ticker, the bulk of the damage was a destroyed(by a motorcycle) drivers door. A cracked windshield and a few interior plastic trim pieces. Aside from that the truck was tip top. My total purchase price came out to $5300, including the auction fee. If you want to see the progress of rebulding my baby see my gallery. Also coparts.com carries every possible vehicle you can imagine, form Vipers to Subaru's, all with some sort of damage. Damage types include roll over, fire, collision, and theft which is perhaps the best type of damage if you want to get a vehicle that will be as close to new as possible for a reaonable price.

 

I have bought a few from the Auctions. Mostly I go for Local Police Impounds. In Utah they are required to run all Impound Auctions on a Public Bulletin Board at the County Courthouse. The best deal I picked up was a 77 F150. Course this was back in 85, but I only paid $17 impound fee, and that was it. Most of the Police Impound auctions for my area, there is only me and a couple others bidding. You pay the Towing Fee, and Storage Fee, and the vehicle is yours. The storage company hopes you do not show up as they then get clear title, and can sale it to the other Auctions or Auto Salvage for 10 times that amount.

I have picked up a few since from Schools, Forest Service, BLM, etc. Utah has a web sight where they put up vehicles, machinery, etc for all goverment facalities. I am sure each state has one as well.

If you follow the link, you can pick your state, and see what the goverment has for penny's on the dollar. Here is your chance to get back some of your Tax Dollars.

http://www.publicsurplus.com/IANAuction/ut

 

BTW, one of the guys I work with picked up a Mig Welder and a 18" X 56" Metal Lathe for only $300. He got them home, and both work great. It was just time to replace them was all. For the students safety, each equipment is required to be replaced when it hits a age limit.

 

I work at a body shop and the owner just got done buying a few cars from the salvage sale, he bought a Focus that had its roof caved it(we are putting a new roof on it right now from a parts car he has) and ofcourse a few other dents in the doors and a windshield.... and we just got a surprise that the front struts are completely gone, the front of the car appears to be lowered...lol he got a hyundai thing to(which needs new rear hubs and a bumper repair, the best deal was a impala that only needs a windshield, a fender, and a headlight, which is about to be done... if I get a couple thousand saved up(yeah right), i'm considering going with him to one of these sells and getting me a wrecked truck or something, just to fix and make driveable, and make it my offroad truck...

 

I bought a 93 honda civic from a salvage about a month ago, put some rims on it, and sold it four double what i paid for it.