How to Find Used Car Auctions

In just about every city and town, there are auctioneers who routinely auction off cars and trucks at their used car auctions. Most of them have email notifications of their upcoming auctions. You just sign up for their email updates, and you'll know when they're auctioning off used cars. Sometimes auctions can give great deals, so it pays to know when auctions are happening in your area.

Other Types of Used Car Auctions

From time to time, government agencies, like the police, city, county, and other agencies hold auctions to get rid of their older vehicles. In government auctions, they often sell seized vehicles from illegal activity, too. Usually, government agencies run ads in the newspaper when they're getting ready for an auction, and they list them on their government websites, too. These vehicles are usually sold "as is," so there's no guarantee that they've been maintained and have their original titles. That's one thing to be aware of when you attend used car auctions. You need to be sure there's a valid title on the vehicle, and you need to run a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) check to make sure the VIN numbers match. If they don't, the vehicle could be stolen, or the title could be compromised. Never buy a car when the auctioneer says the title is "in transit," because the title may not exist.

Online Used Car Auctions

Today, it's easy to sit down at your computer, pull up a website, and buy a car, sight unseen. Many different online used car auctions are available 24/7. It's more difficult to buy a car online, because you can't look at it or have it inspected, so you have to be even more careful when you buy a car from the Internet. First, you should always run a VIN check on the vehicle to make sure it matches the seller's description. Also, you should verify the seller has the valid title to the car. You should always run a vehicle history report, too. They're available from several sources. You punch in the VIN number and you can see the vehicle's history. That's extremely important, because you'll find out if the car was involved in any accidents, flooding, or other things that could affect its performance and value.

Used car auctions are often a way to save a lot of money on your next car, but you have to be careful. Some cars may be recovered wrecks, stolen, or suffered major damage. You need to do your homework, find out the history of the cars you want to bid on, and make sure that the cars have a title and have not been involved in accidents or natural disasters.