Learn me online salvage auctions

I've been looking at online auto auctions for salvage vehicles, but I don't know much about them. What can the hive tell me about these auctions, buying process, pitfalls etc.?

Goal is to get a cheap engine donor car.

I buy cars from them all the time. Copart is the biggest by far. TRA is about a tenth of the size but has some decent deals. Are you a dealer or will you need to use a broker?

Keep in mind the fees are high especially on the lower priced cars. Shipping can be more expensive for damaged cars due to difficulties in moving them. Also factor in any broker fees with your purchase price.

Let me know if you have any specific questions?

bid as though everything that can possibly go wrong will.

@pimpm3: I was looking at copart, I'm not a dealer, so I would need a broker. I didn't see the fees section of copart. What are typical fees on a $500 car?

On a $500-$599 car, there is a $125 buyer fee, a $39 fee for bidding on the internet, and a $30 gate fee for them to load it onto your tow truck/ trailer etc. You pay the loading fee even if you drive the car out of the gate Your $500 car is now a $700 car, not to mention any broker fees you may encounter.

I have heard that broker fees run between $100 to $200, I have access to a dealer license so I am not sure on those.

The fees are not as terrible percentage wise on a more expensive car. A $5000-$7500 car has a $425 fee, the same $30 gate fee and a $79 internet bid fee.

I wouldnt want to end up with a flood car. How good is copart about listing flood cars as flood damaged?

They go by what the insurance companies tell them. I would stick to buying vehicles from the big insurance companies, they have no reason to mislead you. When an auction doesn't list the name of the seller in generally means it is not an insurance company.

Thanks for the info!

I purchased a car from Copart a couple of months ago. The best way to do it is to purchase the car you want from the closest facility to your house so hopefully it's close enough that you can look at it in person and hire a mechanic to check it out first. Also, you may not have to get it shipped to your house, either.

It seems like Copart categorizes the damage from what the insurance company tells them, but there may still be hidden damage.

The fees are ridiculous for what you want to do. You can easily run up fees that are far higher than your winning bid. I was looking into this for a '95-98 M3. The fees were higher than the car. Broker fees kill you because they usually charge you a one time membership fee which is $300-500. Unreasonable when I'm interested in a one time deal on a $750 car. The total fees for me were $800, not including transportation.

That is steep. Where was the auction?

I sorta want to start a new thread about it, but figured it may be better to add it under this current topic.

I'm looking for a "decent" car to start AutoX, RallyX, and perhaps some drifting in. As such, I'm totally not trying to get attached and will be prepared to walk away when it's had enough.

Assuming someone like me is looking at salvage vehicles to drive into the dirt, do the typical reasons such as inability to fully insure and resale value(would most likely part out in my case) still apply? The obvious allure here is spending as little as possible for a car that may possibly get demolished anyway, but is salvage auction crossing the line for this type of use?

Craigslist is your friend. Look local, save the fees and shipping expenses for a car that will likely get destroyed, as you say. You can find cars with salvage titles if that's what you want. CL even has a filter for salvage titles so you can just search for salvage cars.