Government auctions maybe near where you live AND NOW added online ones as well.

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: Tommy2000GT
woohoo i get to buy drug dealer porsches for $10k

"She needs premium!!!! Premium!!!! Duuuuuuude!!!"

 

[Tommy2000GT]

this is crap. The auctions where the good/decent cars are sold, are for dealers only

 

[Tommy2000GT]

 

[Tommy2000GT]

I need to find a way to get a dealer's license

 

[mikeford]

Dealer only auctions are no real problem at all, look for a guy in a cheap suit and offer him $500 over the bid to buy what you want. The reason they are dealer only is that end users are pesky and annoying, plus some of the auction terms go flakey if it isn't a dealer on both ends of the deal. Dealers can shuffle cars back and forth all they want, with anybody else the transfer is a retail sale requiring taxes and paperwork

OTOH if you don't understand that auctions are all about getting a hot deal, ON AVERAGE, with some being a total bomb you have zero recourse with, you may end up very unhappy and out of luck.

 

[Thump553]

Very informative original post, and great addon info from mikeford.

I've been to a few government surplus auctions and they have universally been a waste of time. From talking to people in the business, generally speaking the items are offered around to other government agencies first before being auctioned. So if you are looking for something commonly used, like vehicles or office furniture, you are pretty well assured that whatever is up for auction is in really bad shape or has some other major problem.

My state's MVD has a vehicle auction every six months or so. Nearly everything sold is parts car quality or worse.

OTOH, there are regular vehicle auctions (every week in this area) where you can get great deals. These are dealer only (make or buy a friend) and are used by car dealers to adjust inventory, finance companies to get rid of repos and leasing companies to dump surplus beyond what their lots can handle. You can do really good here-but remember two things: (1) you are bidding against professional buyers who know the product, so you are not going to get a $20k car for $500 and (2) buy a repo at your own risk-I never would, because it almost certainly has been abused and service neglected.

 

[Aquila76]

Originally posted by: mikeford
Dealer only auctions are no real problem at all, look for a guy in a cheap suit and offer him $500 over the bid to buy what you want. The reason they are dealer only is that end users are pesky and annoying, plus some of the auction terms go flakey if it isn't a dealer on both ends of the deal. Dealers can shuffle cars back and forth all they want, with anybody else the transfer is a retail sale requiring taxes and paperwork

OTOH if you don't understand that auctions are all about getting a hot deal, ON AVERAGE, with some being a total bomb you have zero recourse with, you may end up very unhappy and out of luck.

In MA, the property/home auctions are the same way. They are on the premises, but are as is/where is. You don't get any walkthrough of the home before hand. It may look like a beautiful home on the outside, but inside is a moldy, trashed, rotted shell filled with rats, termites, and cockroaches - did I mention the nuclear waste buried out back in the unmarked graveyard?; and it's 100% yours - the bank is not responsible for anything that's wrong with the property. It is rare that something is a total loss, but I'd say roughly 60% require some decent work to bring them up to State inspection passability.

 

[brian_riendeau]

Also don't forget this link:

http://www.govliquidation.com/

It is a Military surplus auction site that has listings in most states.

And for anyone in Maine, here is the link to the Maine state auctions, There are none going on now, but soon?.

http://www.maine.gov/bgs/centralserv/surplus/index.htm

 

[Preyhunter]

GSA Auctions

 

[Chunkee]

man, could those site be any worse....just horrible.

jC

 

[BadThad]

Interesting links.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Thanks!
And the creepiest auction item is...
Sure that's rust...

 

[mikeford]

What makes these auctions good is the volume of goods they have to move per month. What seems best to me are the auctions just big enough to have interesting items from time to time, but not big enough to draw in too many retail sellers. Retail car lots really don't have much interest in ex county or utility company vehicles, used office equipment stores are very picky about what they bid on due to warehouses full of bulky slow moving items.

Auctions are fun because its betting against the other people that you know more about the item than they do, or have better ability to use or sell the item, or that flay out you are willing to take a bigger chance. Plus once in a while you do get lucky. I know guys in the business for 20+ years that still get excited when digging into a load of unknown stuff with the chance that something really neat is buried in it.

Like almost everything fun, auctions are addictive, but a great place to meet really creepy people.

 

[Cheapest]

Would those .com website be scam? You can setup a website and draw money for those greet!

 

[TekDemon]

Heh the NJ one has some smashed up Mercedes...
"2003 MERCEDES-BENZ CLK320 COUPE, SILVER, AUTO, SMART KEY ONLY/NO KEY FOR LOCKS, EXTERIOR/INTERIOR DAMAGE, ODOMETER READS 35,853, VIN:WDBTJ65J53F016824" The pic is really tiny but it looks like the driver side window is half smashed out (shot out?) and the other side might be completely missing...heck the other side might not even have doors lol. At any rate, I wonder what they mean by no key for locks...if it has a smart key isn't that all you need for the MB's?

I wonder how much this thing will go for...if the damage isn't too horrendous I could probably waste some of my time trying to patch it up then reselling it.

 

[TekDemon]

Wow...wtf...the GSA auto auctions are idiotic...they're way overpriced considering that the quality of the cars is in some doubt. Private party value on a 2002 Taurus LX should be $6000 (Edmunds TMV-I find it more useful than KBB) but the government wants $6300 minimum bid?! No wonder nobody's bid on it. Admittedly it could be a higher trimmed model, but since they didn't bother to list what trim it is, I'm gonna go with LX.

Then they have a rather scraped up Dodge Stratus with a minimum bid of $6900...sure it's low miles, but even then it's apparently worth a whole $6600 private party according to edmund's. And of course I'd have to get the stupid car to where I am myself...plus it's all the way across the country...wtf is the GSA thinking.

 

[mikeford]

GSA often has some "special" rules. One of the regional places isn't too far from me, and it was kick to check out some of the weird stuff, but very often prices were nuts. The reason for the nuts prices is that all sorts of organizations, public and private, could get some kind of voucher from the government that they could only spend at these type of places. Most of the stuff was sold for this funny money, homeless shelters would get everything from rubber bands to cars like you mention. After a month or so, then what left would get lotted up and liquidated via auction or regular buyers of that class of item.