Everyone wants to get a good deal on their
next vehicle (who wouldn't...right?). When buying a vehicle
from a dealer, the least you'll pay for a vehicle is the
dealer's wholesale price (unless he's flipped his lid of
course!). How do many of the used car dealers get their
vehicles? They buy them from auctions. This article is about
the auto auctions that the general public are allowed to
participate in. For someone living in Wisconsin, there are
three common types of Auto Auctions that the public is typically
allowed to participate in.
The first of three that I'll mention is the 'online auto
auction'. Two examples are eBay Motors and Yahoo Auctions.
There are many aspects of online auctions that are very
similar to auctions that occur in public. The people involve
bid on a specific vehicle, and when a time limit expires,
the top bidder takes the vehicle.
Sounds pretty simple huh? Well there are a few things you
are going to need to watch out for. First, you won't see
the vehicle until after you've bought it. This is probably
the biggest drawback for obvious reasons. Second,it's often
the case that the seller won't list the VIN#, so it's impossible
to locate the car's history throu CARFAX. Third, you may
have to drive quite a ways to pick the car up (or have it
delivered to you which can be quite expensive).
The second of the three auctions I'm going to discuss here
is the 'public auto auction'. The public auto auction is
very much what it sounds like. It is the public auction
of automobiles. Dealers often auction their cars off beginning
at wholesale price. This is a good place to get a decent
deal, but most cars will end up being sold (if sold at all)
at or above wholesale prices.
The third and final type of auction that I am going to
talk about is that of 'Police Auctions and Government Auctions'.
There are typically two different types of vehicles up for
auction here. First is the seized vehicle. These could be
any automobiles either owned by or involved with someone
who is participating in illegal activities. The second type
of vehicle is that of the decommisioned vehicle. A good
example of this would be that of a police car that had been
used for five years and was replaced...the government would
then auction the police car off. After attending a police
or government auction, you'll realize that the decommissioned
vehicles often sell for much less than the seized vehicles.
Regardless of which auction you choose to buy your car
from, you need to be very careful. I'd like to offer two
tips.
1) Don't buy a lemon
2) Never pay over blue book value for any of these cars
If you'd like to locate a Wisconsin Auto Auction near you,
visit Wisconsin-Auctions.com
for a complete listing of the various public auctions going
on throughout the wonderful State of Wisconsin! See you
at the Auto Auction!
