So you’ve decided to brave the fast talking, competitive world of the auctioneer for your next car. There are tons of options when looking for a local auto auction, from police lots to dealer surplus. One often overlooked place to look for your next car is at an impound auction. Impound auctions come in two major categories, police impounded auctions, those that have been possessed by your local police department for any number of reasons, and private impound lots, those from local wrecking and towing companies. Here are a few things to keep on your mind if you’re thinking of going to an impound auction.
First, an impound auction is just like any other auction, inspect the goods before you bid. Some auctions will allow you to come a few days before the event to look at the lots, some have day-of inspections. At Dakil, we do our best to update our Flickr with plenty of photos of our lots before the day of the auction. Most of our auto auctions will generally also have a time scheduled for pre-auction inspection. You can always find that information on our upcoming auctions page.
So after you’ve had time to inspect the lots and have maybe eyed a few vehicles you think you would like, the fun begins. With a bang of the gavel the auction will start and you can start bidding.
(Never been to an auction before? Check out our Auction Etiquette for First Timers for more information.)
Another thing to keep in mind is that buying a car, any car, is never going to be a cheap (in the way a pack of gum is cheap) affair. Make sure you know what the allowed payment methods are before you find yourself responsible for a car you can’t pay for that day. Payment methods vary from auction house to auction house, but rest assured that cash and check will be accepted almost universally.
Why should look at buying a car at an impound or wrecker auction? Well if you’re the type of DIY’er who likes to work on cars or you own a repair shop, impound and wrecker auto auctions are good places to get a bounty of totaled cars with usable parts. But there are plenty of fully functioning vehicles in the mix if you’re looking for a no-hassle place to buy a used car.
Stepping foot on a used car lot immediately puts you in the crosshairs of a salesperson looking to make their commission, but shopping at an auction, you can drive off with a vehicle and the only hassle you had to endure was raising your bidding number and writing a check.
