If you enjoy fixing or rebuilding cars as a hobby or even as a business, you may want to consider buying a salvage car for your next project. Purchasing a vehicle from an auto auction can cost you far less than one purchased from a dealer or private seller, leaving you much more room to either spend money if it is a hobby, or more money to make if it is a business. Searching online for auction cars on sites such as www.salvageautosauction.com, provides you with a huge inventory of all makes and models to choose from. You can register on the site and bid on any of the auctions cars offered by Copart Auto Auctions that is featured on the site. This gives you an opportunity to bid on and purchase cars at auction for a fraction of the price you would pay for one from a private seller or used car dealer.
Not every car for auction sale has a salvage title, nor does every salvage auction car have major collision damage. Copart also has vehicles that have been repossessed, stolen recoveries, or have mechanical damage as well. Depending on the insurance company and state laws, some vehicles retain clean titles, while the rest have either salvage or parts-only titles. If a vehicle is repossessed and not reclaimed by the debtor, the vehicle is sold at auction to allow the finance company to recoup some of their investment on the vehicle. On the other hand there may be vehicles that have sustained collision damage or have caught on fire that have salvage or parts only titles for obvious reasons. A salvage title issued on a vehicle indicates that it cannot be registered and is unsafe to be driven in its current condition. However, you can rebuild the vehicle with a salvage title, have it inspected by the state, and receive a rebuilt title that allows you to register, drive and perhaps sell the vehicle.
Copart has hundreds of auctions of cars all over the United States and all the vehicles can be found on www.SalvageAutosAuction.com. If you see a vehicle that you are interested in, you simply need to click the Lot# and it will give you more information on the vehicle as well as the title status, location as well as photos. If you are interested in bidding on the vehicle, it is a good idea to inspect the vehicle yourself if it close to your location, or hire someone to inspect the vehicle for you. Even though you are provided with information and photos, it is always better to be safe and see the vehicle in person, or get something in writing from someone that has seen the vehicle in person. You also want to research the price of the vehicle to determine what a fair bid would be that would leave you room to make money or provide the necessary repairs without going over the actual cash value of the vehicle. If you already have a vehicle you are fixing or rebuilding, you can search for a comparable vehicle for parts and save more on buying a whole car than buying all the parts separately.
If you love working on cars, but do not love paying the high price of a rebuildable or damaged vehicle to repair or restore, consider looking into purchasing a vehicle from a car auction. It is a good way to save money on purchasing the vehicle allowing more room for profit if you fix a vehicle to sell it. If you are purchasing it to restore for yourself, it leaves more room to make the necessary repairs before you start putting too much money into it. Either way, car auctions are a great way to save money, and in some cases, make money as well.
*Image, “Kruse Car Auction Jan 4 2009” appears courtesy of Flickr user, airwaves 1 under the Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) license.