The auto industry has grown so much and you have so many choices that when it comes to buying new and expensive cars, sometimes you’re better off buying a cheap car which drives well.
A lot of people tend to go even further with their frugal pursuit of a cheap used car until they end up showing up at an used auto auction place where everything seems too good to be true! Here are some top tips for you to understand how do cars at auctions are being sold, the basics on how do some people make profit out of lemons.
When buying used cars from auctions where everything is sold so fast, you can get a handful of surprises like: broken power steering, deployed airbags or even worse, an engine which needs a total rebuild in order for it to properly work; We’re talking about big bucks or a huge price tag that isn’t worth it and that surpasses by far the acquisition cost from the auction place!
- “well dressed” rust buckets– this usually fools you better at online car auctions with great car photos but it works pretty well in normal auctions too; The thing is that you’re presented with a car that has a great exterior, nice paint finish and etc. That car went through some serious auto detailing with great car care before heading out to the photo shoot. You’ll never know what’s under that “mask” until it’s too late!
- botched cars or flooded ones– another reason why not to buy from car auctions is that some cars went through terrible car crashes and are botched up for a quick sale at the car auction or they’ve been flooded, with blown up engine, faulty electrics and what not! Do you want to know something? At the auction, you’re buying a car as is so there’s usually no warranty, no nothing! Be aware of totaled cars!
- repossessed cars by banks– so, people who can’t afford anymore to pay the bills, usually know that a long time before the bank starts taking stuff so they start to neglect their possessions including their cars. This means that the cars haven’t seen their usual care of cars for a while now and maybe they don’t even have all the parts anymore because the previous owner started selling them to make money, knowing that his car will be repossessed anyway!
- stolen cars-VIN swapping gives stolen cars a new identity so for a short while, until it’s discovered, you’re buying a legit car so beware with the auto auction!
The thing is that if you don’t believe me with this stuff and why you shouldn’t buy from vehicle auctions, here’s a great example showing you that even fully damaged cars which go on sale at online auctions, go through cosmetic improvements for a higher value, thus, auto auctions are scams (usually)!
Here’s how to spot hidden damage on cars in online salvage car auctions:
