By: Arthur Cooper
Submitted: 2010-08-20 15:39:06 | Word Count: 664
There was a time when an auto auction in Wisconsin was off-limits for the average buyer. Auctions used to mean cars and trucks that were sold only to dealers, and usually they were cars that were pretty well used-up, with their best miles long behind them. The used car dealer at auction would buy a car or truck for a low price, then make that price the “down payment” on their lot and carry the note from there, meaning any amount charged beyond that (plus the interest) was pure profit.
Not true anymore. There’s no reason to make a used car dealer rich; when it comes to buying a car at a Wisconsin public auto auction, why not eliminate the middleman and get in on the ground floor yourself?
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With Autobidmaster.com and Copart, Wisconsin public auto auctions are available to anyone who’s interested. And even though it’s a remote-buying situation, it’s far from being a pig in a poke. You have the option to thoroughly check a car out before you start bidding on it; Copart offers the services of mechanics and body men who can give you a thorough assessment of the vehicle before you put in a bid. Online brokers can arrange for test drives and all documentation before the bids start, and all payments, fees and other charges are explicitly discussed and listed from the start so there are no nasty surprises for the buyer. You can also get a Carfax vehicle history report before making the purchase. Anyone who has ever made a bad call on a used car, didn’t do a thorough inspection beforehand and wound up with four wheels worth of headaches, can certainly appreciate the importance of having a knowledgeable mechanic help with the decision.
Autobidmaster.com can arrange delivery of cars to anywhere in the continental US, with one of several licensed, insured auto transport carriers.
Cars might wind up in the auction system for numerous reasons. A car might have a slight amount of bodywork or paint that needs to be done, or it might be a repossession that the finance company just wants to recoup. Many cars might be at auction (on a salvage title) due to “water/flood damage,” but there are many cases where a few cars have significant flood damage on a lot and the insurance adjuster will write that dealer’s entire inventory off as “flood damage,” meaning that they all head to auction on salvage titles.
In plenty of other cases, the cars that make it to auctions have zero damage of any kind and low miles. Considering that a brand-new car loses 20% of its value the minute you drive it off the lot, a late-model low-mileage car at auction seems like an even more promising idea. At any rate, there are plenty of great deals out there for someone looking for a used (sometimes barely-used) car at a Wisconsin public auto auction.
