public car auctions

[john112deere]

There's a public car auction place a ways up the road, that a guy I worked with over the summer told me about (gotta love it when the power goes out and they pay you to stand around and BS...) where his son had bought a Dodge pickup, cheap, a few months prior.

Every Wednesday, they have auctions, so today I drove up there. Looked at what they had, drove a few around the parking lot, and decided to split before I did anything I'll regret.

Test-drive notes (should you happen to care what I think):
-1995 Lincoln Town Car: nice car in nice shape, with a hood about the size of a football field. If I drove a lot of highway miles and wasn't overly concerned about gas costs, that'd be my ride.

-2000 Ranger: beautiful exterior condition, but drove like it was beat to hell- tranny felt rough, belt squealed, brakes needed work. Guessing it was wrecked and repainted; most people who keep a truck that nice looking for 8 years, don't let the mechanicals go so far.

-mid-'90s T-bird: HUGE doors- big enough they'd be a nuisance in a parking lot. This one was mostly used up, but a very appealing car none the less.

~2000 Dodge Dakota: needed steering work, bad, but I can see the appeal of the vehicle- bigger (roomier, bigger bed, etc.) than a Ranger, but still a lot easier to park than a full-size truck.

~1998 Pontiac Grand Am coupe: 5-speeds like this are why car manufacturers can claim no one wants to drive a stick anymore. About the worst gearshift, clutch, and throttle I've ever driven that didn't seem to actually have anything wrong with it.

~1998 Volvo S70: I feel absolutely head-over-heels in love with this car. Not this particular one, it wasn't anything terribly impressive, but if I could find one with a five speed (they did build them)... I take back almost everything bad I said about Volvos, Ernie- this thing was so comfortable, intelligently laid out and solid, I hardly even noticed that the steering was about twice as slow as it ought to have been.

I'm not anywhere near enough of a people-person to do what Ernie does, but I definitely see how the used-car auction-buying process could get to be an almost addicting thrill...

 

[polarbear]

To tell you the truth though, we use auctions to sell our used stuff, not buy it. Between trade-in's, GMAC and Chrysler Financial, there's little need to go out and buy stuff. Great way to get rid of the crap that doesn't/shouldn't work on the lot.

Interesting to watch though, yes?

 

[john112deere]

Figured as much. Most new-car dealer's used-car lots are pretty obviously the absolute cream of their trade-in crop.

Still a fascinating way to spend a day. I expect I'll do it again, but I'm going to stick with the precaution of limiting cash in my pocket to enough to buy a cup of coffee...

 

[Andyman8282]

-mid-'90s T-bird: HUGE doors- big enough they'd be a nuisance in a parking lot. This one was mostly used up, but a very appealing car none the less.

Yeah, the doors are pretty large arn't they?

Sounds like you had a fun time

 

[Fellro]

Word of warning, if you see a GM product with the 2.3 or 2.4 overhead cam motor, RUN AWAY!!!! You don't want that headache of a motor. While they run good, they are fine, but once they go down with a head gasket failure or such, they are nothing but trouble.

 

[Brian_B]

Never been to a public auction.

I used to go to the insurance auctions with my dad and a friend (car dealer) of ours. We all bought totalled vehicles and rebuilt them. You never, ever found a bargain on a truck at them. Cars of all kinds yes. Trucks went way too high.

You could buy them from individuals cheaper and then do the body/paint. Salvage yards bought every truck (of any brand, model, year). Apparently truck parts sell for high $$$ at the yards around here.

I do know a few people who have bought at the local (Wednesday night) car auction. Most have been screwed, but once in a while they get a decent vehicle out of them. I guess you really need to know vehicles and check and double check them before the auction.

 

[89frankenford]

yeah we have an auction place up in manchester NH called Capital City auction or something like that. they do basically the same thing. it is a pretty cool sight to see and be a part off.

 

[polarbear]

Figured as much. Most new-car dealer's used-car lots are pretty obviously the absolute cream of their trade-in crop.

Still a fascinating way to spend a day. I expect I'll do it again, but I'm going to stick with the precaution of limiting cash in my pocket to enough to buy a cup of coffee...

Here's one thing that's changing though- new economic realities are dictating that we keep some of the lower priced stuff we'd normally wholesale. Times have changed dramatically in the past six months.

re: T-Bird. I had a '91 LX with a 5.0- loved that car.

 

[john112deere]

yeah we have an auction place up in manchester NH called Capital City auction or something like that.

Yeah, I know where that is...see it off 101, right?

Brian- way I figure it, you only get screwed if you assume you're buying something good. Every single car I saw, I could point out where you'd dump hundreds of dollars into making it good, and I know I didn't look close enough to find everything wrong with any of them. Even at that, about the only thing I'd feel comfortable actually buying, would be a Ranger or Explorer. Between tens of thousands of miles in mine and those belonging to friends and relatives, plus years spent hanging out in forums, I know a little bit about those trucks- enough to maybe take a gamble, if I saw one I liked.

 

[Lost]

Buy em all time. Around here the bigger lots (new or even used ones) just ship off to auction anything with more than 60000-70000 miles. SO there r allot of great buys. Any I auction was ever to you can look em over but. No test drives.

I have had 30 auction trucks cars over years (I buy check out drive couple months and sell) Be prepare to get dirty look em over under. Also there r going to be repairs. But 90% of ones I got were just brakes,exhaust ,inspection .

 

[Lost]

Well usedto buy em No time for last year . But I'm hunting for a wagon for summer.