A co-worker of my mom's buys cars at auto auctions... and sells them. My mom told him im looking for a 5th gen prelude(97-01)... so he said he'll look for some.

Can such cars be in good condition... legit, etc...? He told her i'd save around $3k over buying through dealer etc...

but these cars are not cleaned, maintenance done etc... are they? Are there different kinds of auctions... like repo vs. police auctions.. ?

sean

 

yea there are different types of auctions. some auctions dont let you drive the car before hand. all you get to do is start the car up and sit in it. i guess you take a slight risk right there.

 

If the cars are obtained via reposession, I'm guessing they'll be ok. If they are auctioned because of a salvage title or what not, you might want to investigate further.

 

You can pick up a nice car for a decent price at auctions. My only suggestion would be to make sure you see the car and drive it before you have him bid on the car. The buyer I was working with snuck me into the auction so I could drive it and look at it before he started making the offer. So to answer your question, yes they auctions are a great place to pick up a car.:thumbup:

 

it is safe it yuo know what ot look for

 

Are these public auctions? If they're dealer auctions..thats where nearly all used cars come from, some one trades them in to a dealership. The dealership takes it to the auctions to sell them. My dad has a used car lot, and he does alot of requests(people ask for certain car). We buy it at the auction, I throw a tune-up on it(If it needs it) Buff it, polish it, wax it..sell it..

The dealer auctions are sweet, everyweek there's like 6,000 cars at this one we go too. Its so much fun, cause they have a test track where you can try out the vehicle before it runs through the auction...

 

If he has a dealer's license, you might get some sort of warranty. In New York, there's a mandatory warranty on used cars sold by dealers, 30, 60 or 90 days based on mileage and model year. If he doesn't have a license, I'd either take a good look at the car myself or take it somewhere to be inspected before buying it.