Is buying a car from an auction risky??

hondafan2

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Hey,

I've been looking for a 92-95 Civic hatch for a few weeks now and found a nice 95 DX being sold at a small, privately owned cardealer. I aked the saleman how they got the car and he said they bought it at an auction and are just reselling it. Is this something I should be cautious about?

I ran a carfax on the vehicle and while it had about 10 listings, none were anything negative. They were all dates when inspection was passed and when the title was transferred. Apparently there were two prior owners of the car.

The car itself has 110k miles and is in good shape inside and out and it runs just fine. The front air dam is cracked and looks like it was scraped pretty good and the driver side door has a small but noticeable dent. The engine looks unusually clean for a car over 10 years old but they could have just steam cleaned it.

If anyone has suggestions or know how i can get more info on the history of the car, please post. Thanks.
 

one6

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There are private auctions all across the country where small car dealers buy new inventory or sell inventory that's been sitting on the lot for too long. You'd be surprised how cheap some cars go for.
 


DX raceR

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My car came from an auction.. and all that was really wrong with mine is it needed a headgasket.. but it was overheating when we bought so yea thats all i had but i doubt that helps u ..see if you can have a mechanic check the car out for you im sure the car salesman will allow it.. unless there is sumthing wrong and he doiesnt let you do that
 

NOFX

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A lot of used cars turned into car dealerships go to auctions.

For example, the place I used to work would keep vehicles with a certain mileage or lower and send the higher mileage ones to auction. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the car except that it has higher mileage than the dealer might have wanted for a car on his lot.

And yes, the motor should have at least been pressure washed by workers before it was put up for sale. I know some places might just wash the cars, but a lot of places have them detailed on site or by another dealership they might have a deal with.

Those cars at that dealership also went through safety checks. JUST safety though. Some cars will be sold with problems you, as a buyer/owner would want to fix. They just make it so it's safe on the road. I never knew so many cars got traded in with missing parts of seatbelts (and probably 1-2 out of ten come in with vomit in them). We'd have to clean up the vomit and such in detail (we also "bomb" the cars that smell bad - sometimes several times). The cars needing safety inspections still would go to a sister dealership and if they needed things fixed for safety, they would fix them, order parts, etc.
 


$lick Rick

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dealer auctions arent just for small dealerships

at my local dealers auto auction we have everyone from the mercedes dealership reps, to the hummer dealership reps, to the kia dealership reps out there buying and selling cars


i just bought my wrx through the auction, and half of my inventory is bought through the auction


why the f00k would it be risky to buy a car that's been ran through an auction?

where the f00k did you hear this s**t from?

i am part owners of 3 used car dealerships, whoever told you that buying a car that has been ran through an auction is risky, is a complete idiot who should not be giving advice
 

Beelzebubba

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$lick Rick said:
...


why the f00k would it be risky to buy a car that's been ran through an auction?

where the f00k did you hear this s**t from?

i am part owners of 3 used car dealerships, whoever told you that buying a car that has been ran through an auction is risky, is a complete idiot who should not be giving advice
Buying any used car is somewhat risky. :what:

My friend buys his cars from auctions. The Jeep Cherokee he bought was a good price and lasted well past 250k mi only requiring a rear main seal, and brake work. He bought his girl a Mirage and it was real clean and appeared well maintained. It's poor 4G15 had been previously shithammered and died in weeks.

Point is, you could be buying a car that just ended up in an auction because it was traded in at a dealership that chose not to sell it themselves and end up with a great car or you could be buying someone else's problem.
 

NOFX

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True. That dealership I was working at had three cars on the lot from Hurricane Katrina. that littel silver Beetle convertable had river mud in it when they got it in. There's also a Dodge Caravan that came in with a similar problem. I can't rememebr the last one.

None of these cars had anything that shows (on paper at least) that they were in the flood. Last time I was there there was also a late gen Firebird that had a little oil leak problem. One behind the block and one from the rear diff. We had to replace a tranny on an RX-8 too.
 

Mythh

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I work at a small dealership as well, and all of our cars come from the auction, including my 95 LX. Long story short, you can get burned any time you buy a used car. Auction cars are not necesarly bad, but you do have to know who you are buying off of. If you are worried, any good dealer should have no problem with you taking the car to a mechanic for a check up before you buy it. If he does, Id stay away, hes probably hiding something.
 

$lick Rick

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Beelzebubba said:
Buying any used car is somewhat risky. :what:

My friend buys his cars from auctions. The Jeep Cherokee he bought was a good price and lasted well past 250k mi only requiring a rear main seal, and brake work. He bought his girl a Mirage and it was real clean and appeared well maintained. It's poor 4G15 had been previously shithammered and died in weeks.

Point is, you could be buying a car that just ended up in an auction because it was traded in at a dealership that chose not to sell it themselves and end up with a great car or you could be buying someone else's problem.

I know someone who bought an evo and the motor blew 2 days later with a whole 200 miles.... he never revved that thing above 3,000rpm

and when i worked for the new nissan dealership, we had to replace every single supercharger on the xterra's and pickups before they were ever sold due to problems that developed within just a few days of when the vehicles were delivered to the dealership


point is, we are talking about mechanical devices constructed by man.... every single vehicle wether new or used runs the risk of developing problems


whether or not the vehicle comes from an auction really has no bearing on it's reliability what so ever

and remember, a "new car" is concidered used the second it drives off of the lot :what:
 

12.8:1 Ls/vtec

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Or you could think of it this way. Would an individual lie to you as much as possible if they really wanted to sell a car. They could say they had never been above 5000 rpms but really be at redline all day. No one really knows what a condition the car is in seriously.
 

crazzybostedeh2

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I bought my Teg at a Auction. Had a Few Little things that needed to be done. when you buy a car from a auction dont be suprised if u need to put some money into it right away with normal maintanence. I had to put new shocks on, Tune up, timing belt water pump, Oil pump. Total of like $800 and ive put 19k miles on it a little under a year
 

Whobeme

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A friend of mine works for a major dealer here in Iowa and does all the mechanical inspections and repairs on vehicles that get in on trades and are heading for the used lot or going to the auction. He was telling me awhile back that there are several levels or grades of the auction houses around here. Basically low grade auctions (junk/abused cars), average grade auctions(small lot used cars), and dealership auctions that you need a dealers license to get in. At the auction houses around here they allow you to go over the cars before the auction starts, so you have an idea about what you are going to bid on. So i guess it's buyer beware. Personal opinion, I have two vehicles that were bought from a dealer that bought them at auction. I've had no more trouble with them than I do my new car that is under warranty.
 

$lick Rick

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Whobeme said:
A friend of mine works for a major dealer here in Iowa and does all the mechanical inspections and repairs on vehicles that get in on trades and are heading for the used lot or going to the auction. He was telling me awhile back that there are several levels or grades of the auction houses around here. Basically low grade auctions (junk/abused cars), average grade auctions(small lot used cars), and dealership auctions that you need a dealers license to get in. At the auction houses around here they allow you to go over the cars before the auction starts, so you have an idea about what you are going to bid on. So i guess it's buyer beware. Personal opinion, I have two vehicles that were bought from a dealer that bought them at auction. I've had no more trouble with them than I do my new car that is under warranty.
there's 3 grades of auctions, but you go them all f**ked up

dealers auctions that require a dealers license and usually a financial and backround check

the public auction where any joe schmoe can go

and the rare/exotic auctions where the only qualification to get in is a fat wallet, because most of these cars are going for between $60,000 and $250,000



when we buy we only go to the dealers auctions where i'm bidding right along with the people from mercedes, bmw, all the way down to kia and non-franchise lots like mine
we only buy "guaranteed" vehicles which mean they've been certified by the seller
after i buy the vehicle i pay the auction another $100 to go through the vehicle and do another mechanical inspection.
if the car does not pass their inspection i dont have to buy the car, if the car does pass inspection then i have 7 days to find something they missed. if i do find something they missed then i take the vehicle back within the 7 days and i get refunded my money
even after this i have one of my 3 fulltime mechanics do yet another inspection before i put it on the lot
then we give all vehicles over $2,995 a 3 month 3,000 mile warranty.....

even "small lot used cars" need dealers licenses to operate and are therefor eligible for private auctions
 

Whobeme

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$lick Rick said:
there's 3 grades of auctions, but you go them all f**ked up

dealers auctions that require a dealers license and usually a financial and backround check

the public auction where any joe schmoe can go

and the rare/exotic auctions where the only qualification to get in is a fat wallet, because most of these cars are going for between $60,000 and $250,000
Thanks for setting me straight. I thought I had it right, but I must have misunderstood what he was saying. There was an aweful lot of alcohol flowing that night. My appologies. :oops:

I'd still buy an auction vehicle. The one vehicle I have never had luck with buying is an older vehicle that was a bank repo. I've bought three and have had nothing but troubles with them.
 


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