Rep Power: 308

Ello,

Just wondering if anyone has ever been to an Auto Auction, and what your experience was like... I'm looking for a 93-97 Ford Probe GT, Has to be a dark color in STOCK Condition and Manual Trans.
I do not want to start the Probe vs. Civic Debate
but anyway the cars are hard to find becuase they stopped making them
And when you do see them people want like $4,000 and up for them.
I just don't want to spend that much. I wanna pay like $1000.
So What are Auto Auctions like??
What kinda format is the bidding, do you sneeze and accidently buy a car like the movies??
Did you pay to get in?
Did you get to start the car up and look it over before you bid?

Just wanted to get your experience to see if this was worth looking into.

Thanks

 
Rep Power: 289

ebay=24/7 auction

 
Rep Power: 308

Ebay Probes fall into the Over Priced Bracket, I am constantly updating it though.
Also a lot of probe on there are heavily modified,

I did buy a 87 Chevy S-10 Extended Cab off of eBay for $610 out of PA, best buy I ever got, thing runs like a beast, I put new front struts on it, and it passed inspection and emissions.. So i'm not opposed to eBay, but can't find what I'm looking for.

 
Rep Power: 309

When I worked for a car dealership we got a good portion of our cars from auctions. Only these auctions wernt the public auctions you're talking about... they were dealer's auctions where you need a dealer's license to get it. Dealer's auctions have cars that did not sell in time at a dealership and therefore get auctions off for below retail...... so dealer auctions basically have cars that can be brand new with 0 miles.

The public auction is the on you're tlaking about.... this is where you mostly find junk cars.... but you can get lucky and find a great car there. Typically, cars at public auctions sell for around trade-in blue book value and can go up to private retail blue book value rarely..... mostly its around trade-in price or slight more/less.

So if you want to get an idea how much you can get a Probe GT for check out the trade-in blue book value for a Probe and expect to pay around that price at an auction.

Any more questions let me know.

 
Rep Power: 308

I used to love Mazda cars. Still popular. At some auctions you can start the car but not drive them, I would need to drive any car that I was going to consider.

 
Rep Power: 0

I have a manheim card, and I've been to a few auctions.

1- Well, really depends on the area. The one I went to was in West Palm Beach, Fla. At the beginning of the auction, it's basically like a car show, when the dealers walk from car to car, checking out the ones they like. The keys are left in the cars, so you can start them up and fully check them out.

Afterwards, the cars are driven up to a stage, where it is parked. The bids begin. Just like a regular auction. Internet bids count.

2- Your company pays a fee per employee, per year. You must have a photo ID to enter. NO guests, NO general public. Otherwise, dealers would get screwed.

3- Yes, you can start the car and look it over.


This is a good thing to look into, however, you must know someone in the buisness who would be willing to get the car for you. It can be VERY well worth it... I got my Jetta there for 9,800 two years ago, when it's KBB value was well over 14,000.


I still have a username and password for the sale statistics, as well as any upcoming cars. PM me if you want to know something specific for the area, but as far as helping you get the car... no can do. All I have access to is

year/make/model/VIN #'s/average sale price/individual unit sale price, and various other things like that.

Older cars get hard to find, though. You're likely only to find low-demand, 3-6 year old domestic cars. Mostly **** like Crown Vics, Chevy Caprice, sunfires, v6 mustangs, etc. at the small ones, and a fairly wide variety at the big ones.

 
Rep Power: 0

I work at manheim headquarters where I monitor internet sales. I try and watch the sales everyday just to see what cars are going for and to kill time.

I find that most cars that go through the auction are 1 to 6 years old. And the older ones tend to be high end cars like bmw, lexus, etc. If your looking for a probe, its probably going to be hard to find. In fact, i dont even think ive seen a probe go through since ive worked here. Like senseiturtle said they are mostly domestic cars that you would see at your local rental company. Something like 80% of the cars that go through auction are rental cars. This also explains why honda's, toyotas, etc hold their value better.

Going to an auction is very cool though, its very high paced. They sell a car every in like two mins then another pulls up for bid. Sometime i volunteer to drive the cars through. And depending on what location you are at they could have 1 to 8 lanes going at once.

 
Rep Power: 0

why in the world would you want a probe??? that car is a pos

 
Rep Power: 308

grow up

 
Rep Power: 308

Well there is a Auction near me:
http://www.bscamerica.com/dealers/belair/

But they don't have a lot in their General Public Auctions
But they Do have a Few Probes in there Other Auctions.
I don't know anyone who owns a Dealership, but there are a few really small car lots down the street, I might ask them how much they would want if I find something.

 
Rep Power: 0

Usually you can just tip a dealer $100 and he will buy it for you.

 
Rep Power: 0

haha

 
Rep Power: 0

Well I have been to a few different auctions.

I went to a few police auctions. Basically the same as a regular auction. You arrive about 2 hours before the auction starts, you then find the cars that you are interested in and inspect them. Write the number down and wait for it to come up.

I also went with my old boss to the Manheim Auctions. Totally different. This place was huge and there were dealers from all over the South. But you still inspected and waited for all the cars to pull through.

I was unable to get a Prelude SH. That was the car that I wanted to get, but everyone that came up went for a **** load of money.

 
Rep Power: 308

That's Cool, that's what I was hoping to hear, I mean it's easy money, they just fill out some paper work

 
Rep Power: 319

Chances of you finding that probe at a public auction in the condition you want are VERY slim. If you really want that car, just keep checking ebay. Even with as a dealer, finding something like that would be hard.

 
Rep Power: 308

I sat down and had “A Talk” with the Wifey yesterday.. We just refinanced the house and cleaned up all our debt, and lowered our bills a lot. We have plans to buy a bigger house in a better county in three years, and she’s going to be in need of a new car soon. So we planned it out that we are going to save $400 bucks a month for $12 months, combine it with some savings we have now, and use that as a down payment for a new or used car for her. Spend around 15K on either a Civic Si, Acura RSX or Toyota Celica for her. Then when I sell her Neon, we will use that to buy My Probe.

Of course I cried when I saw this on Ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...RK%3AMEWA%3AIT



That’s my color! It’s a GT! It’s completely Stock! It’s a 93 just like my old car! It’s got a simple to fix front bumper/fender damage!
AND I DON’T HAVE ANY F’ING MONEY RIGHT NOW!!!!!
WHY COULDN’T THEY WAIT A YEAR!!!!

I am soo pulling my hair out right now…. I want THAT car soo friggin bad!!!!
But I’m commited to not going into debt for a toy car, this is going to be a car, I keep in the garage and completely restore, then hook up. If I start going into debt for a hobby, then I completely lost my marbles..
I’m soo frigging tempted to just buy it and put in on a darn credit card though. That car is so f’ing beautiful.

 
Rep Power: 0

If you find a dealer he can get a list of all the cars the auctions have for sell. Its usually the same every week. For example, Monday could be Ford day, and tuesday could be wreck or salvage day, Wed hertz rental car day, etc. But your not limited to your local auction. If that dealer has a simulcast account he can buy cars from any auction, for a $50 charge per car.

Ill keep an eye out, but ill doubt ill see a probe.