Anyone bought a car from copart?

adamk

adamk

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2010
Location
Burlington
Curiosity has gotten the best of me and I'm wondering what all is involved with buying from copart? Things like...

Can individuals buy or do you need to have a dealer license?
Are all vehicles there considered total loss?
Are there certain do's and don't's?
 
We've purchased 2 - no dealer license required for the majority of the vehicles. The listing will indicate if it's dealers only along with title status & if it runs/drives. There are extra fees that add up really quickly based on the final bid amount (I believe it's a tiered system for the fees but it's been a bit). So keep in mind that $700 beater can quickly turn into $1000.
 
Some cars are dealer only, some aren't. Some are totaled with salvage titles, some are not. All that information is on the web-page with the car listed. Don't buy it without seeing it in person and expect it to be exactly as described or better. It will almost always be worse. Don't spend more on a car than you're willing to loose. I'm a car dealer and have to say that they are the biggest pain in the ass auction company to get setup with out of any auction company that I deal with. I've had no good experiences with them, but a friend of mine has.

2 weeks ago my brothers coworkers car was totaled. Insurance had it immediately towed away. I found out "totaled" meant her 2003 Camry with 120k needed a new hood and a headlight because somebody backed into her in a parking lot. I had her buy it back from insurance so that I could fix and resell. Car had already been towed to copart. I go as the "owners agent" to pick up the car that is still technically owned by her, not copart or the insurance. It's sitting in the first row inside the fence, I can see it as I'm stuck waiting 55 minutes for them to get one of their yard idiots to drive it out because they wouldn't let me walk in and drive the car 50ft out of the gate. It's the lowest of the low people buying there and also working there, and nobody seems to give a fuck about anything.
 
Never purchased from copart. I’ve heard horror stories on wait times to load, and that they will run basically anything through. Go with a better company.
 
chromerunner said:
Never purchased from copart. I’ve heard horror stories on wait times to load, and that they will run basically anything through. Go with a better company.
Click to expand...

What other companies are out there like them?

I've thought about buying from Co-part before.
 
I like iaai. They have a bunch of non dealer cars. Easy to deal with. I think it’s $200 a year to bid and like every company the fees suck but I feel they have better quality stuff and just a overall better experience.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I'm registered on IAAI as a public bidder. It's $200 per year for registration. I've bought 3 vehicles since December. They have the fees listed on their website, be sure to factor in fees when you're planning your bids. I'm headed to pick up a car today that I won for $300 but after the fees the total was $508. Don't expect to find crazy deals on any of the auction sites, there are too many people watching/bidding to get a smoking deal on anything.
 
chromerunner said:
I like iaai. They have a bunch of non dealer cars. Easy to deal with. I think it’s $200 a year to bid and like every company the fees suck but I feel they have better quality stuff and just a overall better experience.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

IAAI is where we used to buy 90% of our cars from back when I had the shop. I bought over 100 cars from there and rarely had any issues. You can buy as a public bidder. There are three levels. Public bidder, business buyer, and dealer. There are more cars you can buy at each level.
 
Ive bought three vehicles from co-part.
1 was an unmitigated disaster....that took a lot of headache but they made it right.

The other two were pretty easy transaction. Yes there are fees.
Its a used wrecked car so caveat emptor.

Load times, I cant comment on. I paid their recommended transporter $.75/mile to bring them to me.
 
yodaman88 said:
Some cars are dealer only, some aren't. Some are totaled with salvage titles, some are not. All that information is on the web-page with the car listed. Don't buy it without seeing it in person and expect it to be exactly as described or better. It will almost always be worse. Don't spend more on a car than you're willing to loose. I'm a car dealer and have to say that they are the biggest pain in the ass auction company to get setup with out of any auction company that I deal with. I've had no good experiences with them, but a friend of mine has.

2 weeks ago my brothers coworkers car was totaled. Insurance had it immediately towed away. I found out "totaled" meant her 2003 Camry with 120k needed a new hood and a headlight because somebody backed into her in a parking lot. I had her buy it back from insurance so that I could fix and resell. Car had already been towed to copart. I go as the "owners agent" to pick up the car that is still technically owned by her, not copart or the insurance. It's sitting in the first row inside the fence, I can see it as I'm stuck waiting 55 minutes for them to get one of their yard idiots to drive it out because they wouldn't let me walk in and drive the car 50ft out of the gate. It's the lowest of the low people buying there and also working there, and nobody seems to give a fuck about anything.
Click to expand...

You have a PM.
 
I've bought 2 myself.

One was painless, the other was a bit of trouble.

I wanted to have it brought to me (southern VA to Winston) but they kept saying they were waiting for a driver. On the last day before they start charging storage fees they tell me they can't make it happen. I take the next morning off and tote a trailer up there to get it and was told they weren't loading anything because there was an auction going on all day. I had to stand there until they got tired of looking at me and someone called in a favor to the loader... it was a running/driving vehicle.
 
Back
Top