Just thought I would share some interesting information with anyone who didn't already know this....

I went to a HUGE Manheim auction today and spent a couple hours there. They literally sell a car every 15 seconds or so...I think they had about 10 bays open, and cars just lined up passing through. Pretty crazy experience. I took some notes for the heck of it and thought I would share some stuff that I saw....All cars pass an inspection and run perfectly with no problems.

2005 Touring, 51k miles. Black on Burnt Orange leather...sold for $11.2k
2005 Base, 41k miles. Silver..sold for $9.8k
2007 Enthusiast, 21k miles....sold for $14.2k
2003 Touring, 65k miles, sold for $7.1k
2005 Roadster, 49k miles, sold for $12k

Also saw a couple G35's, most notably an 06 w/41k that sold for $15k. Tons of trucks and other stuff, all going at ridiculous prices. I guess the used car dealers have to make their money somehow!

 

are all the titles clean though?

 

Wow. An HR for 14K? Damn.

 

+1 What he said!

 

Are these open to the general public, or just traders? Any other good car auctions around the Seattle area for the public?

 

For Manheim and most other high volume auctions like it, you must have a dealer's license to purchase.

 

im pretty sure you would require a dealers license at at 90% of vehicle auctions.
you might get lucky and find one with a clean title but thats mainly when the owner drops the car off and something is really wrong with it and theres a vague descritiotionb but nothing accurate. i bought my girl a 06 galant with 60k with a clean title for about 6k with fees.

 

Wait so are these salvage or clean titles? Because I do understand that dealers get them much cheaper so they can make a profit

 

Those have to be clean titles. They would sell for about half that if they were salvage.

I bet you could buy that '07 for around $19-20k. So that is about right for what the dealer would want to pay at the auction.

 

You have to have a dealer's license to buy and sell at the auction. Auction cars have clean titles as well. Unless specified differently.

 

In L.A. they repo so many cars left and right you don't need a dealers license in many places. Also, LAPD have auctions since they confiscate so many cars as well.

Inspection of vehicles begin at 7am and auction begin around 10am or 11am. that's how I was able to buy my Sister a car.

 

the ones he listed seem to be salvage price....yep thats what they go for no BS

 

ok all things set aside. how would one go about getting a dealers license? how much would one cost? next question; do they offer huge auctions like you spoke of often in your area?

 

Makes sense. Those prices are about the same if not LESS than what private parties (craigslist, autotrader,etc) are asking. Good deals, I will be going to the next Manheim, Oct 8. How often are the auctions?

 

+1 im curious as well

 

i use to work for a manheim auto auction. clean and salvage titled cars are the same as you would see them on craigslist or autotrader. manheim does have to let you know if it has a salvage title on it. i dont know if they still do this or not but the consignment people had to write salvage on the windshield if it was. the auctioneers also do have the paperwork stating whether or not it is salvage, which means they also have to let the bidders know that. ive seen many times where a bidder buys a car and finds out that it is salvage and gets refunded for it. the deals are pretty good. i dont know what the fees are on obtaining a dealers license but if you know a dealer personally, i would recommend offering them some money if they help you buy a car.

 

I disagree. These prices are way higher than what would expect for a salvaged car at an auction.

 

To clarify a few questions..

Yes, you have to be a dealer. On top of that, you have to have an auctioneer license as a dealer to bid and buy these cars

All of them were in excellent condition, with clean titles. When they are put up for auction, there is a screen with 4 lights on it. The first light says "Title". If it is lit, you know the title is clean. Second light is red. If the red light is lit up, the car has some sort of mechanical issue. Even if it is as simple as a check engine light, it will be "red lighted" and sell for a fraction of what it would otherwise. The next light is yellow. If the yellow light is lit, it means the car is running great but has unusually high mileage. Lastly, the green light. If a car has a green light, it has no mechanical issues and is guaranteed by Manheim for 48 hours after purchase. If you can find something wrong with it, you can return the car. All green-lit cars are inspected before they are auctioned off.

In the case of these Z's, all of them had clean titles and were on the green light. I actually was able to walk through the lot beforehand and sit in, start up and drive around some of the cars. They leave the keys in all of them.

I went to the auction in San Antonio. The auction goes on every day I believe. I'm not kidding when I say there are thousands of cars in the lot. And FYI, I got in with a friend who manages a car dealership.

 

I've been there several times with my friends dealer license and they really do have good prices! Picked mine up there 3 weeks ago for a very low price!

 

So where do they get these cars from? Surely owners won't let them go for that low, and even if they're repos, the banks wouldn't let them go for so low. No?