Auto Auctions? (Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati: rental car, sale, apartment complexes)

[a_joyce82]

Ive always wanted to go to one, but all I know of around the Dayton area is the Goodwill ones. Is there any more? Does the police dept. hold one for abandoned cars?

Thanks.

[Umbrous]

Here's the only one I know of:

ADESA Cincinnati/Dayton Auto Auction

Hope that helps.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by a_joyce82

Ive always wanted to go to one, but all I know of around the Dayton area is the Goodwill ones. Is there any more? Does the police dept. hold one for abandoned cars?

Thanks.

Most of the legitimate auctions - Adesa and Manheim - are auctions where you MUST have a dealers license to attend. They are high volume operations where they move literally thousands of vehicles in a single day. They are NOT open to the general public. The ONLY way to get into one is to go with a licensed dealer.

I have been to a few independent auctions, especially in SoCal. Personally, most of the vehicles that go through those places are pretty, well, cars with Carfaxes that might be very interesting.

Municipal auctions are fairly common but what are you buying? Generally, they are auctioning off old police vehicles (2-3 years old with 70k miles). Depending on the municipality, they are in great shape or they are beaters. At the ones that I have attended, most of the people buying generally operate local cab companies. Do realize that police vehicles have some features that you might not want in a family vehicles.

Hope that helps.

[xnyer]

Originally Posted by a_joyce82

Ive always wanted to go to one, but all I know of around the Dayton area is the Goodwill ones. Is there any more? Does the police dept. hold one for abandoned cars?

Thanks.

Plan a day in Auburn, Ind. at the Auburn, Cord, Deusenberg auction at the old AC&D museum. Kruse holds auctions there which generally draw high rollers for interesting and unique automobiles. You might actually see something sell for a million or more dollars. You need to get a copy of the car collectors "bible"--- Hemmings Motor News. If you are more of a budget buyer try the Cars and Parts auctions at the Clark County fairgrounds in Springfield, twice a year---Memorial Day and Labor Day. Those are retail examples, open to the general public. Are you actually looking to buy/sell or do you want to experience the excitement of a car auction? The Columbus dealer auction in Obetz used to run six or seven lines simultaneously, every car getting a few seconds. It is very fast paced and if you're good at watching a lot of action happening around you, you will come away with an appreciation for the work that people in the wholesale business do. I've heard of dealers (in other parts of the country) that will allow people to come to the wholesale auction with them and will buy a car for them for cost plus a 100? bucks. The industry frowns on this as it could easily destroy the profit margins in the trade if it became widely practiced. In fact, it is likely illegal at worst, and unethical at best. Another poster mentioned Adesa auctions. They are nationwide and strictly wholesale.

[Umbrous]

Originally Posted by jlawrence01

Most of the legitimate auctions - Adesa and Manheim - are auctions where you MUST have a dealers license to attend.

Granted most boats/RV/cars are only for dealer bids but they mention some vehicles are for public bid. Did you look at the site? Not all auctions at Adesa are private, give them a call.

[occupant]

Columbus Fair Auto Auction, the one on Obetz, has a Public Repo sale each week. It's $100 to register. That's good for a YEAR. You have a pay a $350 cash deposit every time you win the bid on a vehicle (so if you have several cars you want close together, you have to give them a few deposits ahead of time). Cars seem to be mostly 99-up, some older ones. My sister bought her last car there for cash in 2005, was a 2003 Ford Taurus with 54,000 miles (yeah, that's 27K/yr) and she paid $7400. At the time the car would have sold on a dealer lot for $12-$14K. She had actually picked one out from Ricart and was about to pay $10500 for one with 40K on it, then she got my email with the link to their list of cars for the week and she went to check it out, bought it, and she still has it and is very happy with it. The only repair she's made so far was when the water pump went out, she got stranded, and the total bill with rental car and all was around $1000. And that didnt' happen until 140K last summer. She's also wrecked it twice in the last 4 years and her boyfriend fixed it both times, profit so far from insurance checks $4300. So the car has cost her $4100 plus gas and oil and she has put over 100K on it since!

Not a bad deal at all.

In Dayton, if you're looking for an abandoned car, just call each wrecker/towing/storage service in town. Chances are more than half of them contract with some apartment complexes or a town or a city police department, and they will have periodic auctions.

Last abandoned car I bought was a '89 Voyager minivan. Paid $275. Drove it for a few months til the tags ran out. It had broken motor mounts, broken windows, and looked like heck. But I scrapped it for the same $275 so all I was out was $60 or so for tags and title transfer fees. With gas and oil and the slightly increased insurance premium for having a 3rd vehicle, I think I spent a grand total of $700 over 8000 miles. That's less than 9 cents a mile. Very cheap driving.

EDIT: Cincinnati Police holds a biweekly abandoned car auction on Saturdays. Here are links to the auction information page, the 9/19 sale list, and the 10/3 sale list.

http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/police/pages/-5500-/
http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/police/...e_pdf37769.pdf
http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/police/...e_pdf37817.pdf

EDIT 2 IMPORTANT!!!

Abandoned vehicles sold in the state of Ohio are automatically branded with a SALVAGE TITLE. So you will have to TOW the car home. You will have to make any needed repairs. You will have to TOW it to a Highway Patrol office. They will inspect it for you and if you buy any major components (engine, transmission, glass, body parts) be prepared to show receipts for those parts WITH VIN NUMBERS from the vehicle they were taken from unless the parts are NEW in which case you ALSO need to present the receipt. Then you get a form from the OSHP and take that with you to go get tags and titlework done.

All in all it's worth it. Especially if the car you get includes keys (expect to spend $30 to get a key made if a locksmith is on-site at the auction, more if it has a computer chip in it like a late model Ford or GM car), starts and runs, and was impounded for reasons like DWI, theft recovery, arrests not involving drugs, etc. If the car is impounded for drugs they crush it. No resale on those, the state assumes there is residue and the car is a biohazard!!!

EDIT 3: Copart

You can buy insurance salvage from Copart as an individual. You will pay $200-$400 or a percentage (3-5% is common) over the final bid price. You have to use a Copart Bidding Agent (reseller) to bid for you. But if you find a car you like at Columbus, Cleveland East, or Cleveland West, it's easy to get it hauled to Dayton. Might be worth it. My Durango came from a dealer who bought it at Copart in Tulsa. He paid $1400, sold it to me for $1775, I put a motor in it, and it's been our daily driver family hauler since. I've put 19,000 miles on it in the last 9 months and it's been great!

http://www.copart.com/c2/home.html

Here's a car I wouldn't mind owning. Clean title (not salvage), runs and drives, no reserve price (they call that Pure Sale), and it's not hit THAT hard at all?!!

http://www.copart.com/c2/salelist.ht...lotId=17501689

It might not come up but if you want to search for it, it's Cleveland West, 9/21 sale, put in filters of Runs & Drives, Pure Sale, Clean Title, and it's the next to the last one on the page.