COPART opens bidding to public

[Jeffros Spec V]

Pretty exciting news for persons looking to pick up a nice salvaged vehicle at a pretty cheap price!

Edit: I guess nobody knows what Copart is. It's one of the biggest salvage auto auctions in the country. It's where some of the biggest insurance companies send cars that they total. Previously, you needed to have a dealer license to purchase.


Good Morning:
Some pretty exciting things going on at Copart that starting to impact our results thus far in 2009!

We recently introduced our Registered Reseller Program via Copart Direct and the buyer activity is soaring! See attached slide from Google trends. The public can now bid on salvage cars at Copart. They pick the car they like, register with a reseller online and they can bid any on any car any auction.
To advertise this to the public our entry into NASCAR Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series will be heavily involved in sponsorship with Kevin Harvick's team and drivers Ron Hornaday and David Reutimann.
Both of these improvements are designed to INCREASE BUYERS and continue to add to already strong VB2 bidding platform. We believe that with more buyers, we will continue to produce the highest returns for our business partners.

Again, just thought this was some exciting news that I wanted you to be aware of.
Enjoy your week, and keep an eye out for the Copart #33 team this season!

[JB'sLGT]

I'm drooling over some of those cars already

[OMGz Turbo]

Wow nice collection of cars on there...like the rsx Type s minus the motor for 400$....toss a set of racing seats and a motor and call it a dayt

[fballman1987]

ive known about copart from some time. bought from them back in like 2002 or even earlier. sucked you had to be a dealer. but this is good news.

[Proven]

$600 to register unfortunatly. Unless you know some way around that?

[Lil Shoaf]

Nice.. I actually designed and helped build there new facility in Ellwood City.. There were so many cars there that I wanted it wasn't even funny.. I had free rain to look around.. It was fun..

[Kir Diesel]

Awesome!

[tdmopar59]

600 dollars to register?? harsh!!

[phsdrummer2]

yeah that 600 bucks is harsh but they have a 90 Z with a clean body but mechanical issues. Current bid is 600 bucks. 1200 for a clean shell. I could live with that haha

[phsdrummer2]

my big thing is if they still had troopers on the TP and you got pulled over for speeding then went through the toll and got a ticket, isn't that kind of like double jeopardy? I know the traffic stop would slow down the mean speed but it is a possibility for it to happen depending on the length of your trip.

[terrorcel]

my big thing is if they still had troopers on the TP and you got pulled over for speeding then went through the toll and got a ticket, isn't that kind of like double jeopardy? I know the traffic stop would slow down the mean speed but it is a possibility for it to happen depending on the length of your trip.

I don't think you meant to post that in this thread :bigeek:

[Proven]

Yeah the $600 bucks sucks and makes me feel like its a sort of scam. Like you pay that and then find out theres other fee's or end up completely disapointed in the buying process, etc etc.

$200 registration and $400 desposit (refundable after you cancell your subcription). Not sure why they would do this rather then charging non-paying bidders that $400.

[Khellen]

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

I'm a bit confused by this. Are we actually able to purchase vehicles off this site? Or as a private individual in our state are you not able to bid on salvaged vehicles? :bigeek:

[lordoc22]

the $600 bucks seems harsh but if youre going to be a regular there youll make it up in no time with all the money youll save. Not quite sure how it would work though because i used to work at a salvage yard and you cant drive a salvage car off their lot with out a tag obviously and you cant just register a salvage car so IDK. The place i worked was dealer only due to this.

[sleepersatty99]

if you where to get a car from these guys wouldn't you have an issue with the title? (i.e salvage title)

[Proven]

I joined a Motorcycle salvage website set up like this one. $50 to join. After I joined that R6 that was "$900" at 3k after I registered same day. That’s along with just about every other bike. I think what they were doing was posting up the ads for Visitors to view only a couple days into the bidding (when they were further along).

Not saying this copart site is that way but that $600 bugs me. If they really were after gaining more sales by letting the public in there would be no fee to join. I could understand a fully refundable join fee so that they can punish bad bidders by not refunding but see NO reason to have to pay to join other then them making money off us to be able to maybe get a great deal. Its like walking into a retail store and them saying "hey, its $20 to look around to maybe find something at a price you want"

If anyone (non-dealer) signs up and / or buys please let us know how it went.

[Girly VR-4]

if you where to get a car from these guys wouldn't you have an issue with the title? (i.e salvage title)

yup. I buy through Copart all of the time. I have access to a legit dealers license though that I buy through, so I can bid on pretty much anything I want, in any auction I want. There are additional fee's per auction as well.

With a salvage title car, you will need to fix it, then bring it to a specified inspection station where it is looked over, then, if it's OK, it's given a rebuilt title. paperwork gets sent to harrisburgh, etc, etc. It's like a 3 month process just to be able to get it registered to drive... not including the time it will take you to fix it.

I bought a few cars through there last week... I paid $350 for a running and driving, clean title 1998 mitsubishi galant with minor body damage. after fee's, it came to $490 out the gate (online bid fee, gate fee, blah blah fee, etc). I bought another 96 galant for $225, after fee's it ended up being about $365 out the gate.

You also need to show up with a truck and trailer, to transport the cars.

the $600 buy-in is worth it, if you do a lot of parting out. But for one car, it's simply not worth it.

And when you bid, you have 3 days to pay for the car, before they charge you a $50 fine for late payment, then an additional $30/day for 5 days, then the car is relisted in auction, and you are charged a $400 non-payment penalty.

[yellow2000S/R]

You also need to show up with a truck and trailer, to transport the cars.

the $600 buy-in is worth it, if you do a lot of parting out. But for one car, it's simply not worth it.

And when you bid, you have 3 days to pay for the car, before they charge you a $50 fine for late payment, then an additional $30/day for 5 days, then the car is relisted in auction, and you are charged a $400 non-payment penalty.

Fun watching them lift the cars up with fork lifts and toss them onto trailers. The trailer we have is a manual ram and takes ~300 jacks to tilt it back so the rear's on the ground so most of the time we just opt to have somebody lift it on with a forklift.

I now work for a dealership that flips cars, the majority of which come from Copart and the rest from Craigslist or personal sales from family/friends.


There are tons of great deals on there. Even if its something you don't really want, you can pick it up for cheap, flip it, and turn some profit.

We picked up an 03 2500 Cummins that had slid into a pole and caved the left side of the cab in for just under $7,500. Found a cab and both drivers doors on car-part in Rhode island for $900, then bought $300 in paint supplies and it looks good as new. The truck is now a shop truck but it could easily be sold for nearly double what they have into it.

[lordoc22]

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z192/sodopeweapon/loader.jpghttp://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z192/sodopeweapon/yeaboy.jpg

did it for 2 years...sniff, i miss it..

[lordoc22]

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z192/sodopeweapon/ferrari.jpg

[JB'sLGT]

I could soooo fix this!

http://images.copart.com/website/data/pix/20090116/06731889_1X.JPG

http://images.copart.com/website/data/pix/20090116/06731889_3X.JPG

[yellow2000S/R]

I could soooo fix this!

http://images.copart.com/website/data/pix/20090116/06731889_1X.JPG


There was a blue Viper a few weeks ago a few of the guys were bidding on. Went for just under 19k. Body looked great, I believe it even ran/drove, but the underside had damage from the description.

[phsdrummer2]

Ok so heres the deal so far.

Contacted Copart in regards to a White 300zx out in Pittsburgh and heres what i got back.

Dear Ryan:

Copart is currently "testing" the public's participation. It is in its preliminary phase and at some point will be introduced nationally, however, the public will only be able to purchase a vehicle(s) through a Reseller and not directly through Copart.

In order to receive proprietary information on any vehicle, one must be a current registered buyer. I am sorry that I cannot give you any additional information regarding this particular vehicle.

Keep checking our website for further details down the road. Thankyou for inquiring about our services.

Regard,

Rick

Rick Rabak
General Manager
Pittsburgh North Facility
2000 River Road, Route 351
Ellwood City, PA 16117
(724) 758-0480
Fax (724) 758-1637

So i guess there will be no direct purchases for the general public any time soon.

FTL!

[The Captain]

ha...so register with them, give them 600...so that they can sell it to someone else, who's then going to jack the price up when they sell it to you.

nty.

[piku]

yup. I buy through Copart all of the time. I have access to a legit dealers license though that I buy through, so I can bid on pretty much anything I want, in any auction I want. There are additional fee's per auction as well.

With a salvage title car, you will need to fix it, then bring it to a specified inspection station where it is looked over, then, if it's OK, it's given a rebuilt title. paperwork gets sent to harrisburgh, etc, etc. It's like a 3 month process just to be able to get it registered to drive... not including the time it will take you to fix it.


My 3000GT was purchased from a friend in NJ. It was a theft recovery early in its life so what I bought was a 3000GT with an NJ salvage title (and it wasn't very clearly branded this so I didn't know what I was getting into). I get to the notary and they break the news to me and give me the 6 page inspection form.

As part of the theft the vin plate was missing and a NJ vin replacement sticker was on the door.

So, you need to fill out the form right, and there is nothing exactly fitting an out of state theft recovery. You need to get a VIN certification which is a separate form. I had to get the car inspected by a police officer (!??!) to look at the NJ vin and certify on the form that it was correct. Dilemma.. I can't legally drive the car to the police station to get the inspection done but they don't come out for it. Luckily I was able to sweet talk a montgomeryville cop into doing it (THANK YOU!). It took me ages to find a mechanic who knows how to do the inspection and paperwork (I found one off 611 north of doylestown). Penndot rejected my application 3 or 4 times and the process takes forever. You have to take a bunch of pics of the car from several angles in the right light and they rejected one set because there was a tiny bit of glare. My GF was getting upset so she found out a way to bug them and got them to push it through by yelling at them. It was LITERALLY almost a full year before I could drive the car legally. Even the last time they were going to reject it and she told them they were full of it and they ... for some reason ... decided she was right.

I have a folder in my filing cabinet dedicated to this process and it's one of the biggest. So much crap to deal with.

It was one of the bigger mistakes I've made in my lifetime and the reason I will drive that car into the ground even though I'd rather keep the 1999 323 as a beater but instead that car is up for sale. At least the 3000GT is fun to drive. If it wasn't I'd have to set it on fire.

[Proven]

Ok so heres the deal so far.

Contacted Copart in regards to a White 300zx out in Pittsburgh and heres what i got back.

Dear Ryan:

Copart is currently "testing" the public's participation. It is in its preliminary phase and at some point will be introduced nationally, however, the public will only be able to purchase a vehicle(s) through a Reseller and not directly through Copart.

In order to receive proprietary information on any vehicle, one must be a current registered buyer. I am sorry that I cannot give you any additional information regarding this particular vehicle.

Keep checking our website for further details down the road. Thankyou for inquiring about our services.

Regard,

Rick

Rick Rabak
General Manager
Pittsburgh North Facility
2000 River Road, Route 351
Ellwood City, PA 16117
(724) 758-0480
Fax (724) 758-1637

So i guess there will be no direct purchases for the general public any time soon.

FTL!

So its a VERY good thing you didnt spend $600 to join to find this out.