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.

Originally Posted by Copart Newsletter

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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

[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?

[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]

Originally Posted by sleepersatty99

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]

Originally Posted by Girly VR-4

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]

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

[lordoc22]