How to Buy a Car at a Car Auction

There's never been a better time to find your next used car at an incredible savings than right now. Cheap used cars are plentiful not only in your local auto classifieds, online classifieds, but also at car auctions around the country.

The process is relatively simple and the car auctions are user friendly in most areas. A used car buyer does need to be at least 18 years of age to bid at auction and must possess a valid driver's license. The payment methods generally are limited to cash, certified check or money order. Some car auctions may have their own individual requirements which are listed on their website or at the auction location.

Once you locate a used car auction (simple enough to do by running a search with your internet browser) you can then browse their website for rules, bidding methods (live, proxy, sealed bid), and the vehicles that are available to choose from.

It would be wise to all ready have an idea of what type, make, model of vehicle you are looking for. You might even be interested in locating a used luxury car such as a Saab, Volvo, Mercedes or an SUV. There are plenty used luxury vehicles available, as well as typical cars, trucks and SUV that are fairly recent models.

The biggest plus to buying a used car from an auction is the fact that most of these used vehicles will sell for far less than the actual book value. In fact, it's not uncommon to see savings of up to 95 percent off the book value of the car.

Used car auction houses offer a time period before the actual bidding for potential buyers to view the vehicles, inspect the cars they are interested in and even have a test drive and have a mechanic inspect the vehicle. Some auction houses have mechanics on site that you can hire to give you a full report on what the car needs for repairs, if anything.

Now that you've chosen a couple of vehicles that you are really interested in, set yourself a budget (how much money you really want to spend on a car) and prepare to bid. You will be assigned a bidder's number at the time that you register. Once the bidding begins, you simply show your number and the auctioneer will note your bid.

If you are the lucky bidder on a vehicle, the auctioneer will announce the sale of the vehicle to you. You will have a certain amount of time (24-48 hours) to make payment for the vehicle and to then remove the vehicle from the auction's lot.