Auto auctions

Has anybody here attended an IAA auction? These are totaled cars for sale by insurance companies.

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I would like to know what the approximate price is of a wreck that is 12 to

15 years old. Example would be a 1990 Nissan Maxima. Do they sell as low as $200? $1000? I called my local IAA auction center (Portland Oregon) and it would cost a $ 200 entrance fee to attend and watch the auction. They would not give me prices on previous sales.

Interested in getting parts cars for some of the autos that I own. I have the acreage to store the cars. By example, even a wrecked car could have a good transmission (several thousand $$$ rebuilt), window regulator and motor (several hundred $ from the dealer) etc. etc.

If somebody could tell me that these old cars do in fact sell for a reasonable price ($ 200 to $600) then I would pay the $200 annual membership fee and go bid.

Thanks, Ivan Vegvary

Reply to
Ivan Vegvary
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Unless it is something special(rare model, or high perfomance), $2-600 is certainly not unreasonable. But, to go to a repairable auction looking for transmissions or engines is foolish. You typically can't inspect or test drive the vehicles. You might get a cursory visual inspection at that will be all. You must also consider that most stuff sent to auction is going to be newer vehicles. There is older stuff, but it is less common(usually isn't worth the trouble), and what does end up there is getting dumped for some reason(besides the obvious)

Do you know anyone that might have a pass already?(body shop or other repairable yard, etc) Typically can attend as a "guest" for free. Buy the guy lunch, or a case of beer. Have you asked if you can go to one auction on a trial pass? Not an uncommon practice.

JW

Reply to
cyberzl1

A lot of them sell for $200 or less, or don't sell at all. I live in Portland OR There's two types of guys that go to these sales (other than the local wreckers buyers) The first are the guys looking for one specific make and model (usually something old/collectable/special/etc.) and they will show up at auction after auction without bidding until eventually they get what they want. The second are the guys that are like you who what to make some money on it.

The usual routine is to start out by buying yourself a car trailer and a winch and a cherry picker and get a heated garage. Don't screw with storing a lot of vehicles on your property. It's bad business, you want to keep the stuff moving to make the most money off it. Just buy as many cars as you can work on at a time. Store the parts you pull off, not the vehicles.

For example, on tomorrows auction there's a 63 VW beetle up with front end damage and 97K on the clock. The ODO on that vehicle doesen't read past 10K if I recall so it's more like 197K. None of the normal wreckers will bid on that, there's not enough call for that old a vehicle. Instead some private person will buy it for probably $350-$400, pull out the engine and sell the engine and transmission on craigslist, then pull everything else, down to the doorhandles, off the car and start selling them on Ebay. They will probably sell all of those parts within the next 6 months and clear something like

1700-1800 on them, could be higher if the fenders and glass are in good condition and they don't break them pulling them out.. The remaining hulk will be hauled down to Portland Auto Wrecking, drive the trailer on to their scale, unload the car, drive the trailer back on to the scale, then go collect their $70.

Don't get all starry eyed, though. While there's a lot of people who do make a living doing this, the stories of buying a car for $200 and selling one single part out of it like a transmission for $1000 are mostly fabrications. Remember all the local wreckers are going to be there bidding for cars too, and they know what cars there are that contain $1000 transmissions. If your idea is you will be able to do very little work and make tons of money, forget it. But if your willing to put in 3-4 hours a day hacking away on your hulks that you get, you can make some good pocket money doing it.

Ted

Reply to
Ted Mittelstaedt

While you make some interesting points in your above discussion, my experience has been otherwise. I've had parts cars for my 1948 Pontiac,

1952 Pontiac, 1954 Studebaker and 1968 Camero for decades. A lot of the late model car's parts can be shelved. Keep in mind that a single fuel injector can cost $125 new and half as much at an auto wrecker. Same thing is true for cruise control assemblies, computers, glass, extra wheels so you can mount snow tires, etc. etc. Ivan Vegvary
Reply to
Ivan Vegvary

I'm sure you could find one at $200.00 - the key would be condition and what parts remained after the wreck.

But please do your homework on a rough but running car using Edmunds.com. A 1990 Nissan Maxima that runs but is in rough condition has no value according to Edmunds. You will be bidding on a very rough car that doesn't run. It's worth $1,000 in top condition with low miles and lots of accessories.

They are charging you the membership fee, which is reasonable. What they don't want is a bunch of lookie-lews clogging up the aisles ooohing and aaahing at every sale but not bidding.

Likely because you are not a member. The only way to learn about what the cars will sell for is to pay the fee and attend a few auctions.

No way to tell if the components are any good.

I'm not sure a reasonable price for a car is going to be $200 to $600. It will depend on the car, how much is left, condition, how long it has been setting out, etc. Depending on the auction you may still be seeing totals from hurricane country.

Reply to
John S.

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