BestOnlineBid.com

When cars are bought at auctions and have been in accident, do buyers know about this?

I have a pending investigation going on with a dealership, and was wondering, when cars are bought at auction and have been in an accident, do these used car lot people who buy them usually get the info that they were crashed and now being auctioned. Just need a lil more info to know, my invesatigation will need another or 2 months of investiagting to get all details. Thanks, an answer from a used car salesman would help, an honest one please!

Public Comments

1. Its hard to be totally sure that they are not upfront. When a car goes through an auction the seller is suppose to disclose any bad history. They then run the car on a light system green for good, yellow for minor issues "dents, check engine lights repairs not under warranty" then red for major accidents, damage, engine or transmission problems. The auctions are also supposed to look at the car to see if they spot something. That being said things do get by. We just bought a car at auction the carfax was clean we had it for a month. I pulled the carfax report back up on the computer Monday and an accident was now showing. Now there are also sales that specialize in shady cars we avoid them but they are out there and the dealers that buy from them do so knowingly. What led you to believe the car was wrecked? Email me some more info and I will see if I can help you any more.
2. Sure. As someone who hits an occasional auction with a friend, we assume the worst and the cars we haul off are good for scrap metal and nothing more. Not a hard concept to grasp, no? What is there to investigate? What makes you think a dealer took any better a look at what they sold than you did what you were buying?
3. No, we don't always know. There are shops that buy cars in accidents, rebuild them, then sell them through the lanes. If the car had a clean title when the shop bought it, then they did their own repairs, that accidnet may not show up on Carfax or Autocheck. Its up to the buyer to do a thorough inspection before bidding on the car. Also, its up to you as the buyer to inspect before Y OU buy. Just like consumers, when we buy a car at the sale we own it. Unless we can prove misrepresentation of frame damage or odometer discrepency. Most dealers know what to look for at the sale. There are usually some telltale signs that give away a collision rebuild. Not only that, sellers develop a reputation, so you know who is doing what. With all of that said, not all dealers are thorough. There are a lot of people who get a dealer license and really dont know what they are looking at. Also, sometimes a rebuild can slip past the best buyer. I just had a $50K Benz that was a rebuild - but it was so well done that only a VERY keen eye could spot the rebuild. It happens. Some get past us.
4. Most half way reputable dealer auctions have services that identify previous salvage cars and they are CLEARLY and in BIG LETTERS marked. Dealers avoid them like the plague so they dont sell for much. The can be cars that were wrecked worse and rebuilt worse that were never previous salvage titles. Generally it comes down to the experience of the dealers bidding on the car. Auctions disclose what they know to dealers. Dealers, generally disclose what they know to the buyer. (Granted, they will make it sound minor when it was really a major deal complete with picking brains out of the upholstry.) A very few really shady dealers wont disclose it and will later get sued and wont stay in business. Dealers must have surety bonds to protect the public against things like that and title fraud. Surety bonds dont protect an as-is buyer from their motor blowing up a mile down the road, only scammers who sell stolen cars or dont get people their titles or fail to disclose previous salvage. Buyers still must sue before the insurance companies will pay. Surety bonds are really cheap because there are rarely any claims as those kind of scamsters get weeded out fairly quickly.
5. At most dealer auctions, frame or uni-body damage is supposed to be announced. Most auctions run a vehicle history report, and if something shows such as salvage history, that too is supposed to be announced. If frame damage is not announced, the buyer can put the deal into arbitration, and back out of the sale. There is a short time frame in which this must be done. In the real world, unless there is something on the vehicle history report, or the title is branded, many sellers do not announce frame damage. A dealer may not know about it. If they take a car in trade that they are not going to consider putting on the retail lot for sale, they will not spend much, if any money inspecting the car. They may have it cleaned and detailed, but unless the repair is obvious, they are not going to look for trouble, Unless the dealer who buys the car has it checked, they may never know of the repaired damage. A vehicle history report does not always show all damage to a vehicle. If I were to hit a tree with my truck, and rather than filing an insurance claim, took it to my local body shop and paid them (out of pocket) to repair the damage, it would not show on Carfax or Autochek. The vehicle history report information comes from insurance companies and public records. Some auctions also report information such as sales and mileage. It is always a good idea to have any used car you are considering buying checked by your own mechanic prior to purchase. The dealer is not required to disclose prior damage, unless they did the repair. They are not required to look for evidence of prior damage. Your mechanic can look for such evidence, and if it is a problem, then you do not buy that car. People who trade in a car are not going to volunteer that it had been in an accident, They do not want to give the dealer any reason to reduce the trade in value. The dealer can not be expected to know the entire history of a vehicle. It is a used car.