A car auction is a like any other where a commodity is sold to the highest bidder. Most potential customers attend an auction believing that the price of a used car would be substantially lower than the market value. However, this is often not the case. In addition, car auctions are infamous for marketing flooded and stolen vehicles, which are bought by unsuspecting customers.

In general, there are six types of car auctions. They are as follows:

- Wholesale car auctions: These are held by car dealers for other car dealers.
- Public car auctions: These are open to all.
- Company car auctions: These are open to employees of the company.
- Police & Government car auctions: These are usually open to all customers.
- Bank, Insurance, and Salvage car auctions: These are open only to car dealers.
- Online auctions: The most recent addition to car auctions, they are open to all.

Although all auction types involve a risk component, online auction is possibly the most risky. This is because, you bid only by seeing the car's features and photo on a website. If you become the highest bidder, you are bound by contract to pay even if you have not seen the car in person. Sellers often give incorrect or false information about their car. Therefore, run a used car title check on the VIN# to verify the seller's claims. The seller may not list the VIN# and may provide wrong information about the model, year, tax payments, and insurance cover of the car. A Vehicle History Report will enable you to verify these factors. Another problem associated with online auctions is that the seller may ask friends to make false bids just to hike the price of the vehicle. In addition, you may have to travel long distances to pick up the purchased vehicle.

In the other types of auctions, you can inspect cars before bidding. Therefore, arrive at the auction site well in advance. Check whether all the VIN# stickers in a car match. Otherwise, it was either stolen or repaired with the parts of another car. Ensure that the car comes with the title. If you are in a hurry to buy and no title is available, at least ensure that the contract states exactly when the title will be provided to you. Otherwise you will have to run around for it. Before you bid, remember that you will have to pay a buyer's premium in addition to the price of the car. This could be 5 to 10% or lesser; find that out earlier. Furthermore, check out the traffic light behind the auctioneer to find out whether the status of the car title is red, yellow, or green. Everything about the title is fine if the light is green. Ensure that title status is mentioned in the contract. A Vehicle History Report is important in these types of auctions too.

The main intention to purchase from an auction is to obtain a used car at a rate much lower than the market value. Therefore, decide on the model of the car, check your bank balance, and decide on the price you can go up to before bidding. Don't get carried away by all the bidding activity around you.

Article written by Thomas MacIntosh (dallas car auction)