Dummy's Guide to Government Surplus Car Auctions

With 35+ years experience at auctions, I can say that these auctions should come with many disclaimers for new buyers. Yes, there can be deals, ... but you can also be fleeced & loose your money. First, know that GC Surplus is a separate entity from the departments getting rid of the materials, so the description they provide on their site is 2nd hand from the employees at the various departments, & can be missing important facts. They wash their hands of all responsibility. (No one holds any real responsibility it would seem.) The items for sale can be in excellent shape when the description focuses on flaws, or the items can have serious problems that are not listed. I can tell you from experience that buying a vehicle that you were not allowed to bring out for an inspection, & later finding the transmission & motor has serious issues is a bad feeling. Leave room in your price range to cover repairs. Know that you could have some inside seeking to keep the interest & end price low, or you could have departments looking to maximize a return of value to their budget. I have seen both. The descriptions should be viewed with a grain of salt. You need to be good at knowing the actual value of an item for the condition its in, and you need to be very good at spotting flaws & problems. The safest method to get a deal is to bid lower than face value, & know that you can usually find items for full price anywhere. Its like a game of hot potato. If its not a deal, let someone else get caught with it.

25 years ago I was active on 3 different Government online auction sites. And purchased many items including vehicles. Today it’s not really advisable. The people who are bidding now do not understand that they are bidding on a picture. There’s lots of risk involved, but they bid like the items come with a 30day money back warranty. Often times they are paying retail prices and above in the auction.

how do i find these auctions

ONE big thing at these auctions ... beware of private sellers, they can be shop or other car lots getting rid of real JUNK.
Stick to city or govt vehicles
Public buyers usually PAY TOO MUCH !

Is it easy to flip these cars?? Or not?

There’s a 2023 Aston Martin db11 for $50,000 😅

is there a web for this auction, please

Can you pull data to compare hours to miles?

I'd show more shots of your ford fusion

Is that Jeff Bezos's weird brother

How do you find out about the auctions?

Buying cars from government auctions is too much risk! I made a big mistake of buying few cars from such years ago. Only to find out later that I bet them more than their values. Then I had to quit taking them in lieu of my deposits being forfeited. 😢

Do you have any at the moment for sale I am looking for something so I can get to work

Fun video, and very informative. Thank you.

Great video to the point!! I gotta know when to hold them, and know when to fold them... You really do have to stalk the auctions and wait for the right moment. You started with an example of an unregistered vehicle. So if you buy a GSA vehicle at auction you get an SF97 to register at the DMV. Does that mean you can drive it off and the cops give you a few days to register the vehicle?? I just bought a pick up and apparently I get it at the same time I pick up the SF97. Thanks

What we website do you go to and how do you know site to go to

Some great deals, nice

It's pronounce "jag-war". And do you need to get a new clean tittle for these cars

Chris makes great informative vids... Thank YOU!

What about running a carfax on something you previewed? Wouldn't that be prudent?

Hi. It is a Jaguar. NOT jagwire. Jaguar.

Do you think the price of auction cars has gone up because of this covid car shortage deal?

Never buy a used Jaguar. Ever.

I bought at the auction when it was still live, near the end you could get some deals. I got a 8 year old Taurus with 67000 miles and drove it to 188,000 with only ever replacing the hood ( was in fender bender) tires, one break caliper and a heater hose. It was the cheapest and best used car I had. I plan on getting another at some point but the prices skyrocketed with online auction and the state makes more so they will continue doing it. Some of the state cars are used and abused. Others are hardly used and it’s not surprising to find them with under 60,000 miles. Just bid accordingly. Since the state went to fleet management vs agency they are serviced regularly and maintained. The average age is suppose to be cycled out at 5 years but I think average is 7-8 years. I’m waiting for a deal on a minivan to use for trips. Definitely will be watching

jay-guayer lol

Another great video. When is the next auction? BTW, the garage is looking a lot better with that coat of paint. And when are you gonna update us on the Charger and introduce the new Vic?

He's right, I gave up on Suplus auctions a long time ago, most cars are SO stripped with few options, you wouldn't want them. And resale is dismal usully. As soon as most buyers hear you got it at Surplus.... Good luck.

I love this Auction videos because it always surprises me how much the cars sale for.

Went to about 10 auctions. Nope × 10, then 2 happy scores in a row.
First score, they were taking sealed bids, so I tried $3K for a 3.0 litre Dodge Caravan at just over 100,000 km (~65,000 miles) with a 3-speed auto (not the hideous 4-spd). Dual-fuel, gasoline or natural gas (like getting a 30% discount on fuel). Ran it for years.
Second score was a perfect storm -- one auctioneer was outside during a cold downpour (while almost everybody else stayed warm inside the barn overbidding at the simultaneous police dep't lost/found bicycles auction). Got a 2000 Cavalier with just over 100,000 km gently used by the Parks Dep't admin, for $600 just by staying outside in the rain. Good commuter car.

I’m noticing a lot of seller misrepresentation from government agencies. If you aren’t doing in person inspections then you will get burned because they are not disclosing anything like “no brakes” and “AWD not operable”

Love the police interceptor good engine too

SPOT ON. If you cannot do the repairs yourself, you will almost always lose your cash.

I once bought a 1985 CCUV (out of Florida), could not get it running, so I spent another 2 grand and bought another one which I did get running to figure out what was wrong with the first one. It was a long list of idiotic screw-ups before I had bought it on the first one. But with two to compare they are both solid, in fact my son just replaced the master cylinder on the 2nd one (out of Kentucky) and we are bleeding the brakes tomorrow before we go for a cruise.
Next we are going to park the Ford Taurus (out of Va, $300 and 59K miles) and redo all the suspension all around. Years ago, I bought a 1976 IH Box truck that drank oil on the way home, found out that it was missing a piston, connecting rod and elbow, so had to rebuild the engine. It created a cloud of blue smoke that was truly impressive.

It can be fun, but you are buying trouble and projects.

I used to go to public and dealer-only auctions in the Northeast, and although I did manage to find some good deals, it was usually only on those few makes and models and were unpopular and/or unknown. Auction Fever is real and with fees, bids are easily way above what you could buy a better car for in private-party deals, or even pick up up the same cars 'As Is' from the dealers before they sent them to auction.

I bought a very clean Audi for a good price at an auction. It turned out it needed a new transmission. After the cost of a new transmission it wasn't a good deal. I don't buy cars from auctions anymore.

Good to see the Astrovan is still around. Looks pretty mean on that wheel and tyre combo! Great presentation as always!

Jag you whyer? What?

Every auction will have a few bidders who just get excited or really do not know the value of a car, and jack the price up to high, but if you ride it out a few times, you will find the car you want for the price you want to pay, and that should be low wholesale, based on the risk, Last year I bought a 2013 Caprice PPV ( with the 6.0 V-8 ) with 130,000 miles for $4000, started it with a jump box, replaced the horn, and have been driving it ever since with no issues.

Lol junky American cars and trucks ..... nope

I buy cars and trucks from the PPA Philadelphia parking authority . Make a living from those cars . . Do you get a dud sometimes , yes it happens. However you got to know what type of cars to buy and the ones to run and don’t look back . For example I would never buy a jaguar just because I have seen friends that bought them from the auction and they are AWAYS JUNK .. sooo I let them make that mistake for me . I love my Buick’s,saturns ,pontiacs, chevys , some ford cars and trucks . I do really good with all trucks ... you can’t just go to an auction and kick some tires and pull some dip sticks and expect to get a great vehicle. .. if you have been doing this forever you usually know some people so you can get history on fleet vehicles .. on police impounded vehicles you can usually get an idea just by looking and running the vin number... I love what I do and wouldn’t trade it for anything are there bad days sure but the good days always out run the bad . Sorry if I was all over with this but hopefully someone understands it lol🤪

How come Americans have the hardest time pronouncing the word, Jaguar?

I've bought several police cars, all not standard patrol vehicles, and a '93 Ramcharger with a 360 Magnum in Utah. I've bough a couple of pickups as well, but these days? Too many folks watching car flip and storage locker auction shows while not knowing vehicles. Crazy

Back in the early 80s, my Dad, brother and I went to a GSA auction which auctioned off surplus GSA cars. Back then, it was Ford Fairmonts, AMC Concords/Gremlins and variety of Chevy, Dodge and Ford trucks and vans. We were looking for a truck or SUV...and found a Blazer with rod knock...figuring we would save money since the engine issues we have to be addressed. We attended the open house prior to bidding and noted what we wanted to bid on....and a bunch of dealers were there and bid up the prices quickly.....kind of a bummer but was a fun experience.

good honest review isn't there a fee that's also added to the auction house,

They ain't there too make friends. LoL deal or no deal

Never bid on anything if you can't inspect it first. Period.

What about bringing in foreign cars? There are inspectors that you pay to check out the vehicle, but I have no idea of their reliability. Anyone have experience bringing in pre-'95 cars?

It makes a difference on how well the auction was advertised. Some auctions have way too many buyers for limited inventory. It pays to write the maximum you would offer on a vehicle while at the inspection and take detailed notes. Most auctions I walk away empty handed. At other auctions, picked up some real bargains as they had some items not in the main category so the buyers for those items were absent. Example, bought a light tower generator. It was full of 30 gallons of fuel, fully services, but rental equipment. Picked it up for under $1000. Where else can you buy a 3 cylinder diesel generator with less than 1200 hours for under a grand. At later auctions old worn out units with over 30,000 hours were sold for nearly $4,000. It pays to spot the bargains and ones with poor attendance.
In regards to government cars, many are seized property from crime, lack of insurance, drug deals, etc. Those are generally in very poor repair. Identify the ones used by the city for social workers, city inspectors, etc, as those are more likely to have been kept maintained. You don't want the vehicle that was owned by the homeless guy living in it, and taken by the city for lack of insurance.

He tells us. Not to go to auctions
But he goes every chance he gets
Lol

Donde es la otra subastas