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Can You Get a Good Used Car at Seized Vehicle Auctions?

BY: Joseph Ducat
Words: 348

If you are looking for a good deal on a car, you can try buying a government seized vehicle at a public auction. Many government auctions sell off surplus as well as seized vehicles that have been confiscated from criminals. These can include regular sedans, luxury cars, trucks, pickups, buses, SUVs, Hummers, Jeeps, motorcycles, ATVs, snowmobiles and even boats and planes. A lot of these vehicles are in good condition, having been seized as criminal assets, not as a result of accidents or traffic violations.

Police auction lots often offer seized vehicles as well, although the quality can be rather varied. These cars are generally confiscated by the police from traffic rule offenders and people with unpaid fines. They are generally cars that have not been reclaimed from the impounding lot by their owners. There are good bargains to be found in such auctions, although it may take a practiced eye and some mechanical savvy to tell a good or salvageable car from a piece of junk.

If you are thinking of buying a seized car, then you should make sure that the vehicle you are after has a clean title. It is a rare occurrence, but people have bought stolen cars at public auctions and gotten into a lot of trouble--or at least were out a lot of money. What you should do is obtain the vehicle information number of the car. You can do this during the inspection period, the time before the auction when you are allowed to examine the cars on auction. At the inspection, you cannot test drive the car, only sit inside it and start the engine. So you should do what you can to learn more about the vehicle.

Search for the car’s vehicle information number on the Carfax website and you will find its vehicle history. You have to pay a fee to get it, though. The vehicle history, however, can tell you if the car has a clean title, and it will contain information about the car’s ownership and service history, which can be very useful.