I've bought a few vehicles from copart. 1 2001 R1 that I have now as my track bike... so I didn't care about the salvage title status. I have picked a car and truck that I both did small repairs, had enhanced inspections done, then flipped for a small profit.
check the fees. $800 bikes end up being $2300. there is a fee if youre not a registered transport provider.
The last few years and the numerous stupid fees that they tag on.... I still have my dealer account but haven't "won" any autos or bikes lately because of the fees.
Fees have risen lately... but I don't know if a $800 won bid would turn into a $2300 final price? Now if you want the vehicle transported far away... the transportation fee could be substantial. I have always picked up all my vehicles myself.
A few months ago I bought a 2013 Ducati 1199 from Copart. My winning bid was about $3,500, and I think I paid $4,500 total, after all the fees, and the broker fee I had to pay cause auction was in a state that required it. I built the bike up, and have been riding it at track days for the last few month. I haven't sold the bike yet, but I expect I'll be able to get close to what I paid for it and all the parts. I'm sure I won't make a profit. But I shouldn't lose much, if any, money. But I didn't do this to make money. I just wanted a project that would keep me busy for a couple months. I'll definitely do it again.
its roughly 50% worth of fees at the $1000 price point... and yes that price I quoted included transport from NV to FL but not thru a copart provider. There was an additional copart fee for the transporter to come retrieve the bike. It used to be you could score decent deals on say a nearly new 5th wheel camper that was a totaled vandalism claim. Say 15-25% of msrp. Then sell it as is at 50% of book or do some repairs & get even more.
There are still deals trade on copart... but you really have to be on your game and watch the bids. Easy track bike source.
To give you an idea of some of the things you would need to watch out for... I had my eye on a bike at a lot 4 hours away. My dashboard on Crashedtoys.com said the auction was set for yesterday. I had been planning on driving there yesterday morning so I could see the bike in person, refine my bid, and then likely win the bike, and take it home right away. I happened to decide against driving there, and instead just put a bid in on Wednesday night. I woke up Thur morning to an e-mail saying my bid and the auction had been cancelled. My dashboard now says the auction is scheduled for next week, but when I called the Copart lot, they said their system doesn't show any scheduled auction for that bike. I guess I lucked out, cause I would have been SO PISSED if I had driven 8 hours total for nothing.
I see that happen quite often. Vehicles will just disappear when the bidding $$ are too low... then just reappear as new auction several days later. I would never drive to a auction site site before I definitely knew I had won the bid!
It's shady AF! I was extra relieved I didn't drive there, cause my buddy was going to come with me. I would have been so bad for him, to have driven 8 hours with me for nothing.
Every time I scroll down past this thread, the title catches my eye and I misread "combat experience" Am I the only one?
