Everything you ever wanted to know about CoPart.com

[David Hodgkins]

I want to purchase a '06 WRX car thru copart.com. What is the purpose of prebidding? If I see a car on their site, how do I get it if I need a broker to do so? Do I have to use the broker to transport the car? can I pick it up myself? How can I qualify to bid as a business?

Please educate all of us who are searching for a donor thru copart.com by sharing your experience.

Thanks!

[rori]

What is the purpose of prebidding?

So you don't have to sit through the live auction.

If I see a car on their site, how do I get it if I need a broker to do so?

Don't know, never used one.

Do I have to use the broker to transport the car?

Don't know, but I doubt it. Shipping is probably on you.

can I pick it up myself?

Yes.

How can I qualify to bid as a business?

Fax in a lot of paperwork and even then you can be limited on what you can bid on from state to state. Some states I can only bid on salvage title cars and others I can only bid on clean title cars; some states I can bid on anything and others I can't seem to bid on anything (missouri).

Please educate all of us who are searching for a donor thru copart.com by sharing your experience.

I've bought 9 cars through copart and it has been relatively hassle free.

[Kalstar]

You can pick up yourself. Usually there is a gate fee.

You do not need to use Copart shipers but it is easier.

Depending on State (Varies) you will need to use one of the approved dealers. There is a security deposit, yearly fee and a purchase fee.

Talking about fees, they have a super secret formula on how they charge the buy fee...just plan between 350-450.00 plus dealer and transport fees.

I am registered as a business.

Understand too, it is never what it seems, of all the cars I have purchase through them (in the double digits), not one has come as pictured. Missing radio knobs, all fuses and relays removed, one even came in with different wheels. The workers or transit will take anything they can that can be sold on eBay. I have had three cars come in with an empty pouch where the nav disk and books were once and forget about shift knobs. In the bidding picture, but not their on arraival.

Prebiddng Is important. If the bidding gets above what most salvage companies will pay they will not enter the auction.

[Sergio]

I've bought several donors throughout the years either to build myself a Factory Five, Conversions or for resale, the best way is just to go and register to bid in the actual auction place, then go the day of the auction to preview the Car(s), there there will be actual "Dealers", talk to one of them (obviously make time for this) and ask how much he would charge you to buy the car for you, either tell him your limit or ask him to let you bid in the vehicle yourself, if you win the vehicle be prepared by previously asking the dealer if he has towing service or recommend someone to tow it the very same day, you'll also need time to go to your bank and get a Bank Money Order for the amount owed to the auction place, and extra cash to pay the dealer for his services (mine used to charge me 50.00 but that was a few years ago), the receipt will have the dealer's name but he should sign the pink slip over to you (or you can leave it alone, since you'll probably scrap the donor Carcass after selling off unwanted parts), after all you should keep the Pink slip to prove to the CHP that the parts on your 818 weren't stolen. Good Luck ! (I got really lucky in late 2003 when I bought my wrecked Terminator at auction! )

edit: try to get it out of the auction place the very same day, that way no one will take stuff off the car !

[AJW Performance]

Some advice I can provide, the amount you are willing to pay (your top bid) is always going to be about 300.00-400.00 more (buyer fees, broker fees, etc) then depending on if it ships, another 150.00- 1500.00 (pending location of course). Also when you hire a shipping company; from my experience watch them like a hawk because often they don't always pick up the car at the lot when they say they do, so then you get to pay late fees.

On a more up beat note it is a good way to source donors, not trying to be negative

[RM1SepEx]

I used copart for my 2005 70k roll over
I prebid to gage the interest in the vehicle
When the auction came up no one else bid and my prebid amount bought the vehicle
I monitored several WRX during a couple months previous
have a set max you wish to pay... Copart's pricing structure is difficult to understand plan on several hundred for fees...
Some auctions allow you to see what similar vehicles have sold for (for a small fee) this allows you to know what other wrx have sold for. Or you can monitor every auction real time and catch the price as it goes past the block (very rapidly!)

Even with my roll over $1000+ will be recovered selling off parts

some states only allow bidding if you are in the trade... good luck with that one... I didn't go that route but there are people willing to do it for a fee

[David Hodgkins]

Does copart own the locations of the auctions? will I know that location and can I be onsite with a trailer during the auction?

[Vwsnaps]

Another option I haven't seen mentioned

https://www.iaai.com/

Costs $200 to join for a year. I only deal with the Omaha franchise

But you can view auctions online and bid online. Again like copart expect $300 or so in fee's on top of your bid.

My personal experience with Omaha office...

I had 1998 passat 1.8t auto had broken timing belt. Owner / manager of iaai called me from my craiglist ad of me parting the car out. He offered me $900 for the car as it was without wheels. I had already sold the ecu. After two weeks of bck and forth finally a driver showed up and wrote me a check.

Then 3 weeks later same car was listed on the website for sale and was listed as a " start " or " running " car.. Which by their terms means it started and ran at some point in possession of iaai. But not promised to start when u pick it up....

So buyers think my 99 passat with a broken timing belt and missing ecu runs and drives..... I thought that was not cool that they would lie about it. Maybe it was misprint. But it went live auction as a start car..

So in other words. Be careful. Don't believe these places.

My copart story

Bought 1998 golf vr6 hit light front... Obviously totaled. One would assume car was running and driving when it was wrecked.. i paid $650 and then just shy of $300 in fees. Went to go pick it up.. Fork lift put it on my trailer. I notice the driveshaft are unhooked... Hmmmm

Get it back to my shop.. Nothing hooked up. Engine just basically sitting in engine bay.. Very long story short... Owner of car had just installed a new / used motor in the car got in accident, towed car back to shop.. Removed good motor , set back in the bad motor. Returned used motor to salvage yard, let insurance company come take away car to auction...

So once again. Be careful. Don't trust anyone. My $.02 if you cant inspect in person. Bidder beware!

It's a dirty buisness...

[RM1SepEx]

Inspection = good avail for a fee if need be... I did a couple
local/you can inspect is a big bonus
mine was exactly as in the photos
I did get a couple of extras including some sockets, a ratchet and some beer cans

[DrAwender]

I highly recommend you only buy from yards that you personally can inspect or know someone who will for you. I also recommend that you personally pick up your car. I have had had 2 different cars that the forklift driver broke the oil pan and a good friend of mine had one that fell off of the Forklift (we got to eat the extra cost NOT CoPart). If the damage is sever you MAY be able to get your money back. Once the car leaves the yard, its yours even if you had a CoPart transport company deliver it.

Pre-bidding is a waste of time and only brings the cost needlessly up.

There are many brokers you can find through CoPart. I am also a broker if you need one. Most brokers charge about the same... $150-200 membership fee, $200 buyer fee, Refundable $400 deposit to open an account. Remember these are ON TOP of the CoPart fees. If you win an auction (known as a "lot"), most brokers will require a cash or wire transfer of the full amount with in 24 hours. They will then take their fees out and forward the rest to CoPart. You then have 5 business days to pick up or have it picked up before daily storage fees start. Typically if you go through a broker, it will take several hours AFTER they receive payment before they will forward the rest of the payment to CoPart. So no, don't go to the yard the same day you won a lot to pick it up. If you have a commercial account with CoPart then this does not apply.

I have bought 10 vehicles through CoPart. Only lost my *** on one... Lets just say thats a $4000.00 mistake I wont make again!

J

[Zodiac]

good idea dave.

for the site i went to copart owns that location. I had to go through a broker in order to buy any vehicles. I went through AAA Automotive cause they offered a 30 day free period to purchase and then after that it was a monthly charge. some places do not give you 30 days free and some also charge you a yearly fee so be sure to check with all of them. Also most places have a $200 charge per vehicle but there are some that charge more than that. Finally all that I know of hold about a $400 security deposit which is then refunded when you are done or if you decide not to pay for a car it is put towards the amount it costs to relist the vehicle.

The copart I went to was close to my house so i hired a local tow driver to take it from there to home. When I went I signed some papers and they come out and drop the car off in a parking lot section for you to do what you need to do and get it home. Not sure how it would have been if I had them deliver it. By winning amount was 3150 i believe and after fees and what not it came to about 3750.

[first time builder]

I worked for a major insurance company for over 30 years and had MANY dealings with IAA and COPART. Today you can now bid online without being a "Licensed Salvage Buyer". The best way would be for you to go several weeks prior to the auction you wish to go to and go early and OUTSIDE the gate talk to prospective buyers that are regulars. For a fee they will left you go in with them and check out and bid, using their name. I worked at a salvage yard owned by Copart for awhile (evaluating damages) , most times the cars from where I worked were delivered as they were auctioned. If an employee of the Insurance companies or Copart is caught removing ANYTHING from a "sale piece" they will be terminated. And believe me there are plenty of cameras.
An old trick (prior to me working there and as a bidder) was to go early and remove the dipsticks(if I wanted to bid) so future buyers cant check eng/trans. But again buyer beware as you are buying "AS IS". There will be a lot of "flood cars" hitting in the northeast in the next month. If water get to the dash board the car is sold as salvage FLOOD. These could be a good engine donor but remember salt water affects wires and electrical components.
Kenny

[NonProfit]

Talking about fees, they have a super secret formula on how they charge the buy fee...

I've never dealt with Copart, but suspect it is where I will locate my donor. Here is a broker who details Copart's fees: http://www.salvagereseller.com/copart_fees

The Transaction Fee is from SR, everything else is Copart, some of which might vary (based on location or sale price of the vehicle):

Assuming a $5,000 bid is won:
• $250 Transaction Fee
• $700 or $750 Buyer Fee
• $75 Internet Bid Fee
• $30 Gate Fee
• $10 Copart Mailing Fee

All this adds $1065, or over 20%.

There is also sales tax, shipping and possibly a:
• Late Payment Fee
• Storage Fee
• Relisting Fee
• Sales "Cancelation" Fee
• Visits to the yards Fee
• Broker Mailing Fee

[Kalstar]

Not to forget the...
Initial join fee
Registration Yearly fee and ofcourse
Security deposits (my deposit is high as I have a big credit line with co-part) usually 10% of your buying power.

Another thing, not to be Debbie Downer....but, shipping, just because you use their approve carrier or ship through them does not mean they are not going to still be charged storage fees. On several occasions the copart shipper agreed to terms of shipping with a schedule pick up date and a confirmed delivery date . No call or notification from the shipper or copart, but the car has not come in, I call only to find out the carrier truck was down, now there is a $220.00 storage bill that the buyer must pay. By the time I got another shipper I had $260.00 in storage fees. The second time I only got caught for $60.00 but the first one was the doozzy. On the same issue, I twice was caught with the shipper saying when the left the yard there was a late fee they had to pay before they could leave, after paying the carrier (they never take checks , cash only) I get a bill from copart. When I explain to copart, they say I need reciept, I call shipper and they say I already gave it to you. I got bit twice for $40.00 each time. Now on to a late fee, you have 48 hours to pay in full, if any of the 48hrs falls on a holiday or weekend, you owe the $50.00 or better yet if you are using a reseller (which is required in most states) you need to wire money to them and then they in turn wire to copart. If you get a purchase confirm at 2:00 you wire that day ( if after 2:30 it get accredited to the next day) then the wire takes more than a few hours or the reseller is late in wiring (no fault of yours).....you guessed it you owe a late fee. There are other pit falls too, those are just the ones off the top of my head.

[Loretty]

MOD delete: suspect post

[bil1024]

To bad you can not see the car run, ecspecially if its a few states away

[elEskap]

/...post deleted by MOD

I also prefer dealing...MOD delete: Both Loretty and elEskap are on the same IP subnet. Suspected posts removed.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

If I buy a salvage car from coparts. Will they send you a new salvage title in my name?

When I go to get the title for my FFR, car will i only need this salvage title and FFR bill of sale?

Is this correct?

[RM1SepEx]

They sent the title with my car, it was in the glove compartment

[THE ITALIAN]

Holy Crap !
You guys have made this sound like it's a criminal enterprise, these scrap sellers.
I'm gonna use a friend who has a license. He normally does not buy salvaged, but he did take me to an auction in San Bernardino for HIGH END cars.
I looked at Lambo's Ferrari's Austins, Rolls-you name it ! The supply of these cars is incredible. low mileage, mint , yet many just sit there month after month because they
still don't make sense to own.
I think the supply of these Subi's will never end since I often see these fly by me at twice the speed of sound with a zit faced kid- blasting music and the Repo man chasing them in a Tow truck.

[RM1SepEx]

I have absolutely no complaints, Copart treated me fairly and I'm happy with my donor.

I am disappointed in the transport links however... Uship was a horror story, I listed on their site, accurately described the load with 5 photos, showing the car from all angles. I immediately received 3 offers to tow the vehicle at rather fair prices. When I won the auction and clicked to book the shipment. I was refused by the carriers and it took several days to find someone to take the car from Michigan to Maine. I ended up using copart's own shipping service at about twice the rate that was shown when I listed with UShip. he advantage of using copart's services was that they didn't charge any storage fees after choosing their service.

Note: Living in Maine is a big issue for shipping a vehicle... Most areas will be much easier to book and when I bought the car I didn't realize that the shipping either went through Canada TWICE or around the bottom of the great lakes, causing the distance to be over 100 miles longer! my bad... :-(

[Evan78]

Did the Uship carriers back out due to the border crossing issue or for some other reason?

[RM1SepEx]

the first (lowest) didn't say why they backed out... one said that I misrepresented the car, even though I was very clear as to it's condition and provided photos from every side with the RFQ,the third just said they wouldn't honor their quote. After that I put it out for bids and answered questions, once it reached the $ of the copart quote, I just used Copart as it stopped any storage fees. Using Copart it took 3 weeks for the car to come from Michigan. If I knew it would take that long I would have taken the trip with friends myself. a couple Uship companies wanted to use my trailer... one only had a 4 cyl Toyota! (I have a 16 ft x 8.5 aluminum enclosed Thule)
The company that picked it up had a problem in NJ and it sat on his truck while they tried to repair his truck. As it was last summer I was in no rush... he eventually subbed it out to another trucker to bring it up. He sat in my driveway after delivery as he was picking up several cars about 35 miles away to haul back down south and wanted to avoid weigh stations. He was a nice guy from eastern europe... :-) The car was as described by Copart, the working on the donor thread outlines my donor takedown and refurb.

[Evan78]

Wow, I've never used u-ship before. It's nice to know ahead of time that the rates might be too good to be true in some cases.

[RM1SepEx]

In CA you shouldn't have any problem... In Maine I'm always at the end of the line... between Maine, NH and VT we only have 4 million people population so traffic is light... I see them in CA all the time and you should be able to get something pretty local. UShip should work fine for U

[Evan78]

I see. Still seems like crappy vendors that you got. They seem to have been given all the info they needed, only to back out or change terms when you actually try to contract them. The 1st time I heard of uship was from a guy that used them to ship a set of wheels and tires that got a smoking price and good service.

[RM1SepEx]

Have you seen the shipping wars shows? You never know who will bid on your load... you do get to check reviews etc... But they didn't help me at all.

[David Hodgkins]

Thanks for all the feedback on shipping guys. I'm still contemplating my purchase, but need to get something done soon...

[RM1SepEx]

I'd investigate that 70,000 mile 06 described in another thread. It's in CA, runs and drives has the needed parts and the 06 has the "best" single donor parts...

[JeromeS13]

I'm not sure if anyone has any experience with this, but I'll go ahead and ask... Keep in mind, I'm in Afghanistan for another two months.

If I bid on and win an auction, can my neighbor accept delivery of the vehicle without a power of attorney?
Has anyone purchased a car and had it delivered to any place other than your residence (and not be there in person to accept delivery)?

I'm trying to keep my eye out for a good condition 06-07 WRX and don't want to miss out on a good deal, if one should arise.

Thanks!

[RM1SepEx]

yes, I signed the power of attorney forms and faxed them to copart. They needed it for the paperwork, title etc... The shipper just dropped off and wanted a signature, didn't care who... the neighbor would be fine

[wileyone]

Copart is not a bad place to purchase vehicles but just be careful and do your homework. Many shady dealers place vehicles in salvage auctions. Some of these are partially put back together to make them look good for the internet photos. We use www.salvageresearch.com They will help you by finding these shady dealer cars. Go to their site and see some of the examples.......

[Lmmmax]

be carefull me and my bother (doofoo) porchased a car from Copart"s and it was labeled runs and drives. It was hit hard in the left front but we figured that if it said runs and drives that it would at least start. when we got it home and started to pull it apart we found that all of the cam gears where broken except one. read doofoo's thread for more info

[DMC7492]

Hi Guys, The copart fees and the brokerage fees were about 1200 on top of the final accepted bid.
U Ship should be renamed USHI*! What a nightmare, they had Montway accept the bid to ship for 630. They never picked the car up.For ten days this went on Every time I called they mysteriously found a driver but after three or four hours they would cancel. I finally had enough and told them to get seriuos and find a driver. Then back to Uship and they cancelled the shipment. Its funny how they keep telling you on the phone to just cancel the pick up, what good will that do?
The Uship dropped the shipment then put the shipment up for auction. Well the next day, I had truckers bidding deliveries from 1200 up to 2500. As fast as they were bidding they were cancelling their bids. I then dropped the whole idea of uship and they refunded all my $106.25. I called a local trucking company on wednesday morning and I had the car friday night. No BS. They told me they have nothing good to say about uship and the whole idea of low balling loads with irresponsible companies. Buy Local the deals are there just ask!! Thats my story!! Don

[DruOdil]

I'm not sure if anyone has any experience with this, but I'll go ahead and ask... Keep in mind, I'm in Afghanistan for another two months.

If I bid on and win an auction, can my neighbor accept delivery of the vehicle without a power of attorney?
Has anyone purchased a car and had it delivered to any place other than your residence (and not be there in person to accept delivery)?

I'm trying to keep my eye out for a good condition 06-07 WRX and don't want to miss out on a good deal, if one should arise.

Thanks!

I won a Copart 06 WRX and I am very happy. It was a sleeper (Wilwood 6 piston 13" front brakes like new plus much more). I checked it out in person and Paid $1,650, and after fees around $2000. I picked it up and took it home. I plan on selling $2000 worth of parts and starting my build at $0. I know it will go up from there. I guess I got lucky. Copart worked for me.

[Xusia]

Wow. Best. Deal. Yet.

Congrats!!

[AZPete]

PM sent to DruOdil about parts I need so I hope to pay for a healthy chunk of his donor.

[jbackslash]

I won a Copart 06 WRX and I am very happy. It was a sleeper (Wilwood 6 piston 13" front brakes like new plus much more). I checked it out in person and Paid $1,650, and after fees around $2000. I picked it up and took it home. I plan on selling $2000 worth of parts and starting my build at $0. I know it will go up from there. I guess I got lucky. Copart worked for me.

Dru,
Did you go through a broker? I am ready to start looking for a donor but I cannot bid on copart as an individual.

[DruOdil]

Yes, Copart has a list that you can use. It added $200.00 but it was still a great deal. The car was close to me so I looked at it prior to bidding and then just picked it myself.
Dru

[tcarlson]

David,

If you find a car in the Bay Area and need a reliable source to go take pictures and report back, I'd be glad to help out!

Also, it looks like this could be an good source for parts ... http://www.partsplanet.net/inventory/retail.htm (I don't have any experience with them though).

Great info from the group too!

Best,

Thomas