Anyone Want to Share their Copart/Autobidmaster stories?
Posted by IknowwhatIhave@reddit | projectcar | View on Reddit | 11 comments
I'm going to use Autobidmaster to bid on a Copart auction car for me in the next month. I'm fairly experienced with buying old cars, I've bought a few dozen in my life in person, through eBay, through Mecum auctions etc
I'm also very familiar with the make/model of the car I want to buy from Copart. The car is for restoration/repair, but there is a solid backup case for parting it out if it's worse than I thought (battery is dead, no access to trunk to jump start, mileage unknown - should help the auction price!)
I won't be able to inspect the car in person, but I did hire a pre-auction inspection and received the report.
I've read through the fine print of both Copart and Autobidmaster and it looks pretty straight forward - heavy emphasis on as-is where-is.
Does anyone have any stories, positive or negative about doing this? Anything unexpected or any tricks/scams/loop holes I should watch out for?
Thanks! If I win the auction I'll be sure to post updates.
siberian@reddit
I used Autobidmaster to buy a car on Copart and it was not awesome. I would do it again, but I would adjust my strategies. Here is where it made my unhappy.
1) I won my bid for $1500 on a Cars for Kids type car. The corporate owner thought it was worth $6500 so he rejected my WINNING bid. Didn't know this was a thing on a no-reserve auction, but apparently, it is.
2) So we negotiated back and forth. My top offer was $4k and I eventually made it, and the owner rejected it again. Great! I'm out, on to the next. Book closed, right? Wrong.
3) 12 hours later I am notified that I won the auction! Apparently, the owner can TAKE BACK their rejection, leaving you on the hook. It was fine, I was ok at that price, but it was really annoying.
4) Now comes the fun part, massive fees! Autobidmaster takes a cut, Copart takes some, and there are all sorts of random fees everywhere.
5) Ok, that's fine, I get it, lets go get the car. Copart informs me that since I am not licensed I CAN NOT PICK IT UP. This is bullshit, I know I can, but they won't budge. Now I have to hire someone for MORE money to go get this damn car and drop it off.
In the end, my $1500 winning bid turned into a $6k or so purchase of a $4k car. Ridiculous and also avoidable if I was more educated.
The car has been great, I don't regret it (that much) but it was seriously just annoying and rapacious.
IknowwhatIhave@reddit (OP)
I don't understand how you can win the bid for $1500 in a no reserve auction but then the seller can require you to pay more? How does that work?
SchemeShoddy4528@reddit
he said he didn't know it was a reserve auction. "on minimum bid" means reserve with potential to agree to a price. "pure sale" means no reserve.
siberian@reddit
That was where my head was at as well. There must be some sort of 'this auction is subject to seller approval' that functions not as a reserve but as a safety for the seller.
Jean_le_Jedi_Gris@reddit
Would you mind expounding on a few different thing please?
4) Can you please go into a little more detail on all the fees you got hit with? who levied them and how much were they? Were they a % or a flat fee?
5) Re. being "licensed". What license were they looking for? How did you get past that hurdle, did you just pay a tow truck to get it off the lot and then take it from there? What's the best way to approach this absolute trash requirement in your opinion?
siberian@reddit
I actually used ABetterBid (looked at my inbox, it was a year ago). It was even worse than I thought, check this robbery out:
The winning bid was $4k and Copart added $1018 to that in Copart fees which are broken down below the dated line items.
The rest are bullshit ABetterBid fees. Maybe Autobidmaster is better?
On pickup, I should have just shown up and knocked. They have to give you your property. Looking back, it was the ABetterBid staff giving me the runaround, not Copart.
So I guess the lesson is, stay away from ABetterBid. But I doubt AutoBidMaster is much better..
DATE SERVICES AND PRODUCTS AMOUNT
07/19/2023 Winning bid + Auction fees = Sale price 5018
07/20/2023 Transaction Fee 299
07/20/2023 Documentation Fee 199
07/20/2023 California sales tax ( CA, 7.75% ) 428
07/20/2023 Shipping from CA - VAN NUYS to CA, ---- 679
TOTAL $6623
SALES PRICE DUE $6623
AUCTION FEES BREAKDOWN
Sale Price 4000
Environmental Fee 10
Buyer Fee 710
Internet Bid Fee 99
Gate 79
Copart Mailing Fee 20
Brokerage Fee 100
ImaginaryMammoth7243@reddit
I recently buy a car through Autobid master from copart. Paid $9700 now the car has a lien on it. No idea what i am going to do.
gargen_state@reddit
In AZ you don't require a dealers license to purchase a car from Copart.
I did buy a car from them a long time ago. Similar to other comments, the fees and then picking it up.
I bought the car for around $1500, it was close to $3k with fees. And then I couldnt pick it up myself.
I also had an issue getting the title. Took over 2 months to get it. It wasn't until I told them to come get the car and refund my money since they couldn't get me the title that they finally overnighted it.
I still look at Copart occasionally. But don't know that I'd buy from there again. Who knows though, I tend to do dumb things occasionally.
gargen_state@reddit
In AZ you don't require a dealers license to purchase a car from Copart.
I did buy a car from them a long time ago. Similar to other comments, the fees and then picking it up.
I bought the car for around $1500, it was close to $3k with fees. And then I couldnt pick it up myself.
I also had an issue getting the title. Took over 2 months to get it. It wasn't until I told them to come get the car and refund my money since they couldn't get me the title that they finally overnighted it.
I still look at Copart occasionally. But don't know that I'd buy from there again. Who knows though, I tend to do dumb things occasionally.
SD33Tfan@reddit
Autobidmaster was fine, but the PPI company they recommended in Chicago (Advantage Equipment Inspections) did not tell me the vehicle was missing $4k worth of catalytic converters. I overpaid...
xjosh666@reddit
I used Autobidmaster. They did all the things they said they would do, pretty hassle free. The only thing negative I’d say was that there was an extra subscription for their service (to keep it active for some term beyond the one and only purchase I was making). I questioned them on it, and they promptly removed it.