Police seized auction experience?

When poice have public auctions they do not maintain nor clean any cars on the lot for that day. So you literally get whatever condition the car was in when it was siezed, meaning usually shitty condition for it to need justification for taking. The "super clean drug bust cars", are a meme. Usually you get shitty camry's and downtrodden crown vic's.

I only go to them if I happen to see it when I'm out and only just for novelty and never with the intent to actually buy a car. The types of people to expect are older mechanic types running their own cash for clunkers business or the occasional grandpa with a fat wallet looking for another car to add to his collection. Don't expect much unless you live in a rich area where the car's are from a wealthier base income such as Miami or LA because usually those are the stolen nicer cars but usually run higher on the auction floor.

t. Uncle owned his own garage and would buy cars to flip and I'd go along sometimes because he let me clean the cars out and let me keep whatever I found. The coolest or most interesting thing I ever found was a Soldier of Fortune magazine and a fuckton of loose change.

>>17530433
My brother went to one a couple weeks ago.

He bought a 2002 Integra, 1998 Lincoln Navigator, 2004 Pontiac Sunfire, and one other shitbox that I can't remember.

He paid $1,200 for all 4 cars.

They are all sold now and his pockets are happy.

>>17530491
Correction - 1998 Integra/2002 Navigator

>>17530491
Sounds interesting. As long as they run that should be a nice profit to some locals in need of a beater.

>>17530475
In your experience would the cars usually run/have keys or did you need to be ready to call a tow truck?

>>17530526
They all ran/drove.

3 were DUI tows that didn't retrieve the cars within the allotted time period.

The 4th was an abandoned car, turns out the automatic shift linkage needed to be fixed/new ignition barrel for $45, otherwise it was a fine car.

He sold them all to moms in need of cheap cars for their kids, nice to see their smile when they got a running car for $1k

>>17530530

Most of the time you tow it yourself, real pros bring a flat bed themselves because most of the time cars are towed for the mundane stuff like parking illegally or caught without current registration so they're towed without the owners knowledge. Sometimes owners would rather willingly let their cars go to auction to pay for the expensive fees of tickets and towing, such as the case in California where we have the highest rates of fines in the country.

In my experience the older cars pre-2005 usually had keys and the newer ones didn't for some reason, could just be happenstance but I generally noticed that. This is my experience in California so I'm not sure where ever you live if the law enforcement has a stipulation that when towing the owner had to be present to surrender the keys or not so it depends. Long story short expect to call in a tow, sometimes the cars don't even start to begin with so it doesn't matter if you had a key or not.

So if you wanted to pick up something for under $500 to go race in 24hrsoflemons, this would be a good place to visit for cheap cars?

>>17530433
I currently own a 98 528i I bought from police auction for $1,400 and it has been the most nightmarish car of my life. Police ripped apart every panel, compartment and piece that could be pulled off. My drains were ripped out, trunk wiring ripped out and taped, every single interior panel has fallen off and it was rolled back 56k miles 1 year after it was purchased (in 1999). It was flood damaged by hurricane Katrina and moved to Texas without reporting the damage. Every single seal/gasket was covered in silicone to stop the major leaking of every fluid. My LR sway bar end like bracket is completely severed, my steering rack is on the verge of catastrophic failure and it is infested with spiders and mold. (from the clogged drains) I'm sure there is much more I'm forgetting but it is probably my fault for buying what looked like a clean e39 with shitty paint. I was so wrong.

Police auction, not even once

>>17530788
So were you not allowed any inspection at all, can't even open doors?

>>17531297
Depends on the auction

I know in my town you can only view the exterior and through the windows, no door opening, no popping the trunk or the hood

I wish I bought some Crown Vics at the last local govt auction. I had to haul two of them for a customer. He got two for $1000. Both ran, drove, AC worked and weren't that bad and the mileage wasn't crazy either. One had an hours meter and was pretty low hours too since it was used by a hospital.

As for vehicles seized from criminals I would probably avoid like the plague. I'm the guy who seizes these cars and they're grimey as fuck and beat to hell worse than the cop cars. In three years I can only think of one car I impounded that I actually considered purchasing and that was only if I could get it for $500 or less, but the owner came and got it back so that didn't happen.

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38KB, 567x642px

OP, I wouldn't personally buy a police auction vehicle. Unless maybe it was the Sheriff's cruiser.

>>17530554
>DUIS, Tows
Having had my car impounded I can assure you it wasn't worth it for the original owner to collect it.

Thankfully I was driving my winter beater when I was picked up.
>Driving $500 rustbox that I had to put a clutch kit in
>Pulled over and arrested for having a controlled substance in the car
>Girlfriend left her pill bottle in the glovebox and it somehow got smashed and broke open
>Glovebox was hard to get to latch, but she must've slammed it with more force than the 2.5 iron duke could put out
>Officer dickwad went full power trip and started acting like I was the states biggest drug dealer
>Picked up on a Friday, got out on a PR bond Tuesday
>Protip: ALWAYS CARRY >$50 CASH; I was unable to call-out or send an email as I never use to carry cash

Charges were completely dropped after hiring an attorney, but I gave up my shitbox. Guess is pays to have a clean record when you're 24.
>$250 hook-up fee
>$20/day fee; Fri-Tues was $100
>$75 processing fee to recover said shitbox
>$425 to recover a car I paid $500 for

I argued with the lot owner and he said he's not releasing my car until I pay off what I owe. Mind you, it went up $20/day at noon. Finally I said forget it, I'm taking my stuff.
>Took my winter steelies and tires
>Took my battery
>Left it on a scissor jack and the doughnut

He then called the cops on me for vandalizing his property. Huge pain in the ass, but I eventually made my point that I didn't take the car as I haven't paid the fees. I simply took my possessions.

>>17530788
cuck