# Car auctions, are they worth it

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-auctions-are-they-worth-it/263967>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [September 10, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-auctions-are-they-worth-it/263967 "2004-09-10T22:20:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-auctions-are-they-worth-it/263967/1 "2004-09-10T22:20:57Z")

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Car auctions seem like a scam as most require you to pay upfront to get info on them. But are they a scam or are they actually worth it? On ebay alot of cars sell for well under blue book is it the same in car auctions? I would assume in car auctions (done in person) the costs would be even lower as there are fewer bidders.

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**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2004, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-auctions-are-they-worth-it/263967/2 "2004-09-11T22:22:46Z")

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BlueBook and BlackBook prices are based on prices at dealers. Private-owner to private-buyer prices have always been lower than that, whether it’s through want-ads or through a sign in the car’s window. Ebay and [Cars.com](http://Cars.com) are little more than a huge want-ad section. They deliver buyers to sellers for a fee.

My wife recently worked for a big (bricks-and-mortar) auto auction firm. Only dealers could buy, except for an occasional, open-to-the-public, RV sale. Buyers bid from all over the country, online, as the actual cars rolled through the actual lanes, while actual auctioneers pattered. All sellers paid a per-car fee, sold or not. About 40% of the cars got sold on a sale day. The agency also had a body shop, a detail shop, and a delivery service for sold cars. Massive amounts of money were borrowed and paid off every day. The lending banks required a daily update of the company’s cash flow to justify the loans.

Were they raking in huge profits and ripping off the customers? No. They were barely scraping by.