insurance auto auctions

[kruddler]

I was looking over the IAA auction list for my area and saw several cars of great interest. However, most states restrict the sale of salvage vehicles to licensed automobile dealers and dismantlers. This seems very unfair to me, the insurance companies could easily get more money from these vehicles by allowing the public to bid on them. Does anyone know if there is any way around this?

This is suppose to be the land of the free, but it is far from that. Once again our freedoms have a price tag attached to them.

[k-roy]

I would guess the law is there because politicians do not want the average joe driving around in a car he jankly put together from a wrecked state. But it could not even be a law, it could be the insurance componies only sell to dealers or salvage yards.

If you want deals at auctions go to a repo auction.

Sure this is the land of the free.
You are free to start a petition for your state legislature to change that law, if it is a law.

[kruddler]

I don't think the law is there to keep unsafe vehicles of the road. The insurance companies are required to have the titles changed to salvage. To get the title changed back would require the vehicle to pass some sort of test or inspection, I would guess. I know for fact that the salvage yards, dealers, etc do not want the public in these auctions because it would drive up the cost for these vehicles.

[RobT5580]

Well im sure there are multiple reasons one being liability to the insurance company or auction house if a consumer bought a car and got into an accident. Plus the car does have to go through a inspection which i have seen done and the check every minor detail on a salvage vehicle. So the car has to be fixed right or atleast appear that way for it to pass. Iv been to some auctions before and yeah the cars go for dirt cheap but they usually tend to need a lot of work. Personally i wouldnt want a wreck unless it had very light damage. Iv seen a lot of cars get fixed that probably should not have but it was the dealers choice to do it. But the best bet like someone mentioned is seized cars of that nature cause they usually are missing parts that can be replaced easily and some cars are even complete. Or the next best thing is to go to a regular dealer auction but i tend to see a lot of junk go through them because you can only look at the car and start it while its on the lot. So you never know if the thing has a good transmission or not but the cars go for dirt cheap cause other dealers are buying them. But you have to know someone thats a dealer to have them buy the car.