GSA auctions
- Thread starter Jarlaxle
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Never been to a GSA auction, but live just down the road from our state's disposal unit. They have a huge vehicle division with everything from golf carts to Suburbans.
Some nice units that went for too little money and some worn out stuff that I think folks overpaid for. It's a mixed bag like you would expect. I was happy to come home with a pretty clean Highway Patrol Model BMW RT1100 with 75K on the odometer for $260. Runs fine and looks well taken care of, just some cosmetic issues.
Some nice units that went for too little money and some worn out stuff that I think folks overpaid for. It's a mixed bag like you would expect. I was happy to come home with a pretty clean Highway Patrol Model BMW RT1100 with 75K on the odometer for $260. Runs fine and looks well taken care of, just some cosmetic issues.
Lots of folks still lookimg for the famous WWII Jeeps, "damaged by air drop" they give you a MAP and a shovel.
Originally Posted By: 95busa
At fort Polk they would do body work and clean the impala police cars, so you got a really clean looking car that had run 24 hours a day for four years.
Honestly, I wouldn't care all that much as long as the price reflected it! I have seen cars do that for years without a problem. (Like an E450 with 105,000 miles and 19,000 hours!)
At fort Polk they would do body work and clean the impala police cars, so you got a really clean looking car that had run 24 hours a day for four years.
Honestly, I wouldn't care all that much as long as the price reflected it! I have seen cars do that for years without a problem. (Like an E450 with 105,000 miles and 19,000 hours!)
Could be hit or miss, as posted above.
I am a federal LE unit supervisor and I have seen some of our cars go to auction in top condition for incredibly silly reasons, such as needing a taillight lens that took over a certain amount of time to arrive. "Deadlining" as we called it in the Army. We also have some people who love and hang onto their cars using their own funds for maintenance, until the day the wretched heap needs to finally limp to the auction yard. Two particular people in my office come to mind, one with a Dodge Intrepid and one a Crown Vic. I would not want to own any of those.
I have never attended a GSA auction, but have attended state auctions for 25 years, and honestly have probably made most of the money I have paid towards large expenses in life by buying auction cars and then fixing them up and reselling. You can walk out paying between roughly 5 and 10% of book value, however you may not know if you have a keeper on your hands, or a car in need of lots of work, or a literal piece of junk. Typical example would be the ex-state police Crown Vics. You might get lucky and buy a few that need nothing for a couple hundred apiece, turn around and sell them for a couple thousand and feel lucky, and then splurge on a cosmetically nice one and find out it is only good to strip and scrap. Really a gamble, but the more experienced you are at doing your own repairs, and in getting close with people who run the auctions or work in the fleet service divisions, then the higher your chance of success. Those of us who have plied the trade for so long have our secrets that we have culled over the years to make the experience much more successful.
I am a federal LE unit supervisor and I have seen some of our cars go to auction in top condition for incredibly silly reasons, such as needing a taillight lens that took over a certain amount of time to arrive. "Deadlining" as we called it in the Army. We also have some people who love and hang onto their cars using their own funds for maintenance, until the day the wretched heap needs to finally limp to the auction yard. Two particular people in my office come to mind, one with a Dodge Intrepid and one a Crown Vic. I would not want to own any of those.
I have never attended a GSA auction, but have attended state auctions for 25 years, and honestly have probably made most of the money I have paid towards large expenses in life by buying auction cars and then fixing them up and reselling. You can walk out paying between roughly 5 and 10% of book value, however you may not know if you have a keeper on your hands, or a car in need of lots of work, or a literal piece of junk. Typical example would be the ex-state police Crown Vics. You might get lucky and buy a few that need nothing for a couple hundred apiece, turn around and sell them for a couple thousand and feel lucky, and then splurge on a cosmetically nice one and find out it is only good to strip and scrap. Really a gamble, but the more experienced you are at doing your own repairs, and in getting close with people who run the auctions or work in the fleet service divisions, then the higher your chance of success. Those of us who have plied the trade for so long have our secrets that we have culled over the years to make the experience much more successful.
Like meth....said, I've noticed that some of our GSA's will be deadlined for no reason, just out of the blue. There have been certain trucks we've used that we just great and had often wondered where they ended up because I would have bid on them. Then again, we got some older ones that are dinged up and have issues but GSA keeps fixing them and putting them back in service. Never understood that logic.
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
Lots of folks still lookimg for the famous WWII Jeeps, "damaged by air drop" they give you a MAP and a shovel.
... a shovel or a boat.
Lots of folks still lookimg for the famous WWII Jeeps, "damaged by air drop" they give you a MAP and a shovel.
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