Step 5 - Auction
What's it actually like using Copart and IAA online and in person?
Actually bidding for the car should be done ahead of time. Set your max bid as early as possible, then do not check the results. Do not monitor the auction. Copart and IAA have invested literaly tens of millions of dollars to get you to overbid. This is your one move to exercise the only leverage you have. If you put yourself in the auction 'just to see', you will probably end up biddding more.
Don't worry about it though. There is no FOMO here. We're talking about thousands of cars sold every day, no exaggeration. You will be able to find something that fits your definition of fun, quite possibly the next day. This is not 'movie auctions', where you get one chance to outbid someone on a truly rare item. These are mass produced items in a variety of conditions and locations that can meet your needs.
Truly fantastic selection
Combined, Copart and IAA have over 700k vehicles available on a daily basis. Not all of them are for sale right now, but they have all gone through their 'inspetion' process so you can get a good idea of what is out there. It's hard to over-emphasize volume of selection here. Copart and IAA literally process thousands of vehicles per day, every day. Thousands of vehicles move in and out of their sites on a global scale. If you don't see what you want, wait a day or two and it will probably be there.
The auction process
The auction process is designed to be confusing. See the How To Use Copart and How To Use IAA guides for precisely how to work around these manipulations. The short answer is set your bid and don't join the auction. Just wait for the email to let you know if you've won or not.
Who is the competition?
Here's a picture to show you what an auction can look like and who you're bidding against. Take a good look at the image below. One of the high bids is from Sharjah-XX, which is in the United Arab Emirates. These are not salvage car buyers like the individual. These are dealerships with a massive transportation deal and a capital investment of orders of magnitude more than we are working with. They need to win multiple lots to fill up the cross-contintent transport to recoup their investment. They use automated software to set their high bid and move on. It's not like the movies, you're not rarely bidding against someone.
In person evaluation
Great, you've found a vehicle that you like. You decide you have a few hours to de-risk the process, so you head out to the auction house to evaluate it. Read our in person evaluation guide for what to expect when you are there in person and what to look for.
Where Are You In The Process?
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Step 5: Auction
Find where you are in the car buying journey and click any step above to learn more. Each step includes specific examples and lessons learned from real purchases. See all articles for more information.