If you are trying to find luxury vehicles at Philadelphia County public car auctions then the most important thing to know is where to look. There are a lot of different types of auctions in the Philadelphia County area and many of them are not going to have luxury vehicles. If you end up paying attention to these auctions, while ignoring others, then there’s a good chance she’ll never find what you’re looking for. This quick overview should give you a much clearer picture of which auctions are going to give you the best chances for success and some different strategies that you can use.
As a general rule, there are two types of auctions which will have the largest number of luxury vehicles. The first is repossession auctions. These auctions primarily have vehicles which were repossessed by lending institutions because the previous owner could not keep up with their monthly loan payments. While these auctions will have a diverse cross-section of available vehicles, there’s a good chance that there will be more than a few luxury options available. The other type of auction is a general public auction. The reason that there will likely be luxury vehicles at this type of auction is because these auctions source their vehicles from everywhere. This means that there could be repossessed vehicles available. Other sources of vehicles in these auctions include former leased vehicles, fleet vehicles, and even vehicles from dealerships trying to liquidate part of their inventory. The former leased vehicles in particular will likely have the most luxury vehicles. While there will be a small number of auctions in Philadelphia County that only have former leased vehicles, they are few and far between.
Just as important as knowing which auctions you should target is knowing which ones to avoid. If finding luxury vehicles is your main priority then you should avoid police impound auctions and government auctions. While impound auctions do have a number of high quality vehicles available, anyone who owns a luxury vehicle will likely pay to get it out of impound. Government auctions tend to only include former fleet vehicles and they will definitely not be luxury. Instead, they tend to be more economical, commuter cars.
While there are a number of auction houses that specializing car auctions in Philadelphia County, there are a few which will likely have more luxury vehicles than the rest because they are the largest and hold the most auctions. They include Capital Auto Auctions, Aspite Auto Auction, Carriage Trade Auto Auction, and Philadelphia Public Auto Auction. While there are others, these four tend to hold a larger number of auctions, which means they give you the best chances of finding luxury vehicles.
The first strategy that has become common for people targeting luxury vehicles is attending auctions which have a disproportionately high number of luxury vehicles and playing the waiting game. Essentially, they do not get attached to any particular luxury vehicle and simply wait until a great deal emerges. While this may mean that they attend several auctions before they find what they want, patience is a huge asset in order to save the most money while still getting a reliable luxury vehicle. Here are a few examples of luxury vehicles that were a steal at a recent Philadelphia County auto auctions. The first is a luxury car which was a little older. It was a 2003 Mercedes-Benz S-Class S55 AMG, however it had only 113,000 miles on it. There was no noticeable damage aside from some minor dents and scratches and normal wear and tear. The winning bidder paid $7200 even though it was valued at $17,660. Another example was a 2008 BMW 5 Series that sold for $4350. along with minor dents and scratches, the reason that it was so cheap was that the odometer was not accurate, which means it was impossible to know how many miles are on it. While it does offer some risk, a fully functioning BMW five series sedan from 2008 is valued at just under $23,000.
The other popular strategy is to target luxury vehicles at Philadelphia County public car auctions which have noticeable cosmetic damage. While this does mean you will have to invest some money in repairs, the total savings can still be extremely high. For example, at a recent auction there was a 2007 Porsche Boxster that had significant damage to the rear end, but only 22,000 miles on it. The estimated repair cost was just over $20,000, which may seem like a lot but the winning bidder paid only $4000 for it. With a local market value of nearly $33,500, the bidders still saved nearly $10,000.
