eBay Auto Auction: Auction Salvage Cars

Auction Salvage Cars: Be Very Careful With Auctions Of Salvaged Cars

Auction salvage cars can be dangerous and not only to individual buyers. Every eBay car dealer has to get their cars from somewhere, usually doing everything what they can to find the best prices in order to maximize their profit. As a result inexperienced eBay car dealers fall prey to scams just as often as individual buyers.

What is a "salvage" car?

A salvage car is one that has many more problems than just a "used" car driven by individuals. For instance, it might have been flooded, burned, in a horrible wreck resulting in a bent frame and other damage or horrific vandalism resulting from riots and other disobedience.

A crashed hybrid 2003 Honda Civic
offered for salvage: $2505

Unscrupulous dealers will attempt to sell them as merely used cars and it's often easy to repair them and sell them at an auction.

Salvage cars are difficult to recognize when you're looking at the pictures only. The problems start when you innocently resell one and the furious buyer gets to you. There may be no way you can convince them that it was you who had been cheated in the first place.

What to look for to prevent salvage fraud:

Theoretically, every auction that deals with salvage cars has to be marked as such, and no salvage car can be sold as used. However, it is quite common for resourceful dealers to rebuild such cars and clean up their history, returning them to “used” category. Remember that being a dealer yourself doesn't immune you to this scam! Check every car you buy thoroughly. Watch for changes in the car's interior, for the smell of water or fort such giveaways as salt lines under the hood. If you have any doubts, leave it.

To auction salvage cars is easy, but dealing with unhappy customers is not. Especially when the buyers can effectively push you out of business by giving you negative feedback. In a month or two you can be thrown out of eBay auction system, even if you were just thrifty and bought salvage cars without knowing what they really were.

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