I have a buddy that opened up a shop about a year ago buying wrecked cars from them and fixing and selling them. He is doing pretty good and stays busy. I've been checking it out and there are a few older cars and hot rods on there. Anyone else use copart? https://www.copart.com/lot/50057869 Sent from my SM-G920V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Young man down the street from me is always buying late model trucks from them and having them shipped to his home, mostly for parts. I'm curious how your friend is rebuilding and re-selling vehicles 'cause it looks to me like most are insurance totals. Is he acquiring salvage titles or leaving that up to potential buyers to sort out? It is an interesting concept and I had never heard of the site until the young man brought it to my attention. Guess when the scrap prices are down it makes more sense to sell the vehicles instead of crushing them. Still, it looks to me like most are parts cars only.
I used to do just that, buy from Copart, fix and sell. Then the costs and fees got so large, and it got to be such a hassle to get the cars inspected by the State Patrol I couldn't make money anymore.
When we had our Auto Recycling yard Copart was one of the auctions we used to help stock our parts inventory. We also had a dealers license and would sometimes find rebuildable projects. My current late model Custom Nomaro build I did a couple years ago involved 2 Copart cars I was able to find. I also recently replaced my late model daily driver pickup with a newer low mileage one from Copart. In New York all rebuildable vehicles must go for a Salvage and Theft inspection conducted by State DMV inspectors. Over the years we were also able to find some older classic and muscle cars that we bought. Depending on the reason for salvage, if the vehicle passes it is issued a new salvage branded title and in rare cases a new Vin ID. If you are able to participate in a Copart Auction and want to rebuild a salvage vehicle, it is a good idea to go check out the vehicle before you bid on it. Sometimes what may seem like a good deal could easily crash your budget when making the necessary repairs. When selling a rebuilt vehicle you also need to provide information that it was a salvage repair.
I also have bought MANY wrecked cars and rebuilt them. 1st thing I look for to see the status of the title, Is it good or salvaged. Even wrecked does not mean a "SALVAGE TITLE" I have seen it happen many times. Most times if the insurance company was involved (and payed off) it will get salvaged, But if it was a private party that crashed there car and towed to a impound yard and said yard filed for abandoned vehicle it can come back as a "CLEAN TITLE" even though wrecked. Or said owner of wrecked car relinquishes title to the tow yard again CLEAN TITLE. In the last 2 cases even the CARFAX report will be clean due to no report to the insurance company of said accident. In this state of AZ you MUST disclose if the vehicle has a SALVAGE title when selling it, Now on the other hand if the title is clean you do not have to disclose if the vehicle has been wrecked. But that will popup on a CARFAX report if the Insurance company payed the bill IE: Minor fender bender or such. When doing wrecks myself I document by pics of all said damage and how it was fixed properly. On a "SALVAGED TITLE" Vehicle once repaired you must goto the DMV for a level 3 inspection to have the title rebranded as RESTORED SALVAGE TITLE and the vehicle can be license and driven on the road. Now a Dismantle permit titled vehicle can also be inspected by the DMV level 3 again, And one can get a GOOD TITLE after inspection if the inspectors deem all good and no major flaws was noticed.
They bought out the rest of my Honda, insurance company paid about 80%, they bought the totated car for the rest. My meager contribution to the thread
Thanks Scrap metal! My buddy makes the repairs and has to have the state patrol do an inspection to get it back on the road, depending on the title. The title status definitely make a huge difference.
You have to have a license in AL to buy from Copart. I know a guy that has a rebuilder license, he buys from them all the time, then parts out or rebuilds them. I don't think he sells anything locally, mostly internet sales.
Yes - I do.....some Estate cars find their way to Co-Part as well as classics that had gone to the Insurance company.......lots of Vette's and such went thru the Houston flood a year or so back.....
We found flood cars can be risky and we always disclosed their history on the ones we were able to repair and sell. While the older ones created less problems during the cleanup and getting them back into running condition, the newer cars were somewhat of a nightmare. There is so much electronics in the newer vehicles, much of it low enough in the vehicle that even minor flood damage can have an effect. I remember one luxury car that seemed like a great deal, was a disaster. Every time we thought we had things cleaned up enough and put power to it, smoke would come out from some of the electronics. That car had excellent body panels and ended up being sold to someone who needed the body parts. Be very careful before purchasing a flood car. Consider how much water got into the vehicle, was it fresh water or salt water and be prepared to probably spend more than you expected on the repair.
I had a salvage lincense for about 20 years and bought and rebuilt many vehicles from copart as well as other auction companies. I agree that the fees and internet sales have made it difficult to make money, but if you’re careful, selective and can do most work yourself it can still be lucrative, and you don’t need a salvage license anymore to buy most stuff.
Youtube is full of guys buying from Copart etc and rebuilding o/t cars. Goonzsquad do very nice work.
I drive by one nearly everyday, never knew what it was. Has a TALL green sheet tin fence around it....
I used to years ago when they weren't well known yet but haven't been there lately and have been hearing stories about how the fees went up and they charge fees on everything now. I thought I was still registered with them but I tried about a year ago to bid online but I was rejected for not being registered with them anymore. Can't remember why but something wasn't on file that they needed, something changed Anyways back then here (in Wi.) you didn't need a license to buy from them but if you didn't you had to pay extra and go through a brokerage account. it varies from state to state and I know at one time they had it posted on their site which states could buy that needed a license, states that could buy thru brokerage accounts and what states had no restrictions.
Not from Co-Part, but I just bought this "totaled" 2019 Ram (Rammed?) with 5,000 miles on it from an auto salvage yard here. In Michigan, I don't know if this is universal, the title has the "non-repairable" parts tagged, and on inspection by the local police for a title one has to have receipts, with VIN numbers for ALL the parts listed. This one has only the rear bumper tagged, so I don't need receipts for the box, a 2017, frame hitch or tailgate, just the bumper. I was gonna buy another old wagon to replace our '51 Pontiac Tin Woody, totaled last August in a rear end collision much like this, but for the price, one third of MSRP with all the parts, easy fix, and the nearly new condition, this thing will last me the rest of my driving years. Plus, I need a truck. As mentioned early on, inspect any salvage totaled vehicle in person, and make sure you can get it done within whatever budget you're working with. Proceed with caution, but it can work.
This. There's a guy in Oklahoma who's been doing this about five years, he makes more money from the video revenue than the cars. Enough that in the last six months he bought a late model Camaro, a house to put a shop up at ($28K house though), and just this month a new '19 Corvette that is already broken and awaiting parts. Some of the cars he got would just be cheap beaters with clean titles, not every car a Copart gets is salvage or even wrecked. He'd buy them, fix a few things or do some maintenance on them, and flip them. and it does pay to go look at them, he found a number that would run and go that were listed as no start. One little S10 was a recovered theft and the column was broken, so with no keys Copart didn't even try to start it. He was able to get it to run. I thought up to about $500 it was a no brainer to buy and flip, it's not hard to change out a column. You get around the need for a license to buy from there by using brokers who will bid for you, it costs more, but if you see something you must have that's not a public sale car that's how you can still buy.
I buy a car a month from them. Usually cars about 10 years old with light hits. Get the parts at pic-a-part, often in the right color. They are upfront with their fees. They are listed on their site if you look. I figure out what it will cost for the car with them included before I bid. A $2000 bid will cost you roughly another $500 in fees, probably another $250 over that if you have to use a broker. It seems dumb to me that people put some nice restored old cars on a what is mostly salvage sale. Judging by the buy it now prices that are listed on most of them they are looking for top of the market prices.
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