Where do dealers go to buy used cars?
August 16th, 2010 | 
Author: Im looking for a civic hatchback, but it seems like only used car dealerships have them. Where do they go to buy used cars? Can I attend? Give specific information and websites if possible? If it helps I live in southern california.
usually people trade their old cars for new ones. small dealers usually go to car auctions where they buy bars siezed by police or broken ones. you can go there and attend it, but however, you would have to pay other tax and stuff since you won’t have a dealership license. so at the end of the day, it will end up costing about the same. what you can do is bargain with the dealer to give you a good deal. believe it or not if you got skills they get pretty low with their price.
Posted in used cars
usually people trade their old cars for new ones. small dealers usually go to car auctions where they buy bars siezed by police or broken ones. you can go there and attend it, but however, you would have to pay other tax and stuff since you won’t have a dealership license. so at the end of the day, it will end up costing about the same. what you can do is bargain with the dealer to give you a good deal. believe it or not if you got skills they get pretty low with their price.
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The used cars are either on the lot because they were taken in trade, or bought at an auction.
Most auctions are "dealers" only so a dealers license is required. Some times a dealer can be talked into letting you go a long on a commission basis.
The auctions that are public often have hidden fees and end up not being anything but a rip off.
When I lived in that area, a lot of salvage yards also had used cars for sale. But they did not advertise. Just for sale signs on cars out side the break down area.
Of course you can always post a want to buy add, maybe there is some one local that has one for sale and would sell it to you for a little more then they can get in trade in. Make sure the title is clear before paying for it. No title, no money!
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Dealers buy from new car dealers, other used car dealers, wholesalers, auctions and private parties.
Generally anytime a dealer accepts a trade in that is not something they carry on their lot it gets sold to some other dealer, maybe several times.
Ive bought a car from a wholesaler and sold it to another wholesaler who sold it at an auction to a dealer.
99.5% of dealer auctions are for dealers only.
The public & auctions don’t mix well. I used to go to a public auction 20+ years ago and almost every auction there was some idiot without a dollar in his wallet that thought being the high bidder meant they would finance him.
And, even those who buy for cash will come back a few minutes later demanding their money back because they bought a piece of crap. Yeah, well, thats why its at a public auction, moron.
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