Continuing the series of articles on important aspects related to buying cars in the USA. Last time we described which websites to use when searching for a car in America and how to find out the service history of a car for free. In this article, we will take a closer look at a specific auction for the sale of damaged cars - Copart.
Copart Scam Scheme
Copart.com is the largest platform for selling damaged cars. Because of this, there is a lot of deception and fraud. We strongly recommend not buying whole cars at this auction. There are simply no "whole" cars there.
The dirty scheme of Copart's work is simple:
- A severely damaged car is not sold for the amount of money that would satisfy the seller for some time, or the car is bought for ridiculous amounts by "scammers."
- The car is repaired just enough so that nothing in the photos would suggest a previous repair. The rest remains damaged, creating the impression that the car is minimally damaged. There have been cases where new doors were simply glued on, bumpers were just hung, and photos were taken to make everything look intact.
Examples of Copart Fraud:
Let's look at some clear examples:
Mercedes GL450 with a frontal impact, marked as starting and driving. Sold in October at an auction for $13,400.
The same GL450, turns out to be overturned, was sold for $5,400 in August (2 months ago).
Toyota Highlander 2010 before:
The same Highlander shortly after:
How to Avoid Deception
To protect yourself at the Copart auction, you need to perform a series of checks before buying:
- • Look for cars with clearly visible impacts. This way, you will know what to expect.
- • Use search engines. Look up information about the car by its VIN in search engines.
- • Carfax and Autocheck. Since 99% of information about cars in the USA is documented, do not hesitate to spend $5 to check the history of the car you are interested in. This can save you thousands.
- • Use the iaai.com auction. It has proven to be much better, but problems can still occur there.
- • Contact us for help in finding good car options from the USA.
Yes, buying a car in the USA is a lottery. But it's not much different from buying here, and sometimes it's the same. All cars here are prepared for sale, and many flaws are hidden for profit - they will all come out for the new owner. A damaged car from America is usually much more honest.
Other articles from the series of buying cars from the USA:
