Everyone tries to protect their cars from damage, so why would anyone deliberately set out to buy a damaged car? There is one simple reason for this – nothing is as cheap to buy as a damaged car; it may be available at a fraction of the cost of the equivalent new or even second had car. And for those who have the time and the interest to restore a damaged car, there is no cheaper way to get a car. The best place to buy these cars is from a damaged auto auction – but keep in mind that the bidding parameters are different; you need to add the repair cost to the bid to see if you are getting a good deal.
Anyone who buys from a damaged auto auction needs to have at lest a reasonable understanding of cars and car repair because even though much of the required work on the car may have to be done by professionals, unless the owner has a knowledge of what repairs are need and why, along with the repairing options, the final cost of the repairs could go through the roof and make the whole point of having bought from a damaged auto auction a waste of time. The first thing to do is to study the list of cars available at a damaged auto auction and make a short list of the ones that interest you – this should be based on the type of car, the nature of the damage and the cost and effort of repair. Keep in mind that spare parts for many models can be expensive and also hard to get hold of. Once your list of potential cars is final, get hold of an expert to do a second inspection with you and confirm your findings so there will be no unexpected and expensive surprises awaiting you once the restoration begins. Once these estimates are ready check to see if buying the same car in an undamaged condition would not be cheaper and if so, drop the damaged auto auction and go in for the undamaged car.
Once you are sure that the economics of buying from a damaged auto auction makes sense, make sure that you do not let your self get involved in bidding wars and spend more than you planned – this will affect the final restored price of the car and could make to whole effort a waste of time. Having said all this, most damaged cars can be brought back to life and provide years of safe and reliable service but anyone attempting to do this must be sure of what he is getting into.
