Salvage yard/Insurance sales of wrecked vehicles

uno · Sep 4, 2003

I do not own a tractor nor do I farm,but I enjoy reading the posts here.
I was looking on E-bay and came across car dealers selling car parts and a few people selling wrecked automobiles.
My question do you have to have a dealer license to purchase wrecked automibles for salvage only. I have heard of buying automobiles on the internet,is there a place that sells wrecked/salvagable auto's trucks on the internet where any one can buy?
Where would an individual get the inside track from auto's that have been totaled out by the insurance companys etc.
Is there a list of wrecks that the insurance companys sell,do the insurance companies advertise there total vehicles?Seems like some of the dealers have access to these totaled vehicles,any idea suggestions?

Thank you

Mark

cowboydoc · Sep 4, 2003

I've had several friends that do this and they are all licensed and you have to have the license to be able to purchase the vehicles at auction. With the dealer license you then get notices of when and where the auctions are.

uno · Sep 4, 2003

How do you acquire a dealer license?

cowboydoc · Sep 4, 2003

I'm sure it varies from state to state. Call your local DMV or courthouse. I know my uncle has one and he had to have a legal business, a business acct. and a federal tax id #. PM Gary in Indiana. He is a dealer and could tell you way more than I can. Here is a link to his page.

uno · Sep 4, 2003

Thank you very much

mountain_man · Sep 4, 2003

Uno - In my state (CO), I believe you need to sell at least 12 cars per year to maintain a "dealer" status. Although I'm not in the car dealer business, I have gone to some car (wreck) auctions with a car dealer friend (posing as an employee/ driver) and purchased some vehicles. However most of the guys at the auctions are very sharp, and you REALLY need to know what something is worth, before buying.

Bird · Sep 4, 2003

( do you have to have a dealer license to purchase wrecked automibles for salvage only )

Not in Texas; you might have to have a dealer's license to sell (depending on how many you sell in a year) but not to buy. Of course there are a number of auto auction places in this area that do sell only to dealers, but those are, for the most part, not wrecked vehicles.

( Is there a list of wrecks that the insurance companys sell,do the insurance companies advertise there total vehicles? )

I think the individual insurance companies do things differently and the same company may do things differently in different areas. I know when a vehicle is wrecked in Dallas, and impounded by the police, the insurance companies usually ignore the certified letters that are sent telling them, the owner, and any lienholders that the vehicle will be sold at auction unless it is reclaimed by a certain date. In other words, they just let the police sell it, then if it were valuable enough, they file a claim with the city. The city calculates the towing, storage, and handling charges and if the vehicle sold for more than that, the difference is paid to the insurance company. And the police auction is open to the public, anyone can bid and buy, although the vast majority of the vehicles are bought by local salvage companies.

Docsknotinn · Sep 4, 2003

I have been able to buy a few for my own use in the past in Fla and I know no license was required there. Wrecked vehicles from any insurance co usually come with a parts only title. You will see a lot of corner buy here pay here lots in the south. Many of theese cars have been re-titled in some of the southern states that have little or no regulation on re-issueing titles and are parts or previously totaled cars. The same happens when a dealer is say completely flooded in a diasaster area and all the vehicles are considered a loss. Many scoundrels get their hands on them, re-title them and sell them as new ! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif Clearly they are intended for parts. Dave

uno · Sep 4, 2003

Wrecked vehicles from any insurance co usually come with a parts only title.

That is not my intent to repair and re-sell,I would just like to find out how to acquire them from an insurance company for parts...I have not found any info on the web as of yet that caters/links specifically to wrecked auto sales from insurance companies.Guess I will keep searching.

Gary_in_Indiana · Sep 5, 2003

Uno,

If you fill out your profile folks here could probably be a lot more help to you because we'd know where you are and what the regulations are there. I'm in Indiana and there are any number of what we refer to as "salvage sales" here. The buyers at these are generally scrap and salvage yards but I could certainly bid if I so chose.

As CowboyDoc said, I'll be more than happy to help you out with this if you care to send me a private message.