I've been going to car auctions around here for ~10 years or so, mostly dealer only salvage auctions- but they often have "beater" type cars there, usually sold by other dealers who don't want to or can't sell the cars on their retail lots.
A couple of these auctions now allow the general public to buy cars- except the few that have paperwork problems or are sold as "parts only" which are limited to licensed dealers. Keep in mind that most of these auctions charge an annual registration fee- which varies from $175-250, and then they charge all sorts of other fees on top of your high bid. I'm looking at a receipt for a car I bought at a salvage auction in Northern Va last year. I bid using their online bidding service, for which they charge a $35 "internet" fee if you are the high bidder, plus a $40 "buyer fee" and a $20 "pull out" fee (for them loading the car for you- they pretty much force you to let them load the car for you), all of this tacked onto a car that I "won" with a high bid of $175......once you add all the fees, it's more like $270- but I try to factor the extra fees in while deciding how high I can bid on a car.
I know MAG also hits you with a bunch of buyers fees- so ask about that before you buy something. I registered with them (personally) a while back- online using my credit card- but I never bought anything from them- yet!
A couple of the local auctions that I know of that allow public buyers are Adesa Impact (off Hwy 70 in Clayton) and IAA (Insurance Auto Auctions)- they have locations in Graham (called their "Raleigh" location...) and Charlotte- also VA, SC and many other states, but only the NC locations allow Public buyers. Adesa and IAA both specialize in insurance "salvage" cars- but they do sell anything that anyone drags in there for them to sell (did I mention that they also charge sellers fees???) There's also a dealer auction in Kenly- Aycock Auto Auction- they sell alot of dealer trade ins as well as retired fleet and lease vehicles- I think they even have a GSA contract to sell some retired gov't vehicles.
Might want to check out the "DWI" auctions held in Linden NC several times a year- check
www.tarheelspecialties.com for the info, and an online listing of cars they have coming up for sale. I've been to quite a few of these sales, they are open to the public, have little or no buyer's fees. The only problem about this place is that lots of people know about it, and you are not likely to find a screaming deal here.
Keep in mind that at all of these auctions, these cars are being sold at auction for one reason or another- that's why I often prefer to buy a wrecked car than one that is not wrecked- you can assume that a wrecked car was at least running + driving at the time it was wrecked- you cannot assume ANYTHING about any of the other cars. In fact, with most of the donated cars (did I mention that many of the cars donated to charity end up at the salvage auction???) you can almost be assured that there is something wrong with the car-
Let me know if I can help with your hunt.
Bret.
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. Of course I haven't been in a year and a half. But the Richmond site on Tuesdays is rumored to have the best deals. Avoid the weekend auctions. The day I spent there, it looked like everything was going for wholesale or less. The best deals were on the more expensive cars because you had pay cash. The day I was there a 2003 Mustang GT convertible in pristine condition and with 6000 miles on the clock went for $14K I believe. Unfortunatley, I didn't have $14K cash on me at the time. 