Car Dealers: The Ugly Truth

Recently I was at a website devoted to car buying, and the topic of the day was car dealers, or more specifically, the reprehensible nature of them. If you’ve read any of my other articles, you’ll no doubt have found a theme: I don’t like car dealers.

Now perhaps some dealers are wonderful husbands and fathers, perhaps some give blood once a month and tithe 10% at their local houses of worship. But when it comes to selling cars, I believe 99.9999% of dealers are evil. Car dealers make the devil look like a puppy. Like a little Sharpei puppy. Have you seen a Sharpei puppy? Pretty adorable.

Car dealers are middle men, and if you’re in the market for a brand new car, like it or not, you’re probably going to have to deal with them. My condolences. But, for all of you people in the market for used cars, you can cut out the middle man.

What many car buyers don’t know is that dealers get most of their inventory from used car auctions. And for years, car dealers kept these auctions a secret because they didn’t want “regular people” to be able to buy cars so cheaply. But now, thanks to the Internet, regular people can finally know the truth.

Many used car auctions are open to the public. Anyone can go and buy a car for up to 95% off the retail value. If you’re just finding out about used car auctions, let me give you some quick facts:

1] The cars up for auction have been seized or repossessed because of an owner’s inability to make payments. The majority of cars are practically new with low mileage, and some still have an active warranty.

2] At most auctions, bids start at just $100. So, if not a lot of people show up that day, your chance of owning a great car for very little is good. Really good. See why dealers don’t want other people showing up????

3] Most local auction houses allow an inspection day, usually two days before the auction, so you can go and look at all the cars and see which ones you want to bid on. Many give you a free Carfax Vin# and report for your peace of mind.

That’s the long and short of it. Why give your hard-earned money to the dark side? Do yourself a favor and sign up for access to an online auction database. There are quite a few databases online, but not all were created equal. Based on user experience there are a few sites worth checking out:


Car-Auctions.com is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) site. For $29.99 you get unlimited access to their database of car auctions without a whole lot of other bells and whistles.


Seize Cars.com is another good database. For a one-time fee of $49, you get unlimited access to all car and truck auctions, as well as auctions for boats and houses and electronics, etc. So, if you want to buy a car AND a family boat, this is a good choice.


Gov-Auctions.org was named America’s most trusted and largest resource for Government and police auctions. They also charge $49 for unlimited access to car auctions, as well as boats, homes, electronics auctions, etc. But they offer some things the others don’t.


For one, they have real 24/7 customer support. If you have a question – a real human being gets back to you with an answer. Pretty rare nowadays.


They also have a free auction tutorial which is not offered anywhere else. If you’re new to auctions, this tutorial will explain, step-by-step, how to get the car you want for the price you want.


Gov-Auctions.org also has a free car loan service where you can receive instant car loan offers with the best rates on the market, without any of the usual hassles. A definite time-saver.

So, for roughly $40 bucks, not only will you save thousands of dollars on your next car, you’ll never have to deal with a car salesman again. Seems like a smart choice. Unless you actually enjoy pain and humiliation, then by all means go to your local dealership. You might also consider having a full-body cavity search performed buy a large, angry man that smells like cheese. That's also supposed to be horrible.