How to Avoid the Nightmare of Buying a Stolen Car at a Police Auction

A public car auction can be a great venue for finding a bargain on a used automobile. But if you are not careful, it can also turn out to be a way to end up getting arrested for possession of stolen property! This is not a normal occurrence, but it has indeed happened to people, who have bought a used auto at a public auction that later turns out to be a set of “hot” wheels. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to prevent this terrible experience from happening to you.

A fair number of the cars seized by the police come from drug dealers, gang members, and other criminal types. It stands to reason that some percentage of these autos would be stolen, considering where they came from. Because of that, official police garages and impounding services are required to verify the seized car’s history to ensure that it wasn’t stolen. But sometimes this isn’t done, and a stolen car turns up at a public auction. Since cars at public auctions are sold “as is,” the vehicle’s “hot” status often goes unnoticed until its new owner tries to register it or obtain a new title.

What often happens next is a real Catch-22: The police then charge the car’s buyer with possession of stolen property, even though the car was bought from an auction of police-seized cars in the first place! This can turn out into a legal and bureaucratic nightmare for the unfortunate buyer, who may even face arrest, lockup, and car seizure. To add to their injuries, such beleaguered buyers may find it impossible to get their money reimbursed.

Can this nightmare also happen to you? Not if you take steps to keep it from happening. The thing to do is to get a car’s history before you even bid on it at an auction. You can do this by finding out the vehicle identification number, which you can get during the inspection period prior to the date of the auction. You can run the vehicle identification number through a website such as Carfax and get an online report of the car’s history. The report shows such details as when the car was bought and sold, registered, and serviced, and can tell you if the car has a clean title.

In any case, there is no reason to get scared of buying a car at a public auction. With a little research, you can make sure that the car you are bidding for has no problems associated with it. Then you can go home with an auto you can happily call yours and yours alone.