Once the bidding begins, be aware that you will be bidding against people from junkyards, car dealers, car parts stores and other people like you. The starting bid for most of the vehicles at the Newport Mesa Auto Auction ranged $100 to $200. The bid increments would vary from $10-$50. For example, there was a 1988 Honda Accord that started bidding at $100 and was quickly sold for $540.

Vehicles being offered at car auctions can greatly vary from week to week. Some auction houses provide an online inventory list of vehicles available. The Newport Mesa Auto Auction offered motorcycles, wrecked cars and luxury cars. The wrecked cars were often bought by junkyard to sell for parts.

Average everyday people bid at the auctions too, purchasing the vehicles and flipping them. Flipping means to purchase a vehicle below wholesale cost, and quickly resell the vehicle for profit. For example, the gentleman that purchased the 1988 Honda Accord for $540 said that he plans on selling the Honda for at least $1000. He noted that if the car has transmission problems or any other issues, he’s still confident that he could still sell it and get his money back.

One of the auction house employees told us that 90% of the weekly visitors to the auction are the same group of people that buy the cars and sell them for profit. One interesting example he told us about was a family that would purchase anywhere from 6-12 vehicles at a time. Once they are done paying for the vehicles, the whole family drives the vehicles down to Mexico the same day, and then they resell it at their dealership across the border. If one of the vehicles breaks down or doesn’t run, they will tow it behind another vehicle that was also purchased at the auction. This particular family will do this at least 2 times a month.

We raise a note of caution here. If you are buying cars to resell, we suggest you research your market thoroughly to make sure you are not making assumptions that won’t hold true and end up costing you money instead of making you money. Combine the Kelly Blue Book values with comparison-shopping and you will get a pretty good idea of what the vehicles are worth on resale.