Everyone wants to get a great car at a great price. Many people love to haggle with salesmen to try and get the best price they can. What many people don’t realize that you can get a great car for a cheap price on cars that were impounded from criminals and are up for auction. These cars can be a steal, pun intended.

Many of the impounded vehicles that police departments sell were confiscated because they were involved in a crime. Many belonged to drug dealers since there are laws in place allowing these criminals personal belongings to be impounded. Some of these cars are very expensive models in good shape and the cities and police are anxious to get rid of them so they sell for a cheap price. Even someone with too many unpaid parking tickets can have their cars impounded and sold.

Many dealers will buy an entire lot of impounded cars and then sell them to the public at their store or auction them all of at once. Auction companies also buy these vehicles to sell at their auctions to whoever will pay the most for them. These cars can be sold for a reasonable price so you can save a lot of money on a great car. It is important to remember, though, that these cars may not be as good as they look.

The downside to buying impounded cars is that they are usually sold “as-is”, which means without any type of warranty. It is also not illegal in many states for auctions and dealers to make false claims about the vehicles that make them sound better than they are. This is called “puffery”. As long as they don’t give specifics, they can talk up the cars and make you think are getting a great deal on them. This can mean saying cars are “clean” or “well maintained”.

You need to make sure you know what a fair price is for the car you are considering bidding on and that you closely look at the car to make sure it is in good shape. It may be a good idea to bring your mechanic with you and have him look at the cars for you. Always drive the cars before you bid so you can see how they run. If you do your research, you can get a great deal on an impounded car but it can also go the other way for you.