Buying through ABetterBid.com / Copart.com

DanPerryy

Well-Known Member
Moderator edit June 2023
We recommend caution when choosing ABetterBid.com. Their shipping department is so slow that you will be charged storage fees while you wait for them to get someone to pick up your car. Instead. Go to AutoBidMaster.com.


I bought my donor through abetterbid.com who acted as an agent for me to buy from copart.com. I did not know at the time but I am told that I could have bought directly through copart for salvage title vehicles. This cost me and extra $260.

Insurance Auto Auctions and Copart are two of the largest sources of wrecked donors. Most of these organizations get their cars from insurance companies. Most also require a valid auto repair or auto dealer license to fully participate directly in bidding.

There are other organizations that enable the general public to bid at these auctions. I used ABetterBid (abetterbid.com) to buy mine. I registered with $150 although they have a 30 day free trial. I should have done that. I "prepayed" a deposit of $400 (refundable) that insures that I would I pay for what I bid on. This deposit allowed me to bid on vehicles up to $4,000. There are a number of documents that you must esign before you bid. You see them when you login.

Once signed up you can bid on vehicles and participate in the online bidding. I pre-bid prior to the beginning of the actual auction. Pre bidding allows you to set the upper limit you are willing to pay a better bid automatically bids up the car until either you win or you are outbid. Before the auction begins pre-bidding is halted. An “auction” is for many cars and proceeds car by car. Thus the exact start or end time for a specific vehicle is not set (unlike eBay). If you want to increase your bid you must be online at the time the car goes on the block.

During the actual auction (waiting until your car comes to the block) be aware that bidding goes quickly and you have just a few seconds to increase your bid. Don’t attempt to do it through a phone.

Once bidding is complete assuming you won the bid abetterbid sends you a win notice / invoice through your email. You have 2 days to pay the invoice via wire transfer ONLY. Upon receipt of your payment a better bill will email you a receipt that gives you pick up instructions for your vehicle. I bid on a vehicle at a Copart that is near to me and I had a tow company pick the car up and deliver it. To pick the car up you (or your chosen carrier) need to have your buyer id and the lot number of the vehicle.

The final part is getting the title to the vehicle. You must esign some other documents and they send you the title.

Be aware that the bid price of the vehicle is the money that the seller (insurance company) receives. Copart charges a handling fe as well as abetterbid. I wanted the specific vehicle I choose so I put in a pre-bid that would insure that I got it ($1150). The other fees added up to nearly $1800. I could have saved $260 by going to copart directly, but I got the car I wanted and I can't wait to get it put my Goblin together.
 
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DanPerryy

Well-Known Member
Correcting a previous error: This update I had posted as from ABetterBid - it was NOT. It was a notice from IAAI. Sorry ABetterBid!

Update on IAAI - I got a notice from IAAI that Iowa has a new law that requires the title (even though it is a salvage i whatever state) to first be registered in Iowa then re-registered (transferred) to you state. Double registration fee :(
 
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ABetterBid

New Member
Hello! Most of Copart inventory is only available to members with business licenses, so if you don't have one, you need to use one of copart registered broker who can help you with your purchase. DanPerryy, we operate in Florida but not Iowa and we don't have such document requirements. Could you please clarify if you've seen the information on our website? Thank you and we really hope that overall you are satisfied with your buying experince :)
 

DanPerryy

Well-Known Member
Hello! Most of Copart inventory is only available to members with business licenses, so if you don't have one, you need to use one of copart registered broker who can help you with your purchase. DanPerryy, we operate in Florida but not Iowa and we don't have such document requirements. Could you please clarify if you've seen the information on our website? Thank you and we really hope that overall you are satisfied with your buying experince :)
I bought my car through abetterbid. Did not have any real problems, my car was a salvage Texas Copart car. I also live in Texas. Texas residents can buy salvage Texas vehicles directly from Copart without a license. It was IAAI that required the double registration. Your registration went perfect!!! Sorry if I posted the wrong information. BTW - your customer service was also great.
 

Adam

Administrator
Staff member
In case anyone is confused by Ark's comment, Alice from A Better Bid posted here on the forum requesting that the moderator message in the first post be removed. She then deleted her post and reported the thread instead.

I have let her know that I won't be removing my message because the scenario I described in my message happened to us this year.

Back in May of this year, we purchased a car using A Better Bid and requested shipping directly through A Better Bid's website. Their shipping department was slow and led to me being charged a storage fee. I had no say in the matter and couldn't possibly have got them to ship it out quicker since it was all in their hands.

This didn't seem to bother them in our conversations (I had an email chain with Alice and Gloria) so I made sure to spread the word so other guys didn't have this happen. From now on, I recommend using Auto Bid Master or SCA Auctions to bid on donor cars and then use Easy Haul to ship.
 
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