Repo Cars - What Are They and Where Can You Find Them?

Repo cars are those cars or vehicles that have been seized from car owners who failed to make their monthly car payments. Some people, especially in tough economic times such as now, are unable to make their car payments and the bank will have no option but to seize the car in an effort to compensate itself for the bad loan or bad debt that it has incurred. Though it is unfortunate, many car owners are facing the grim reality of seeing their cars being repossessed.

As the old saying goes "someone's loss is someone's gain". These repo cars have to be sold by the banks and they will often sell them through auction houses or dealerships at a rate that is usually at a 40% discount to the general market value. Some people are uncomfortable about buying repo cars as they feel that they are taking advantage of someone's loss although the truth of the matter is that it is merely a business transaction. The banks try their best to work with a customer before repossessing their car. If you still think that buying repo cars is somewhat unethical, it is a matter of personal choice.

However, hundreds of people take advantage of the sale of repossessed cars across the nation. If you are interested in purchasing repossessed cars, the first place to look would be local auction houses in your county. Do a quick search on the Internet to find and locate these. There will be a few established auction houses in and around your zip code and these auction houses will service the banks and credit unions in the area.

In some cases, banks and other financial institutions might sell the repo cars on their own from the parking lot of the bank. You will have to dig around to find these sorts of sales as they are usually promoted on a word of mouth basis or through very low profile advertisements in newspapers that might be hard to locate.

Another great way to find repo cars would be to pay a small membership fee to car auction database sites that maintain a huge list of active auctions across the country. You will be able to view the cars being auctioned off at these auction houses and these sites will also allow you to search for repo cars by manufacturer, year of manufacturer and so on. One will also have the ability to make an online bid on these repo cars or physically visit the auction to place a bid on a car after inspecting the car personally.