If a bank still has a lien on it you will have to pay it off to get clear title

 

this reminds me of a story i read online about a guy who bought a van from a drug seizure. later on down the road he ended up finding more drugs stashed in the vehicle, pretty crazy.

 

Either of those sound reasonable, especially the old gas (I doubt the previous owner had put in Sta-Bil; I'm pretty sure they didn't expect the car to be sitting for 2 years in impound. I wonder how long the former owner got impounded for... )

 

Couple of things here. I work for the US Marshals and handle all our asset forfeiture matters, so I can shed a little light onto some of this. First off, there was a comment made before as to expecting the vehicle to be dusty or dirty and generally unkempt...that is not the case for federal seizures. We contract with a local company who stores the vehicles for us, as well as cleans, details, and maintains all assets that are stored. So most of the assets we take come out of our custody looking better than before. We are held liable to the condition of the vehicle should that vehicle be returned to the owner for whatever reason, so we take good care of our stuff.

Another thing with the Marshals auctions...they will want to get book value, but may deal on the vehicle if the bids don't get that high. It's a case by case basis, so it is possible to get a very good deal.

As far as drugs or evidence still being in the vehicle, it is HIGHLY unlikely. Possible, but unlikely. For us feds, that vehicle goes through a lot of hands and a lot of searches, inventory, and thorough cleaning before it would ever make it to the forfeiture process.

You should be able to inspect it in person, and I would highly advise that. I wouldn't buy a Corvette from a dealer without seeing, so this kind of goes without saying. Point is, I have set up appointments for individuals to come and inspect vehicles that are up for auction, so you should be able to as well.

What kind of auction is it? Fed or state/local?

 

best of luck on your decision

 

This is incorrect ........... upon seizure if the vehicle has a high lein on it, usually the LE will let the title holders retain the vehicle. However, if the vehicle is a high $$$$$ and there is very little to no lein on the vehicle, the LE will buy out the lein in hopes of selling and making $$$$.

If you as the private party buy from a gov't auction, you will get clear paperwork from them. The LE goes through a lengthy legal process through the courts to be able to sell the items.

 

I know the car your talking about. I went and took a look at it.
There does not seem to be any major issues. However, it had been smoked in, plus I noticed some cigerette burns on the carpet. Mainly behind the seats. Everything else was in pretty good shape. It also needs a real good cleaning and with some elbow gease it would be a nice car to own. I also learned that the Dectetive is withthe orginized crime unit and I have to assume it was used as a prop for sting operations. They just replaced the left rear tire and it's new. All of the other rubber is in good shape. Someone added an K&N breather also. It has a clear title and no need to worry there. I had thought about bidding on it and I am still watching to see what it brings. If you care to have a rather nice car cheap, go for it.
One other item I learned is most if not all of the miles were put on the unit after it was seized.

 

Not Likely. But the bank may come to bid on the car to protect their investment.

Any thing sold at government auction by the first lean holder or by seizure auction, any other lean holders are SOL, unless they come to bid as well.

Now the opening Bid may be what is OWDED to the first lean holder plus some amount.

dont expect the car to go for less then what the lean holder has on it.

ie dont believe those $100 action ads unless the car is a piece of junk.

I have bought close to 60 houses or so over the past 15 years from auctions. Been to several Marshals auctions as well. Did not buy anything.

 

Thanks for the replies. I am aparrantly 1 of about 50 people who have inspected the. car, so the bidding may get away from me fairly quickly.
I'll let everyone know how it turns out.

 

How high are you willing to bid? So far it's a steal. According to the detective he had @ 20 people calling about it but not many going to take a look at it. Go for it and then there will 2 of us from the same town. I too live in Bartlett.

 

Are you sure you want to buy anything from a police auction? Usually that stuff is so beat up, maybe you will get lucky and find a gem, but odds are no, just be careful!

 

I wouldn't go 20k,maybe start at 15k.

 

How do you find out about these auctions? I've seen the adds in the newspapers where you pay so much money to find out about the auctions, but have always thought that was a scam. Is there any other way to find out about these auctions, or do you just have to watch the local newspaper?