Ok so circling around the net is an "auction" for a Copart car right next to me in NJ. It gets better, its a 67 Cutlass Sport Coupe that has all the markings of a Turnpike Cruiser. From the pictures it looks like a borderline parts car or possible builder. I am hooked, time to reel me in... So it says must register to bid.... 59 dollars basic one year membership but all the prompts on the site are having you go for the 500 dollar yearly membership with automatic renewal. Looking at the car it says future auction, no date set and no bid value is shown but you can make a bid if you register. I go thru the BS registration, documents sent, fee paid. While doing this I see the car now has a 325 dollar bid showing. Emails come congratulating me for the membership and say I can now bid! I go back to the 67 and it now says the bid is 1400 dollars and it will be auctioned on 6-2-21? Ok I click on the bid button and it says...sorry you cannot bid on this vehicle. Only a broker can make bids on this car but broker services are available... ok I get it, its all a scam and I got reeled in!

https://www.copart.com/lot/36730931/...***-nj-trenton

 

Time to contact the Attorney General in your state.

 

Not sure I would call that a scam....... I set up an account with no fees just to track auctions. From there you should have been able to check eligibility and seen that it's broker only. Their membership guide also has the big table showing who can buy what. The car is in NJ, and NJ requires a business license for any vehicle, per the table. I mean, sure, you have to pay close attention.
Seems a simple email to their support team saying "whoopsie, forget it" will get your fees refunded.

I mean, the legal stuff around car auctions, especially internet based, are messy. That's not surprising.

 

Years ago a friend had his 86 442 stolen. He settled with insurance but the car was later found. He wanted to buy it back from the insurance but they had already put it up for auction at CoPart. He tried to get paper work to bid but they said he had to be a licensed dealer to bid. S C A M

 

Never dealing with Copart and not knowing anyone who did left me vulnerable I guess. I still think a red flag should have been waved by them at the start stating NJ bidders need a broker license. The sticky rules seem to be embedded within, I mailed the asking for a refund so we shall see, no biggie, lesson learned for the price of a tank of gas...

 

If they won't refund, pull it with your credit card. Dishonest and uncooperative vendor.

 

x2

That's a bummer that it's a scam.

 

as Oddball says above, you really can't call it a scam. Copart pretty clearly lists their rules and their rules are not driven by Copart, they are driven by the state laws.

When you actually buy something, then you'll have something to bitch about. Their fees are very high. They nickel and dime you for everything. I bought a sailboat a couple years ago for $500. It cost me $900 to get it out of their yard.

 

I can see your point however their push thru emails was intense, I only partially registered...did not pay up right away and was bombarded with mails for me to fully register so I could bid. My fault also I did not do enough reading. There was talk of licensing which I did not understand fully. I sent them my drivers license number and though I had it covered as they kept pushing for the full registration for me to be eligible to bid. A notation up front about broker licensing would have been nice. And now crickets since I requested a refund... I used paypal. As I said 59 bucks lost, no biggie.

 

Heard back from Copart just now. They did give me a refund, there was a 7 day window for it and I just got in under the wire.... Too bad I couldn't bid on the Cutlass....