Introducing CarAuctionData.com: check prices before you bid

CarAuctionData.com is a set of tools for anyone buying a car at a US salvage auction such as Copart or IAAI. It shows what similar cars actually sold for, estimates what a specific lot is likely to sell for, and tells you when matching cars are listed.

Why it's hard to know what an auction car is worth

Open a lot page at a salvage auction and you get photos, a damage description, a current bid and sometimes a Buy Now price. The page doesn't tell you what similar cars sold for, and that's the number you need to decide how much to bid.

The current bid and the Buy Now price are poor guides. A car often finishes far above or below both. The car auction data that would answer the question is spread across thousands of finished lots, and checking them one by one is slow. Even then you still have to allow for mileage, damage and whether the car runs.

Dealers who buy every week learn these prices over time. Someone buying their first project car, or importing a single car to Europe, starts without that history and has few places to look it up.

Why I built CarAuctionData.com

I buy cars at US auctions and have imported several of them myself. For a long time, my research meant opening sold cars one at a time to work out what a car was really worth. I looked for a tool that would do this for me and couldn't find one, so I started building one for myself.

Along the way I realized other buyers were probably doing the same slow work, so I built it for them too. CarAuctionData.com puts the research I used to do by hand within reach of any buyer, not only dealers.

Every number comes from finished Copart and IAAI auctions. Only real results count: the car must have sold, or sold on approval, at a recorded price. Current bids and Buy Now prices never count as sale prices.

Three tools for salvage auction buyers

Auction price history: see what similar cars sold for

Pick a make, model family and model years. The report pulls the last six months of finished sales for those cars, up to the newest 500. It shows the average result, how the price changes with mileage and damage, and how each model year compares.

The report cleans the data for you. Sales with no recorded price, or with an impossible mileage reading like a car listed at a million miles, are left out so they don't skew the numbers. You see what a fair price looks like for the car you want, so you can set a budget and avoid overpaying.

Auction price calculator: estimate what a car will sell for

Paste a lot link, a lot number or a VIN. The calculator compares the car with recent sales of similar cars, matched on model, year, mileage, damage and whether it runs, and estimates what it's likely to sell for.

You also get two ranges. In our tests on past sales, about half of cars sold inside the likely range and about 8 in 10 inside the wide range. Together they tell you what the car is probably worth and how far the price might move, so you can set a maximum bid that keeps you from overpaying.

Below the estimate you see the total cost of getting the car to Europe: auction buyer fees, towing to a US port, ocean shipping to Klaipėda, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Gdynia or Antwerp, and EU import duty and VAT. Type in your own bid and the total updates.

Auction alerts: every matching car in one place

Choose a make, model family and years, and we watch Copart and IAAI for you. Every matching car that's open for bidding lands on one page with photos, so you can scroll through all of them in a few minutes instead of searching two auction sites.

We check for new lots every 24 hours. When new ones appear, you get a short email with photos and a link to each car. Dealer accounts can also get hourly Buy Now alerts on Telegram, so new listings reach your phone as they come up.

How to use the three tools together

1. Run a price history report for the model you want, so you know what a fair result looks like.
2. Start an alert and let matching lots come to you.
3. When a car looks right, paste it into the price calculator and check the estimate and the total cost before you set your maximum bid.

Common questions

How much does CarAuctionData.com cost?

You can start with a free account: 2 price history reports, 3 price estimates and 1 alert every day, with no card needed. Dealers and frequent buyers can get a dealer account, which uses credits instead of daily limits and adds hourly Buy Now alerts on Telegram. Contact us to set one up.

Which auctions does it cover?

Copart and IAAI, the US salvage auctions. Reports use the last six months of finished sales.

How current is the data?

Each report pulls the latest records at the moment you request it.

Can I use it if I'm importing a car to Europe?

Yes. The price calculator adds buyer fees, towing, shipping to five European ports, import duty and VAT, so you can see the full cost before you bid.

Create your account

The next car you bid on has a price history. Create a free account and run your first report today.

Create your account