If you are looking for a new vehicle, you may have heard that an auto auction is the place to go to find affordable transportation. It is certainly much easier to go to an auction house than to haggle with an auto dealer, as buying from a car lot has the reputation for being difficult and over priced for a reason. However, there are some risks with auto auctions, despite the tremendous savings you get when you avoid dealers fees.

Primarily, when you buy vehicles that have been seized by police or repossessed, there is a strong possibility that the car has been driven harder, maintained less regularly, and overall abused more than an off lot car. In some cases, if you buy a seized car from police forces, your brand new mini-van may even include a drug smuggling door panel – and most people don’t really want this feature! What can you do if you would like a deeply discounted auction car but want to avoid the risks associated with purchasing a seized or repossessed car? You can buy an auction car from the government!

Government auction cars are vehicles that have been purchased by the G.S.A. – the US Government services agency – and then used as fleet vehicles to other government agencies. The G.S.A. purchases the fleet vehicles and then the other government agencies use them through leasing. When the lease expires, the G.S.A. then replaces the fleet with new vehicles, and the former fleet vehicles become auction cars sold by the government.

There are many advantages to purchasing government auction cars over any other type of auction cars or through a car lot.

First, since the G.S.A. is responsible for replacing the fleet upon expiration of the lease, auction cars from the government are typically less than three model years old. This means you get a car that is up-to-date and generally fairly stylish, plus it doesn’t have a lot of wear and tear.

Second, government auction cars generally have fairly low mileage, as fleet cars are primarily for official use. The more miles a vehicle has on it, the closer it is to the end of it’s life, so you may get more use out of an auction car from the government.

Third, government auction cars and fleet cars are well maintained. We have all been there – your car needs an oil change and tune up, but you just do not have the money to get the regular service it needs. This shortens the vehicles lifespan. However, fleet cars sold at government auction generally have their full scheduled maintenance on time.

Finally, government auction cars are usually nice. This means automatic transmission, power steering, full detailing, automatic windows, et cetera. You are not going to find sketchy sub compact cars stripped of all the features at government auctions. Rather, the vehicles are well maintained, fully detailed, kept clean, and have features that make the car more luxurious and comfortable.