Buying a Repo Truck

[HunterDave]

DISCLAIMER* I'm not trying to capitalize on anyone's misfortune as a result of the economic hard times and I take no pleasure from it. I'm on a fixed income and it requires me to spend my money wisely. I need a new (used) truck and I'd like to get the best possible deal on it.

Okay, now that that is out of the way. I'm driving an '05 F150 and it's getting time to start thinking about upgrading and replacing it. Given the situation in Alberta, I'm thinking that there may be used repo trucks that can be picked up at bargain prices. Does anyone know where a fella would find repo trucks to purchase, perhaps at auction or elsewhere?

[rugatika]

Used trucks are gonna be tough to find a good deal on. The bulk of them are getting snapped up and sent to the states with the dollar being what it is.

[blackmamba]

^^^^^ I just had a friend take his 2 newer (5 yrs old with high kms )diesel s to Montana and made a decent penny on them.. I am also in the market for a new rig and dealers now I think will be willing to lower prices just to get trucks off there lots...

[calgarychef]

My wife was looking for a used car and looked briefly at Michener auctions site. There were lots of trucks for sale, and it's gonna get worse (better for buyers)

[bobtodrick]

Another thing to maybe consider is lease returns on fleet trucks.
You need to be careful, and if you can make friends with a dealer who specializes in these returms.
Last year I picked up a low mileage 4 year old Tahoe that looked like it must have been owned by an executive...it was spotless.
It was a good 30% less than any of the reputable used car lots.

[Blastoff]

As far as I was told all repos go to auction or what the lien holders want to do with them, that was the old days when you knew someone in the bank you could snag a deal. Good luck

[TripleTTT]

As far as I was told all repos go to auction or what the lien holders want to do with them, that was the old days when you knew someone in the bank you could snag a deal. Good luck

I agree, call your bank manager first.

Then try places like:
http://www.repodepo.ca

and

https://www.repo.com

Regal Auctions does repos as does Grahams Auction.

Good luck, and Happy Hunting :)

[Flanny]

I bought my truck a few years back from repocenter.com and I feel like I got a good deal. Do yourself a favour and check every switch button and knob for functionality. These places also in my experience don't haggle so the number on the line is what you pay whether you spend 4 hours looking at it or 12 minutes.

Flanny

[TROLLER]

No cheap trucks to be had anywhere. Even the auctions has the US buyers coming up and buying everything that is late model and decent.

Prices are very high right now for good used trucks. Good luck with your search. Buddy of mine put his 2011 Ford on Kijiji sold in a day to a dealer out of Great Falls. And for his asking price.

[Sooner]

I was talking to a customer who had a 2012 F350, CC diesel, long box, 4x4, loaded with cloth int. 200,000 k. Got it at the last Ritchie bros auction. Fleet sale. Real nice truck, good condition, tires. 16G. That truck is a lot more on kijiji. But you takes your chances at any auction place. bet there will be a bunch of fleet trucks coming this spring.

If you know someone on the inside at a dealer, they can show you whats coming on the adesa vehicle auctions. Maybe do a deal on your behalf.

[bruceba]

I agree, call your bank manager first.

Then try places like:
http://www.repodepo.ca

and

https://www.repo.com

Regal Auctions does repos as does Grahams Auction.

Good luck, and Happy Hunting :)

Watch for the rebuilt status from repo.com, they do list them as
rebuilt so read the reports on the vehicles from there.

[Grizzly Adams]

My wife was looking for a used car and looked briefly at Michener auctions site. There were lots of trucks for sale, and it's gonna get worse (better for buyers)

Bought a 2009 Chev hauling truck at the Dec. MA auction in Edmonton. Over 400 to pick from. I've heard a lot of them are going south cause of the exchange rate, reverse of a few years ago.

Grizz

[gordfishing]

Cheap trucks are hard to find cause of the US dollar but I own a company and run 10 vehicles and buy them at the auction and touch wood haven't been burnt. I stick to fleet and city of calgary units only.
Go to regal auctions and observe and not what the prices are and then make your decisions, I've bought at all three Adesa, Michnere and Regal, and I won't change a thing except sometimes you get excited and may over bid
Check out Regal website they have a good auction this weekend

[gordfishing]

don't kid yourself the is LOTS of dealers at the auctions too and you know they are flipping them

[schmedlap]

don't kid yourself the is LOTS of dealers at the auctions too and you know they are flipping them
Quite aside from the current factor of the US buyers due to low canuck buck, the dealers are a huge factor in keeping the used truck prices artificially high. The guy who helped me buy my new truck in '14 is very experienced in this world, and has attended and bought and sold via auctions for himself and others for many years. He has just given up over the last couple of years.

The large auto group dealers ("Go Auto", etc.) have been, by his estimation, buying a lot at inflated prices (and not just the trucks), such that he is wasting his time. They have the background resources to clean up and "recondition" the product cheaply, carry the inventory, and the real money is in the financing end - most buyers are relatively stupid and only look at "how much bi-weekly" (look at all the dealer ads?), and not at what they are really paying in total $, on any comparative basis. The dealers do not want cash anymore, unlike in long past times.

Now, wait a few months. The sheer volume of repos over the next year (and it will be historically huge) may well soften the market and prices to some degree. In the meantime it is pretty hard for any inexperienced individual to get any real deals in this milieu.

[CowichanBay]

As mentioned above, repodepo and MA auctions.

I've had good luck with repodepo, have to do your homework on the vehicle, they often have issues, but as long as you know what you're getting into there can be deals to be had. They're typically open to reasonable offers if you talk to the right person at your local office. Couple times in my experience the vehicle actually had the entire service records in the glovebox, if you see something online you're interested in, try to let your local office know before it arrives, and try to get into the vehicle before they have a chance to clean it up for sale.

Another one to consider is leasebusters, not a huge selection, but the buyouts can often be really attractive compared to the vehicle value, and if people are desperate to get out of something, it can work out well for everyone.

[D4l3k]

To my understanding, usually good repo vehicles go to dealer only auctions first, they get the creme of the crop so they can resell them to peons like you and me at a profit
I think the Alberta one is called adesa dealer auctions

There are people with dealer licenses that charge a 500 to 1000 fee or so to buy one for you
This will get you the best vehicle for the dollar because a person in the business is doing the work for you (people that make a living at this most likely know much more about vehicles then you do, know what to look for, stay away from etc)

All other vehicles after that go to public auction, lots of junk, maybe a few gems in the bunch and lots of competition and high fees etc, not really worth it IMO

Just like public gun auctions where people pay more then brand new on used stuff lol

[ETOWNCANUCK]

I appreciate the disclaimer but don't think it was necessary

Buying repo items goes on in good times and bad

[purgatory.sv]

DISCLAIMER* I'm not trying to capitalize on anyone's misfortune as a result of the economic hard times and I take no pleasure from it. I'm on a fixed income and it requires me to spend my money wisely. I need a new (used) truck and I'd like to get the best possible deal on it.

Okay, now that that is out of the way. I'm driving an '05 F150 and it's getting time to start thinking about upgrading and replacing it. Given the situation in Alberta, I'm thinking that there may be used repo trucks that can be picked up at bargain prices. Does anyone know where a fella would find repo trucks to purchase, perhaps at auction or elsewhere?

Kijiji is not a bad resource.

If your are looking at lapsed titles, make sure of the status.

Also look outside of the box, will another type of transport work?