Here’s what some of the letters that follow the lot number on the windscreen mean.
X = Low value car
P = high value car
Both of the above are generally sold by insurance companies or financial companies.
Q = vehicles purchased by Copart to sell
C = vehicles entered for sale by private individuals (or small motor traders.
As for the category details.
Cat n - non structural
Cat s - structural
Used unrecorded - Exactly what it says.
As for what I buy from Copart.
I generally stick to the ones with an X or P after the lot numbers as they are usually cars that insurance companies have decided not to repair.
I steer clear of anything used unrecorded as that’s usually cars tht have something wrong with them (not always as some motor traders put their cheap part exchange’s through there) and they generally have been sold through Copart as they have issues.
I only bid / buy those unless they are really cheap.
As with all auctions there are several fees above the sale price that are payable, BEWARE… these fees are high! So check BEFORE bidding as bids are non retractable.
Plus you have to pay £40 to collect or delivery fees.
Plus all cars are sold where is as is.
This means that whatever you buy you are stuck with… pretty much regardless so even if it’s not described they won’t do anything about it.(you can pay by credit card and have a little protection)
Make sure you know what you are bidding on before you bid. You can arrange a viewing / virtual viewing.
There has also been instances of theft from sale vehicles (although no one knows whether this is Copart employees / delivery drivers either to or from the Copart operations centre or thieves who enter the yards illegally - you are free to make you’re mind up on that one yourselves lol)
And it has been stated that Copart employees take pictures in such a way in order to hide damages but this is probably more likely to be they just take standard pictures of front, back sides etc without taking any time to notice anything.
There is also the “enhanced vehicles”
This is basically they car “may” have been washed and has a few more pictures.
I have had both good cars and bad cars from Copart. Some I have missed damage that is there on the pics and another where I purchased a car which was clearly advertised as an automatic but it had a 6 speed manual gearbox - to which Copart responded to my complaint that their staff were not qualified to make mechanical inspections
Another thing to be aware of is any car that’s states a category either N, S or used unrecorded may previously have a different category so it’s wise even from Copart to do a HPI check or similar (carvertical etc)
Over the last year or two I have noticed prices on Copart soaring, I think with a lot of people watching YouTube videos telling viewer how easy it is to repair salvage cars and every man and his goat having a shot at it… which means in my opinion there a fair few unsafe cars on the road repaired by people watching YouTube videos (although in fairness to people who can do the job are repaired well)
If you want a “real bargain” hunt the classifieds… eBay, gumtree Facebook market place etc but again it’s buyer beware. Check and double check everything.
Hope this help’s someone