[Christien]

What are you looking for? Around here, any open to the public auctions are either specialty cars (exotic or vintage), cheap high mileage pieces of garbage, or overpriced.

If you're looking for a "regular" car, you need to be really careful buying from an auction. Dealers spend years learning how to buy at auction, and come armed not only with that knowledge but also usually with a paint gauge, to see if the car has ever been repainted. When I used to buy, I had an acronym to remember the basic things to check - POTT - paint, odour, tires, transmission. I would also have read a detailed condition report, and even then would always send the car through a post sale inspection.