Smart buyers can find used cars for sale in Bellevue, NE. Bellevue is home to more than 50,000 people and is an often overlooked part of the Omaha Council Bluffs Metro area. Around the area, it is most well-known for the Offutt Air Force Base and large military population. In general, auctions are very popular in the Midwest, which means that one of the best places to find used cars for sale is at local used-car auctions. Here is a closer look at some of the different types of auctions you will find, some recent auction results, and where you should look for them.
Across the country, one of the most popular types of auctions is repo auctions. In Bellevue these types of auctions are much less frequent because the Omaha Council Bluffs Metro area did a fairly good job of maintaining its economy during the recent downturn. As a result, the repossession rate did not significantly increase like it did elsewhere. This doesn’t mean that you won’t find any repossessed cars for sale, but rather they will be in auctions which source vehicles from multiple places. Some of these auctions will identify where the vehicle came from, while others will not. In some cases this can make it difficult to determine whether or not any repo cars are on the listing.
There are also different types of government auctions in the area as well. The big difference between Bellevue and many other areas is that their local government often utilizes auction houses from Omaha or link in to oversee the auction. As a result, the listings will not always be easily accessible within Bellevue, but rather in Omaha and Lincoln. While these are excellent types of auctions for used cars, it does mean that if you do not use online auction websites, there will be a substantial amount of additional leg work that will need to be done in order to prepare. Fortunately, a majority of the auction houses in the area do utilize these types of websites, which means you can also use them to get updated listings before each auction.
There are two types of cars which are often overlooked at used car auctions in Bellevue, NE. They are cars owned by military personnel and used cars which were totaled out by insurance companies. Similar to other regions of the country with and Air Force Base or other military base within close proximity, there will always be used cars owned by military personnel at general public auctions. While some people still prefer to sell their cars themselves, more and more military personnel have decided to use auctions to get rid of their cars quickly when they get their transfer orders. It guarantees that their car gets sold and it is one less headache that they have to deal with.
Used cars for sale that have been total by insurance companies can also be a great value in Bellevue. The reason for this is that this area of Nebraska tends to get a large amount of severe weather – particularly hail. As a result, you could get a car which is in excellent working condition, however there is cosmetic damage due to a recent hailstorm. Instead of getting these cars fixed, insurance companies will total them out because repairing the cosmetic damage would be more expensive than the value of the car.
To give you an idea of what to expect, here’s a look at some recent used car auction results from the area. There was recently a 2006 Chevrolet Impala worth $7300 sold at auction for $525. There were two reasons for this. The first was the mileage, which was near 160,000 and the second was that it had a lot of hail damage. In fact, the hail damage alone caused an estimated $6000 worth of damage. At the same time, all of the windows were intact and the vehicle, aside from cosmetic damage, was in excellent working order. This means that while there were dents across the entirety of the vehicle, it actually ran exceptionally well and was a steal at less than $600.
A similar result was for a 2006 KIA Rio with less than 50,000 miles. It was a repossession car which was valued at slightly less than $9000 and sold for $3100. There was no noticeable exterior damage and it was inspected before the auction and given a clean bill of health.
If you are interested in a newer car, then here are a few examples as well. The first is a 2010 Toyota Corolla which had a damaged front end, however it’s did not have any engine problems and could drive without any repairs. It had 16,140 miles and was valued at just over $16,000. In the end, the winning bidder paid just over $3000 for it. Another example was a 2010 Honda Fit Sport. It had less than 20,000 miles, but did suffer extensive cosmetic damage from a hailstorm. To the repairs were estimated to be $14,000 – but keep in mind that these are not necessary repairs to safely and legally drive the vehicle. The vehicle had an estimated value of $20,000 and the winning bidder paid only $2100.
The biggest problem that you will run into when trying to find used cars for sale in Bellevue, NE is tracking all of the auction houses which oversee car auctions in the area. Some of the most popular auction houses include Great Plains Realty-Auction Co, Lincoln Auto Auction, Auction Solutions Inc., and Nebraska Auto Auction. Ironically, none of these auction houses are actually located in Bellevue. Auction houses in Nebraska tend to travel across the state to oversee auctions, which means if you were to try and keep track of all of these auction houses manually, it would be nearly impossible. This is why in order to find the best deals and stay up-to-date with the upcoming auctions, using an online auto auction website is the ideal solution. It allows you to search for upcoming auctions based upon the auction location, rather than the location of the auction house overseeing it.
