There are US Govt auctions every month in Chula Vista for drug-bust-seized vehicles. See:

http://www.ustreas.gov/auctions/customs/chula.html

and for the latest bid prices click the results link at the bottom. The prices at these auctions are incredibly low. Has anyone been to these auctions and are the cars all ripped apart, no fuel tank etc?
I can't imagine customs put these vehicles back together after they find the stuff, and if they find one stash they probably pull everything apart to make sure they don't miss some.

One thing I found while looking at some items up for bid at customs ( seized electronic items) is that many lots are not to be brought back into the USA
( buy the lot at the sale and take back it over the border)

also, the gov. bears no responsibility if the smog systems have been modified on vehic., removed, ect.

some vehic. can not be regestered without a major hassell.

There are a lot of dealers that watch these kind of sales, so (IMHO) there rarely are any real bargins to be had.

I am sure we all have heard of the person that got some really good bargin at an auction, but not the stories of countless ppl that ended up with expensive "crap"

all stuff to keep in mind ( be an educated bidder) when buying at public auctions.

Good points - obviously there's a risk in buying anything at auction, but the price is usually really low to compensate for the risk. I buy a lot of stuff at live auctions and I've had some incredible bargains and have also bought junk a few times, usually when I didn't preview closely and bought on impulse. But the gains far outweigh the losses. I guess I'm going to have to plan a trip to check things out - who knows this may become my perfect excuse/cover story for monthly TJ trips:-)

Be carefull there have been people that have bought cars in the customs auctions that had drugs that were not found yet and ended up getting arrested later on when a drug dog alerts on it. Also I saw a story on the spanish news that showed this happened to a mexican Man in ensenada.

Ahora007

Here is a link to that news story I found in the news link of the ChicaChica.net site.
Putanero

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020711/ap_wo_en_po/us_surprise_stash_2

Thx alot bro. I was not to specific because I was half paying attention.

Yea but don't forget about the loser who found a boatload of cash in her gastank a few years back too !! She got to keep it !

so it has its advantages
I do feel for those guys who are now serving time
What do you think will happen ?

milky

When the bitch gets out, he/she will be ready for a job at your favorite trolling hole, Kin-kle.