How to Buy a Car from Copart (2026): Steps, Fees & What to Check

How to buy a car on Copart, step by step

1. 1

   Register and add a deposit

   Create an account on copart.com and choose a membership (Copart offers Basic and Premier tiers for individuals; current prices are on Copart’s registration page). Every member provides a government photo ID; business members also upload their licenses. Your bidding limit — Copart calls it buying power — is tied to a refundable security deposit, so raising it means adding to the deposit. If you are not licensed and want lots that require a license, this is the point to choose a registered broker instead.

2. 2

   Search and filter

   Filter by make, model, year and location, then by the fields that decide whether the car is worth your time: the title or sale document type (clean, salvage, non-repairable, certificate of destruction and so on — the exact names vary by state), primary and secondary damage, and condition status such as “Run and Drive,” “Engine Starts” or neither. If you are a public buyer, filter to lots you are eligible to bid on. Location matters: it decides your transport cost and which state’s title rules apply.

3. 3

   Research the lot

   Go through every listing photo, the damage fields, the odometer reading and its status (actual or not actual), the keys field, and the sale document listed for the lot — that document is what you will actually receive, and it decides whether the car can be registered where you live. Copart sells vehicles as-is; if you can’t inspect in person, some buyers pay a third-party inspector at the yard.

4. 4

   Check the VIN’s history before you bid

   This is the step Copart’s own process leaves to you. A car on Copart today may have been through a salvage auction before — wrecked, sold, repaired, and back again. The current listing only shows the car now. Run the VIN for prior auction appearances (damage reported at each earlier sale, odometer at sale, and the photos taken then), reported salvage records, theft records, an odometer timeline, its listing history, and open recalls. A car that was repaired after an earlier sale and is back with new damage is a different purchase from a first-time total loss — and the odometer at the earlier sale is the easiest way to catch a rollback. See the Copart VIN lookup for how past sales are found once a lot page comes down.

5. 5

   Set a maximum bid that includes every fee

   Work backward from what the car is worth to you after repairs, then subtract Copart’s buyer fee and other fees (they scale with the sale price — see the fees section below), any broker fee, transport, repairs, and, for overseas buyers, shipping and import taxes. What is left is your maximum bid. Decide it before the auction, not during it.

6. 6

   Bid: preliminary bid, then the live virtual auction

   Copart uses a two-step process. During preliminary bidding you enter your maximum, and Copart’s automated bidder places bids for you one increment at a time, up to that maximum — so you can win below it. Preliminary bidding closes at a set time before the sale. Then the live virtual auction runs online in real time: bidders compete with each other and with the top preliminary bid, and when bidding stops a countdown starts — if no new bid comes in, the car sells to the highest bidder. Some lots sell subject to the seller’s approval of the high bid.

7. 7

   Pay before the deadline

   Payment is due within a short window after the sale, counted in business days, and late payment adds a fee. Your member terms and the lot’s invoice list the exact deadline and accepted payment methods. Payments are applied to outstanding fees first, then to the vehicle.

8. 8

   Pick up the car or arrange transport

   You (or your transporter) also have a short window, counted in business days, to remove the car. After it, Copart moves the vehicle to storage and charges storage fees — plus a gate fee to release it — until it leaves. Book a transporter before the auction ends, not after. Overseas buyers usually hand this step to a broker or freight forwarder that trucks the car to a port.

9. 9

   Transfer the title — and rebuild-inspect if it is salvage

   Copart mails or releases the sale document listed on the lot. A clean title transfers like any other used car. A salvage title cannot be driven on public roads until the car is repaired and passes your state’s salvage or rebuilt inspection, after which the state issues a rebuilt title — the brand stays on the title permanently. Some states re-brand a car when it is registered there even if the document from the sale state looked clean. Check your state’s process (receipts for parts, photos of the repair, inspection fees) before you bid; our salvage check pages list state-by-state rules.

International buyers: buying from Copart outside the US

Copart reports roughly a million members in more than 185 countries, and runs an international buyers program with international shipping information. In practice, most buyers outside the US work through a registered broker, because many lots require a US license and because someone has to pay Copart, collect the car, and move it to a port inside the pickup window. The order of operations:

1. Choose a registered broker and read their fee schedule and terms.
2. Confirm your country accepts the car — age limits, emissions or safety approval, and left-hand drive rules.
3. Confirm the lot’s sale document is valid for export; some documents cannot be exported at all.
4. Check the VIN’s auction history and recalls before your broker bids.
5. Budget the full stack: lot price, Copart fees, broker fee, US trucking, ocean freight, duty and taxes, repairs, local registration.
6. After arrival, clear customs, repair as needed, and pass your country’s inspection and registration.

Country-specific duty, tax and registration rules are on our import a car from the USA hub, including Ukraine and Georgia, both major destinations for US auction cars. For the end-to-end process, see importing a car from the USA.

Frequently asked questions