1. Do your homework first by bring along your Kelly Blue Book. The idea is to buy a car at a price lower than the blue book price.

If you arm yourself with this information, you know more than other bidders and you would know how much the auto is really worth unlike them.

2. Be early for the government seized auto auctions. Being punctual alone is still not good enough. The reason why you need to be early is to have the lead time to view and select the cars you wish to bid for. Then, carefully inspect each one of them to see if they are in a good condition. Always perform an Autovehicle history check ie Carfax report to see if the car has a bad history.

3. The price you are bidding is not all you have to pay at the government seized auto auctions. Always find out before hand what is the buyers premium you have to pay on top of the winning bid. This is normally less than 10% of the winning bid. Do not start complaining that you do not know. You are reading about it now!

4. Prepare yourself well by getting a vehicle inspection checklist ready so that you do not miss any crucial step in the inspection. Remember that you are buying the car in its “AS IS" condition.

5. Be sure to check the VIN numbers on the trunk, hood, doors, dashboard etc. Make sure they tally. If they vary, what it means is that there is a possibility that the car was assembled with parts from different cars. This insinuates that the car is either a stolen vehicle or it has been involved in a serious accident. This raises big red flags. Avoid at all costs!

Many car buyers go into government seized auto auctions blindly and make some rookie mistakes. Even if you are a first-timer, knowing these 5 tips already make you an expert and give you an edge over your other competitors. In any case, make sure you check out my car blog for more tips and the secret of how to locate the nearest government seized auto auctions near you.