[BMWCCA1]

The good ones are only open to licensed dealers. If you know someone they might let you tag along and buy for you—often for a fee. People I know who have done this have seldom gotten really good deals. Think about it: You pay someone a fee if he buys a car for you. What's his incentive?

The public auctions are normally junk cars that dealers didn't want.

I spent years doing the auction circuit buying cars for our dealership. I'd go a day in advance and check out only the cars that interested me, then determine as best I can sitting in a parking lot which ones are worthy. If you just land there on the day of an auction you'll find the often less-than-a-minute the car is in the lane is hardly enough time to make a reasonable evaluation.

And, yes, currently used-cars are at least 30% over-priced.

Of all the cars I've bought for my own use, only one was an auction car. My boss didn't like the '88 535is with the 3-piece BBS wheels on it that I bought at a Manheim High-Line sale back around 1991. So I kept it for myself. Paid $14,000 for it and drove it for probably five-years before selling it for $19,000. The rest were all from private sellers.