Some moments occur in a person’s life that make you question that individual’s sanity. There are many moments that occur in my life like that. Here is one such event. I enjoy a variety of automotive YouTuber content. Tavarish, Samcrac, Auto Alex, and Matt Armstrong to name a few. Except for Auto Alex, the other YouTubers have featured a vehicle they purchased via Copart. I used to think that Copart was primarily for folks who have a business license. That all changed when I visited the Copart website and saw the requirements for my state. As a Texas resident, I can purchase Texas Salvage title vehicles but require a broker for Texas Clean title vehicles. I was excited at this prospect and signed up for the basic membership with Copart. At my fingertips were hundreds of cars that I imagined I could save! I only had 2 issues. The first, I’m broke. The second more pressing issue, my better half does her best to prevent me from making dumb financial decisions. I would need to plead my case in the event I find something that I like. Vehicle after vehicle she would reject. I was dejected. Then my luck changed. It was as though the automotive gods willed this to happen, late in the evening there was an auction that had a pretty clean 2000 Lexus GS300. My wife was asleep and the bidding for the vehicle was low. I placed my bid and walked away from my phone. I come back, not thinking much of the auction. To my surprise and horror, I had won the Lexus. Many thoughts raced through my mind, the first being how I was going to break the news to my wife. I hadn’t even properly looked at the listing before bidding. It was only after I won did I realize that the car was formerly a flood vehicle based in Louisiana. After breaking the news to my wife, she laughed and was also intrigued by what I had done. I had bought a complete 2000 Lexus GS300 for the princely sum of $300 before fees and shipping. I paid for the vehicle and shipping and waited for the car to be delivered to my house. About 4 days later the Lexus arrived. The carrier called me beforehand asking if I had a forklift to remove the car because it wouldn’t start. After telling him this was a residential house that had no such thing, he suggested I call a tow truck to move the vehicle off. Great start to this purchase. The tow truck and Lexus arrived at the same time. The tow truck driver hooked the Lexus from the carrier’s truck and started to winch the vehicle towards his truck. After 5 minutes the Lexus moved over to the tow truck. The tow truck driver then proceeded to park the Lexus from the tow truck onto my driveway. After a 30-minute debacle of positing the tow truck and car, I finally had the Lexus in my driveway. Remember I said the car was previously in a flood? The car reeked of mold! The supple Japanese leather was painted with mold. I had to wear a mask to even stand near it. I decided at that moment that I wouldn’t be keeping this car at all. I reached out to my local LKQ to whisk the vehicle away. My only regret was not being able to sit in the car.

Photo Credit: Caronicles
2 thoughts on “Copart Diaries, How Not to Copart”
  1. The Lexus was a beaut, sad you couldn’t sit in it! I’ll be sure to check out Coparts now!

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