Why final prices matter
An importer’s margin is decided before the auction: by how much they bid. The only honest guide is what similar cars actually went for in recent weeks. Asking prices on resale sites and old rules of thumb are a poor substitute.
Calculators, dealer tools and import services all need the same data: final bids of sold lots, by make, model, year and damage.
Five numbers, one meaning each
Auction data carries several prices. Keep them apart:
- Current bid: the highest bid while the lot is still open
- Buy Now: a fixed price at which some lots can be bought before the sale
- Seller reserve: the minimum the seller hopes for, when shown; not a price anyone paid
- Final bid: the highest bid when bidding closed
- Estimates such as actual cash value or repair cost: figures from the seller, not market prices
The archive of sold lots
When a Copart or IAAI sale is over, the lot leaves the active list and moves to the archive with its final bid and sale date. Asked every few minutes for the lots archived since the last call, the archive keeps your own price database complete.
Some lots are sold on approval: the seller can still accept or decline the final bid. Treat the final bid as the market’s answer for that car on that day, not as a guaranteed sale price.
One car, all its sales
Cars often come back: unsold, declined or resold by the buyer. Searched by VIN with its price history, a car shows every lot it has had, at Copart and IAAI, and how the bids moved over time. A car that keeps returning tells its own story.
From single sales to a market price
One final bid is an anecdote; a hundred are a price. The statistics return average prices grouped by make, model, generation, year and source, so you can see the usual range before you look at a single lot.
Combine the two: the average tells you the market, the archive shows comparable cars with the same damage and title.