THEY'RE BACK. Government surplus sales

[Dennis Clinton]

Biggest problem I had with the one I bought was getting it registered. I got a bill of sale but not a title. I had a devil of a time convincing DMV in CA that "yes, you can give me a title with the info I have".

[Gene Masse]

They gave me a title for both of mine. Govliquidation knows to do that too. Insist on getting one. It might be supplied by the base people.

[Bob Miller]

I have bought several vehicles from govt surplus and had no problems at all getting them registered and titled in CA. But I use AAA whenever possible.

[Steve Hammel]

I wonder if titling in Nevada would be any different?

[Bob Miller]

Here's a good place to start:
Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles Official Site - www.dmvnv.com

Or, if you are a AAA member, call or visit your local Auto Club office.

[Bob Miller]

Looking back at an earlier post, these Casita's will all need a lot more than a bit of "Cleaning Up" to become usable.

On several recent "rebuilds" that I did, my out of pocket expenses exceeded $3000 in short order, and that didn't include a new A/C unit, much less all the labor invested.

You can bet that these were heavily used by hundreds of different families for at least 10 years and then put out in the desert for who knows how long.

Anything that could be worn out, broken or missing will be.....

Not to discourage anyone, but putting these Casita's back on the road can be a long and expensive experience.

Again, these aren't for the faint of heart, bargain hunter or flipper.

[Eddie Longest]

I will second what Bob brought up about condition and repair costs. In addition to your bid you have to pay GL a 10% fee, you also have to pay state sales tax on the property (trailer) not the vehicle tax for the state. You have to also pay GL a fee for the govt. form to take to DVM to get the title. It usually takes 30 days to get the title form back from GL. The trailer usually has to be removed 10 days after the sale is complete. You will not have title paperwork in time to tow it home behind your vehicle so you will have to flat bed it home. Once you get it home then you get to pay your state DMV fees and local taxes. And don't forget the gas expense to get the trailer home.
Like Bob said anything that can be broke usually is and these trailers are at the age for axle and tire replacements. Just make sure you know what your costs are and what you are getting into before you bid on any item from GL.
Eddie

[Steve Hammel]

So, in your opinion how would you rate these trailers? Please rate them from best to worst. When I look at these I see the shell, axle, glass, basic interior intact and not missing major body panels. Tires, fridge, AC, awnings are obviously gone. Rat fur is dirty on the first two. Some of them the cushions and dinette table are toast. Without seeing them up close and "smelling" them it is difficult to determine one is better over the others. The dirty ones I'm thinking someone left the windows/vents open and they filled with dust.

[Bob Miller]

No One can accurately rate these trailers without an onsite inspection.

What with what looks like a good interior could need a new axle and be full of mice, and vise-versa..... Either a bidder has to inspect themselvs or it's a crap shoot when bidding.

But resist the temptation to bid on more than you can afford, you could wind up with all four.....

And as they area all stored in the desert, even the smallest opening, like where the refrigerators were all removed, will let in dust and wind blown sand and dirt.

[Gene Masse]

Bob, others. This will be an active on line auction. You don't do a one time bid. You will have to be sitting in front of your computer as the auction ends to increase your bid if others outbid you. Pretty much like Ebay but the auction won't end until the bidding stops. In other words if someone outbids you in the last seconds it will extend the closing time another few minutes. I've seen bidding go on for nearly an hour after "official" closing. You will be bidding on each trailer separately.
I notice a couple people here have mentioned that they may go check them out. It would be nice if they would post some info as to what they found out and take your own camera and post photos. (hint, hint)
I'm too far away to consider trying and don't have the time to take on a project of that magnitude so it will just fun to watch the show. I've seen others here take on projects that look about as bad to start so I would bet someone here can handle them.
I too think it is despicable that these units were treated so badly. Knowing that our tax dollars paid for them just makes it worse!
I haven't seen much comment on the East Coast ones. Anybody considering them? I wonder how they fared in the big storm?

[Ruth C.]

As for having to flatbed it out rather than tow due to title issues, I was once told by two states that you just need to stop by the DMV and get a "Drive Out" tag to put on the back. The FL lady told me they weren't concerned with vehicles LEAVING the state, they were concerned with revenue from those coming or staying IN the state. Made sense to me.

[Bob Miller]

In CA you can get either a one-day or a one-trip permit to move an unregistered trailer from one place to another. Here is a link to the one-trip permit, but it basically expires at the state line if you are leaving the state. See near the bottom for a NOTE about moving a trailer.
25.010 One Trip Permit (CVC §4003)

[Eddie Longest]

These trailers have been in rental service for about 10 years. They are usually rented to young sailors, soldiers and airman and their families who can't afford to buy a trailer. Unlike most of our trailers that get used more than likely less 10 % of the time these trailers are be used constantly for about 9 months out of the year. The trailers are usually inspected prior to and return from use for condition and safety items.
Operations & maintenance funding in the services is very limited. To keep these trailers operational you usually take one trailer out of service and use the parts to keep you other trailers in the fleet going, thats where most of the missing parts go. As time goes on more trailers are used for parts. Once repair cost meets a magic percentage of replacement cost the trailer or if the fleet is replaced with newer trailers, the trailers are then turned into supply for disposition. Once they go into the supply system all maintenance stops and the trailers are placed into open storage in a secure area. It can take over a year before the trailers are put up for auction because of the disposition process.
These trailers see heavy usage but most of the neglect and abuse is from the disposition process taking so long. Did the govt. get their money worth? Did the young families get to experience and to enjoy camping? I say yes to both questions.
If the rental car companies replaced their cars every ten years and were given limited maintenance funds, what condition do you think those cars would be in. I am not trying to justify the trailers condition, I'm just trying to simply discribe the system. It is what it is.
Eddie

[Gene Masse]

I missed the watching sale in Maryland. Does anyone know what they went for?

[Steve Hammel]

Originally Posted by Gene Masse

I missed the watching sale in Maryland. Does anyone know what they went for?

I wish! I'm all signed up and ready to go on the Barstow sale.

[Steve Hammel]

These might be of interest to people here also.


Search Results - Government Liquidation

[Chita]

Originally Posted by Steve Hammel

I wish! I'm all signed up and ready to go on the Barstow sale.

If you get all 4, maybe you could sell one to me? I'm in Las Vegas too...

[Steve Hammel]

I'm scaling back my plans a little bit. I'm shooting for one for sure and my gal's dad may also go for one. I have a friend up in Oregon who is bidding on one. Plus I still have my Scamp 19' that I'm getting ready to rebuild, just got the solar panel today. I would love to go for all 4 but until I get some other projects done I better stick with one at a time and just "help" with the others. I'll probably shoot for the first one and the last one. The 3rd one seems to have some fiberglass damage on the outside so should be the cheapest.

[Chita]

Originally Posted by Steve Hammel

I'm scaling back my plans a little bit. I'm shooting for one for sure and my gal's dad may also go for one. I have a friend up in Oregon who is bidding on one. Plus I still have my Scamp 19' that I'm getting ready to rebuild, just got the solar panel today. I would love to go for all 4 but until I get some other projects done I better stick with one at a time and just "help" with the others. I'll probably shoot for the first one and the last one. The 3rd one seems to have some fiberglass damage on the outside so should be the cheapest.

Ok, best of luck!!!
Did you have time to see them in person? Did you figure out if they will give you a clean title, or a salvage/bill of sale? Are you getting a flat bed to get it home? Rooting for you ,

[Chita]

I'm sorry for so many question. I was looking online, and pretty much no one has good things to say about this auctions . I wish I could get one, but I'm a chicken, lol.