What was the price you paid, condition of the car, and the year and make of the car?
I buy cars at auction all the time.
There are two different types of auto auctions. There is the dealer only auction, where only licensed dealers are allowed. There is a public auction, where members of the public can buy vehicles.
At a dealer auction, dealers will bring cars that for some reason they do not want to have, or do not sell on a retail lot. For example, most new car dealers want late model low mileage used cars on their lot, and would prefer that they be the brand they sell. If you were to trade in a Ford with 100k miles on it to a Chevy dealer, the Chevy dealer would not want that vehicle on his used car lot. He would either sell it to a wholesale dealer, or take it to the auction. A smaller dealer may want that truck for is independent used car lot, so he would buy it.
At most public auto auctions, you will find that there are four possible sources of vehicles. You have cars donated to a charity, most of which have problems. You have government and fleet cars. You have cars that dealer put in the auction, mostly because they do not want to sell them with a warranty, and you have the occasional private seller!
Be careful buying at a public auction. Most of the vehicles there are there for a reason. You will also find that dealers will go to a public auction if there is a good fleet selection, so the prices will not be that cheap!
EDIT:
Do not believe that there are cars for pennies on the dollar at government auctions!!! Trust me, if there is a deal like that out there, car dealers would know about it, and would be buying these cars! We do this for a living!!! There are websites out there that claim you can get a great deal. Most want you to pay a fee, and they just send you the list of auctions. I will not say that it is a scam (thousands would, but not me) but I will say that the value of said "services" is not what you would hope for!
