Getting a car off the block and onto a truck.
Auction pickup fails for administrative reasons far more often than logistical ones. The truck can be twenty minutes away and still leave empty because a payment has not cleared or a gate pass was issued to a different name. Here is the sequence that works.
How do I get a car picked up from an auction?
The buyer must pay in full and the auction must release the vehicle before any carrier can collect it. The carrier needs the buyer number, the lot or stock number, the sale date and the gate pass or release authorisation. Storage fees usually begin a few days after the sale, so the clock starts immediately.
Five fields, and the truck can be booked.
| Auction and location | Not just 'Manheim' — which one. Manheim Greer, Manheim Charlotte in Concord and Manheim Statesville are three different addresses on three different schedules |
|---|---|
| Sale date | Determines when release happens and when storage starts |
| Buyer number | How the gate identifies who is authorised to collect |
| Lot or stock number | One per vehicle, plus the VIN if you have it |
| Gate pass or release | Issued by the auction once payment clears. Without it the truck does not get through the gate, no matter who it is |
Not the same job at all.
| Wholesale auction (Manheim, ADESA) | Salvage auction (Copart, IAA) | |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicle condition | Generally running and driveable | Often non-running, wrecked, missing parts |
| Equipment needed | Standard car hauler | Winch, sometimes a forklift or rollback |
| Loading | Driven onto the trailer | Winched, and the yard's loader may be required |
| Load-out hours | Business hours, generally flexible | Strict, often shorter, and enforced |
| Storage clock | Days | Shorter, and the fees escalate faster |
| Paperwork | Gate pass | Release plus lot-specific authorisation |
The practical consequence: tell the carrier which kind of auction it is, and for a salvage unit answer the three questions that decide the equipment — does it roll, does it steer, does it brake. A truck that arrives to find a vehicle on three wheels leaves without it.
The most expensive thing on this page.
Auctions charge storage after a short free period following the sale, and salvage yards charge it faster and escalate it harder. That clock starts whether or not you have arranged transport, and it is entirely capable of eating the margin on a wholesale buy. The moment you win a unit, the transport call is the next call — before the paperwork, before the reconditioning plan.
Volume, on the sale calendar.
- Bulk loads off one saleNine units on the stinger from a single sale, delivered together, which is dramatically cheaper per unit than nine separate moves.
- Multi-auction runsManheim Charlotte in Concord and Manheim Statesville are on the same trip for us; so are the two Atlanta auctions. Units at both go on one truck.
- Same-day Upstate turnsManheim Greer is seventeen miles from our yard, so a Greer run can be turned and repeated in a day.
- Non-runnersBoth car haulers carry a winch, so salvage units are routine as long as they roll, steer and brake.
Book the truck before the paperwork clears, not after. We will hold a slot against a sale date and collect as soon as the release is issued. Waiting until the gate pass is in your hand means competing for capacity with everyone else who did the same thing, in the same week, after the same sale.
Straight answers
How long do I have to pick up a car from an auction?
Typically a few days of free storage after the sale, then daily fees. Salvage yards are usually stricter and escalate faster than wholesale auctions. Check the specific auction's terms on the day you win, because they vary.
Can a carrier pick up before I have paid?
No. The auction releases the vehicle to the gate only after payment has cleared and the release or gate pass is issued. No carrier can get a unit out ahead of that, and any that claims it can is describing something you do not want to be part of.
Do you pick up from Copart and IAA?
Yes, with a winch. Send the lot number, the yard location and the release, and tell us whether the vehicle rolls, steers and brakes — that determines the equipment and it is the answer that most often turns out to be wrong.
Is it cheaper to ship several auction cars at once?
Substantially. Nine units on one stinger from a single sale costs a fraction per unit of nine individual moves, because you are paying for one trip instead of nine. If you buy in volume, buy transport in volume.
Read next
Auctions & fleet
Manheim, Copart, IAA, ADESA and CarMax runs; rental de-fleet and in-fleet moves; remarketing subcontract capacity.
Read onAuto transport
Open car hauling across the Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee with photo-documented eBOLs, winch capability and same-day dispatch.
Read onInoperable vehicles
Winch-equipped transport for non-running, wrecked, seized and salvage vehicles across the Carolinas and Georgia, with the three questions that decide the equipment asked before the truck is dispatched.
Read onStill want a person to answer it?
We would rather talk you out of the wrong service than sell you one. Tell us what you are moving.