Having never heard or been to a government car auction before, I was pleasantly surprised and very impressed when I was taken along with my Dad a few weeks ago. The purpose of the SA Government Auctions is to sell off 'old' Government cards which have reached 60,000kms or two years old. This means that most of the cars are no more than 4 or 5 years old and being an auction, can be sold for a ridiculously cheap price.
The car yard is open a couple of days a week and members of the public can just walk through and look and sit in the cars. Then, the auction is held every couple of weeks and the public and car dealers head down to grab a bargain. All of the government cars are kept in pristine condition but none of them include registration or insurance which you have to pay for once you have been successful with your bid. And the type of cars they have are generally a certain kind - being larger Commodores or 4W Drives, which means if you are looking for a small city car, you may be waiting a while for one to come along. But keep persevering because the possibility to get a massive bargain is very real. read more