True or false government car auctions are easy? False, many things go into understanding these auctions. For instance they are normally held in different locations and at various times. This is to keep the consumer on their toes by having you pay for the key to them. Auctions used to not be open to the public and only private parties were given the key. But any resourceful person can now show up. But first you should learn what you are doing first.Finding the closest one to you is the first thing to do. And you need to understand that every auction house comes with its own set of rules and guidelines for bidding. So don't jump in without picking up a working knowledge of how they do their business. Once you are comfortable with how much you understand about their process, that's when you can be comfortable with bidding on the cars you like.Items sold at government sales come from many different avenues. Most of the time these cars are seized from local drug deal raids. Some are donated through defaulted loans. Other times it is due to the inability to pay Uncle Sam. No matter how they were obtained it's your gold mine.A person needs to be careful about which government car auctions they attend, and the cars that are made available. Most of the time you can trust that the cars are at least in a decent condition. But many times they come from flood ravaged areas and have suffered water damage. They can look nice on the outside, but be loaded with problems on the inside. Many times the vehicles pulled from disaster areas get laundered back into society by way of auctions. You should not buy one (unless you're a good mechanic and not worried about it) unless you get a good vehicle history report to back it up.Knowing is half the battle. In this case knowing what you want is half the battle. When deciding to go to auctions to obtain your next vehicle take someone who will help you know your car. Not all auctions are straight and narrow. They will try to get one over on you. You will want to avoid these. Most reputable government auctions will allow you to test the merchandise. Attend those you won't regret it.The last bit of information is this. Auction houses need to make money too and some will charge a fee higher than others. A majority of the time this is added in after you have won the bid. Find out about this fee beforehand so you can adjust for it in your bid.