Let’s take a closer look at how deposits & buying power work at Copart.
How do deposits work at Copart?
Copart handles deposits differently depending on if you are a Basic or Premier Member.
If you are a Basic Member, you can bid up to $2,000 without a deposit. To bid more, you’ll need to deposit 10% of the total amount you want to bid. So, if you wanted to bid $20,000, you’d need to make a deposit of $2,000.
If you are a Premier Member, you only need to make a one-time deposit of $400 to bid up to $100,000 per day.
All deposits are fully refundable if your account is in good standing and all outstanding invoices have been paid. A refund of the $400 Premier deposit will stop you from being able to bid, and will downgrade your account to a Guest Membership.
To increase your deposit or request a refund, log into your account, go to the Payments Due tab, then select Deposits from the top or left-hand side of the page.
What is buying power and how do I increase it?
Buying Power is the total amount you can bid, or the total amount of active bids you can make. If you have $10,000 in buying power, you could bid $5,000 on Car A, $4,000 on Car B, and $1,000 on Car C. At that point, you would hit the limit of your Buying Power. If you lose an auction, you’ll get back the amount of bids you made on that vehicle. For example, if you lose Car A in the example above, you’d get back $5,000 in Buying Power.
If you’re a Basic Member, you’ll increase your buying power by increasing your deposit. You’ll need to deposit 10% of the maximum amount of active bids you want to place.
Another option for basic members is to Upgrade to Premier Membership, where you only need to make a one-time deposit of $400 to bid up to $100,000 per day.
Why Does Copart Require Deposits?
Deposits help prevent fraud and loss. If someone has to make a deposit, they are less likely to try to steal a vehicle or place fake bids to drive up the price of their own lots up for sale. Generally, deposits help guarantee Member accounts represent real bidders & buyers.
In Conclusion…
We hope this article helped answer your questions about how deposits work at Copart and why they are important. If you still have questions, contact Member.Services@Copart.com.