The East Lansing Police Department is pictured on July 6, 2017.
The East Lansing Police Department is hosting a sealed bid vehicle auction beginning on July 7 allowing for the chance to walk away with an impounded vehicle for cheap.
42 cars and 13 mopeds are up for auction, according to a list released by ELPD. Most of the cars up for auction are American made models dating back to the late 1990s and early 2000s while the mopeds range from 2004-2016.
A 1979 Monte Carlo is up for grabs as the oldest car on the lot.
A viewing for the vehicles is scheduled for Friday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the impound lot located at 1800 E. State Road. A minimum bid for a car is $200 while a minimum bid for a moped is $100.
Should one choose to bid, one’s bid should include the car slot number(s), bid amount(s), name and phone number of the bidder. All bids must be paid by cash, certified check or credit card. Any bid over $1,000 must be paid with a certified check.
Bids must be delivered to the Police Desk by 8:15 a.m. on Monday July 10 as ELPD will begin opening the received bids at 8:30 a.m.
The sealed bid auction typically happens once a year, PACE Secretary Andrea Rodriguez said, though there have been multiple auctions in one year in the past.
“I’m not exactly sure why it got started but I think it was there was so many vehicles that would just be left here,” Rodriguez said.
Reasons for the vehicle impounds range from cars leftover from accidents, to abandoned and unclaimed vehicles, to vehicles towed and impounded from too many parking tickets, Rodriguez said.
“The majority of them do sell,” Rodriguez said of the cars up for bidding. “Whatever is not sold goes to a salvage company that pays us to take them.”
Money made off the auction goes into the city’s general fund, neither PACE or ELPD keep the money, Rodriguez said.
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