Samcrac masterfully bridges the gap between mechanical intuition and economic risk management in the volatile budget car market. This is an essential primer on why technical literacy is the only true safeguard against the "lemon" effect in low-capital investments.
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How Much Car can $3,000 Buy at Auction in 2026?Added:
See all that smoke pouring out of the back of this Range Rover? Well, it's not my problem anymore because I just sold it and I'm on the way to the auction to hand it off to its new owner. And the best part is that I'm taking the money from this disaster and rolling it straight into two more auction gambles.
Today, we're picking up a pair of budget beers to find out how much trouble you can buy for about three grand each.
Shoot, I went over. We're used car dealers. Of course, we only put one gallon of diesel in before we drop the car off at auction. They got a little extra. They're lucky. Now, at this point, if you think I'm the greatest used car salesman to ever live, I just have one thing to tell you. You haven't experienced life until you've owned a Range Rover. But the truth is, I bought this Range Rover for about five grand, and even then, it was barely running. It had a massive air leak, a serious coolant leak, and after chasing all that down and fixing it, it actually worked okay until we found out the DPF was clogged with so much crystallized DEF, it wasn't smoke coming out of the back earlier. That was just a bunch of steam from the tons of water I ran through the exhaust trying to melt up all that junk.
But of course, now that we're taking it to auction, every light has come back on the dashboard. And in the end, I got my 5 grand back out of it, which sounds okay until you remember all the extra money I dumped into its parts and repairs, which means it's a loss. So technically, the next guy gets a better deal. And that's usually how this goes.
You buy junk, you get junk results. The only reason any of this still makes sense is because the gamble is half the fun. And that's exactly why I took the money from this thing and rolled it straight into two more super cheap auction cars. Which reminds me of another big problem with this Range Rover. It's a diesel. And with the current fuel prices, that definitely doesn't help the resale value. But what's always been a great help for me and what I've been doing the last several years is use Upside, a free way to earn cash back every time you fill up. Inside the Upside app, it'll show you the price of all local gas stations.
And then it lets you know how much cash back is available at each one, which assures I can get the best price available. All I have to do is hit claim. And right now I'm earning 14 cents a gallon back thanks to Upside.
When the Phillips are this much, you always take advantage of the free window wash.
Look, I found a penny on the ground.
It's like we got a little extra cash back. And check this out. PDQ has 40% cash back right now. All my Florida people know how good PDQ is. And that's what is awesome about Upside is it's not just for fuel. They also have awesome restaurants in here and grocery that you can earn cash back at. This is cash back that can go straight to your bank account. And it is super simple. Again, you tap claim. You earn cash back with Upside. Just hit the link in the description box. Download the app totally for free. And make sure you tell them Sam Crack during sign up. That's going to get you an extra 25 cents a gallon on your first fill up when you use the Upside app. Again, links down in the description box. If you haven't already, make sure you get upside. Look at this thing. It made it all the way to Copart, Tampa. At Copart, these cars are all AS is. And the likelihood of the person that buying it, parting it out is much more than uh say them actually trying to fix it and drive it. That car is actually worth a good amount in parts. Those engines alone refurbished are like almost $10,000 because they are the turbo diesel ones. And well, again, it could be much worse. It could be like this right here, a Continental Flying Spur. These cars are already cheap before they're smashed. This one's got a nice smash. And just the parts alone on this one. You take a look at that fender and front bumper. I mean, this will simply total out a car like this. It actually looks like a nice fixer except for the fact that it is an old Bentley.
These things are barely worth anything anymore. And you're seeing people pick them up under 10,000. And I have picked up a convertible one for 8 grand before.
Not worth it. Although these wheels are really nice. And I'm wondering if this is a speed model because that could change things. Those are not your regular plain Jane Bentley wheels. Those are the nicer ones. And the interior on this one. It's actually kind of nice with the Flying B stitched into the uh the the headrest here. On my old Bentley that I paid 8 grand for. Someone just stuck a sticker on the headrests.
Oh man, this one was in really, really nice shape. All right, I'm starting to take back what I said. Maybe it is worth a little something. Of course, the battery is dead, but I would guess something like this maybe sells for $6 or $7,000 in parts. Not a bad fixer if you don't mind maintaining Bentley and also depending on what the miles are on it. We're here today with Andrew.
Andrew, those sunglasses are a little silly looking.
>> They were free. I found them.
>> Well, there's a reason why the person that left them where they did didn't come back to claim them. And we are on the hunt for something in particular here. Not only did we buy a car, we're going to get it from here uh once we find it. The satin paint job on this Mercedes caught my eye. But really, this is the more interesting Mercedes.
>> An old S-Class 420 seal.
>> What is something like this worth? I mean, it looks to be in really good shape, at least on this it does >> side and why is it here? That's the question you always got to ask yourself about these old cars. Is there a following with these? And are they worth anything or >> most people who keep these have had them like new and they hardly ever get rid of them? When they do, it's mainly because either they pass away and no one else wants to keep up with them or it's just finding and sourcing parts. Like most of these cars are getting pretty hard to work on. I know Mercedes-Benz Classic still manufactures certain parts, but the aftermarket, you know, parts, uh, parts for these cars aren't aren't built to that good of a standard anymore, and you can't get any new parts.
>> So, most of them get priced out.
>> 99,000 miles on the clock. Is that real or do you think the odometer's broken?
>> I believe it.
>> The car, >> good tires, >> besides, you know, the auction dust on it is in really stellar shape. It's a cool paint job, too. It's almost like a gray.
>> Look, it looks all original. I see brake fluid in the reservoir back there.
>> Look, they they replaced the hood pad that always falls.
Some >> Come on. Looks too clean. The cooling system all looks nice. The fans there.
Let's see what's the chance that this turns off. All right. Oh, I love it.
It's got that old springy MercedesBenz seat.
There are also about a billion keys here. This looks like it would be the one to start the car. Let's put it in the ignition. Oh, classic noise. Let's see.
It It runs. It doesn't stay running. Oh, there you go.
Sounds pretty good. Yeah, it's got oil pressure, >> unlike the car we might have bought.
All right, we'll check in on that later.
Listen to this thing.
>> Now, look at this ABS pump. Looks like actually pretty modern ABS pump for how old the car.
>> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, this is I mean, they always started off with the S-Class, right? Whenever they had some sort of a new technology. So, I'm pretty surprised that this thing has an ABS pump.
>> Seems like it's in good shape.
>> I like it. I think we need to watch this one. I see something over there in the distance. It's got me scratching my head.
Do you see that or no?
Is that a GT500? The problem with all these modern Mustangs is that you can buy the front end for the more expensive Mustangs for the cheaper Mustangs. From here, it looks like we've got one of the newer supercharged GT500s, the cars that are still outrageously expensive. These things are anywhere from $75 to $100,000. And I'm starting to see the wheels. Those wheels look straight off of an EcoBoost model. And the door is also not there, but they did a whole entire GT500 front end conversion on something that's probably not even an eight cylinder. So, let's play the game.
What engine is under the hood? Uh, Andrew, this body style is S550. It's either got a V6, >> a four cylinder, >> or it's a GT engine.
>> Okay, >> those wheels, I'm giving you a little bit of a hint. If you got a really base model GT back in the day, you would have gotten these wheels. But these wheels would have also come on some of the other cheaper models. So, with that, what engine are you saying is in this clone GT500? We're gonna use physics here. The front end is sitting slightly higher up, which means that the engine is lighter. I'm going with a fourbanger.
My heart is telling me it is a V6.
>> I'm looking around. I'm looking around.
I don't know how I'm going to get in to figure this out. But we are we're not leaving this car until we figure out.
I'm looking at the back. Oh, Dadge.
Perfect. Perfect. Adds to the mystery. I like your call that it's an EcoBoost. I want to see one more thing. I want to see what transmission if it's got an automatic it which it does, but it but but but look at this. It's got the Ricaro seats in it.
>> It's a fourbanger.
>> You think it's a fourbanger?
>> I had a I I knew a kid in in high school. He had one uh with the Ricaro and it was a a four cylinder.
>> Listen, I'm going to go out on a limb.
I'm going to say this is an older car.
This is one of the last ones they produced with the six-cylinder in it.
Hold on. Listen, I'm going to give one more clue. 8,000 8,000 RPM red line. All right.
>> 8,000 RPM.
>> Yeah, it's got an 8,000 RPM. Well, on the gauges, right? That doesn't mean it goes that high.
>> They probably put all the same gauges in all these cars. Let's be honest. Okay.
Fourbanger. I'm saying sixcylinder. I'm saying >> it's a rare bird. It's the last of a dying breeding S550 cylinder. All right.
Go ahead. Do do the honors. Open it.
>> Boom. What is that?
>> Turbo 4.
>> It is. It is the EcoBoost.
>> EcoBoost.
>> Wow. I didn't know that.
>> Look, Shelby.
>> Oh my goodness. Could you imagine being that bold, >> taking this to a car show with your EcoBoost engine sticking out with the Shelby lettering that is peeling off the bottom there and having the four cylinder directly in your face.
Let's see. Turbo looks stock and everything. Wow. Well, you know, to each their own.
>> What are we figuring happened here? The person got into the collision.
>> Stop. That is not cool.
>> That's what I need, man.
>> No. Stop. Hey, listen. We're looking at the car that's actually got some potential here. All right.
>> It's a Nismo.
>> Ferrari F8.
And we've got a little side damage here.
But what's really strange here, the whole entire roof is uh open. It's exposed. I'm pretty sure the roof goes down in there. And why the heck? Well, it's Okay, here's what happened. It bound up in here. Roof fault. Accident happened when the roof was down. Boom.
There you go. Can't get the roof back up. Who cares? It's salvage. And that's what's so annoying. But like, what else do you do? It's a write off. This guy got the car bought back and well, it's not his problem anymore. But what a beautiful car. Beautiful spec. Carbon fiber everywhere. Something like this doesn't look that bad. But then when you get a closer look and you just see how far it messed up the door gaps and everything like that, this turns into a mess. It affects the operation like we said at the convertible top. And then you got a car that looks like it's $30,000 to fix and it turns into $130,000 to fix.
>> So what is this selling for, Sam?
>> Oh boy. Okay. So this car wholesale.
Okay. Th this car wholesale in fine condition without a smash in the corner be about 350,000 with a smash in the middle. I mean, you got to you got to get 50% off that number and even a little bit more because you want to be there as a rebuilder fixed, but you're not going to be. This car is probably a hundred and a quarter in the condition it sits in, and that's probably also before any auction fees.
>> This is what we're here for. No, I don't. I don't. This is not This is not the oneoff build. You know, you can have a hundred of these things, especially out here at a Copart yard. We'll run into probably four more of them.
>> Folks, sound off in the comments. Tell Sam how he's wrong and how a 350Z Nismo is all unique.
>> Why not a 370? Isn't the 70 better?
>> Who cares? Cuz look at the Nismo. It looks It has It looks like the Japanese touring car. Uh it's almost like a a homo homlegated version of the touring car.
>> Does that mean it's you you live an alternative lifestyle? So, here's the question about this. It does look cool.
It's got cool brakes. It's a manual transmission. And I swear I >> They're limited production, too, if I'm not mistaken.
>> I could see you driving it specifically with those green sunglasses on >> and a vape. A little vape.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Uh, so what do we got as far as accident damage? Looks like front corner here. Yeah, not bad. A little bit of a kinkedked in apron. You could see underneath all that blue plastic. Stick shift. Uh, windows are just probably bumped down a little bit because they're indexing windows. Does it start up?
>> Can I try?
>> Yeah, go ahead.
>> Ah, my god, it sounds like an elephant.
>> This company, >> they hate you. Probably >> they banned me for life.
>> Yep.
>> I'm not kidding you. I can't tell you why they banned me for life, but let's say I'm no longer allowed to have a membership to this company right here.
And how great would it be if I was able to get this beautiful flatbed? I mean, look at how nice and new this flatbed is with that amazing winch on it. Okay, look at this darn thing. You get a new cab. Oh my god, it's gone. There's nothing left here. But the look at the back half. The back half is what I want.
Get it. Of course, I take the stickers off. This is a lesson in how you beat the man. You become the man. You get your own company vehicle like this.
Copart is the place to find him. This is exactly where I got my uh fleet wagon from the pizza company. This is about to be next. I I kid you not. This is Look at the back. Look at how perfect this thing is. This is brand new. Oh my gosh.
Please someone just teach me. Vune, can you help me fix this? This is a mess.
Cybert truck.
Cybert truck.
Foundation series wrapped front end collision. What's new? These things are a dime a dozen out here nowadays.
>> What's the foundation series?
>> That's like the first model that came out. Basically loaded upund and something thousand faster, nicer wheels.
Has everything on it. And also this one all uh has been compromised in the front. No big deal.
I'm looking at that right there, baby.
Can't wait for this one to come up. This is in the watch list. These are getting harder and harder to find cheap. And this one overall looks >> tiptronic.
>> Yeah.
>> Oh no. Oh no. It's almost like you pass over it. But these cars have gotten so expensive that I've stopped passing over the Tiptronics. I'll actually give them a look. This actually has a PDK. This isn't just a Tiptronic. So this is not too bad. Carrera S as well. Nice and clean. Great color combination. Love the metallic blue on the outside. And so a car like this, oh my goodness.
191,000 miles. And that's the way you buy a 911 Jeep.
>> Let's see here.
>> Foot's probably got to be.
>> Yeah. Let's see. You got to do it.
>> Wow. 190,000. Dude, these seats look great.
>> Really nice. And that's the beauty of a 911. They just hold up really well.
Look. Foot on the brake.
Three, two, one.
>> There it is.
>> Okay, that's why it's here.
>> Yeah.
>> Oh, look at all the smoke.
>> I would say that's missing on just a few cylinders. Not terrible.
Smells uh Yeah, smells like it's missing.
>> Smells like fuel.
>> Yeah. This is a cool one. Probably needs a whole engine rebuild, unfortunately.
>> You think so?
>> Well, yeah. I I think this engine I I believe this still has the classic, you know, bore scoring issues, but man, still I still think that this is the way you buy a cheap 911. Something like this that has high miles but is in immaculate cosmetic condition. I mean, when I say immaculate, amazing for nearly 200,000 miles. Okay. Okay, the car that we're driving home with nearly 200,000 mi does not look as nice as this. And this has a great spec. The calipers are nice and red. The wheels don't even have any curbs. Michelins >> from 2025. Someone cared about this thing.
>> Yeah, someone really cared about it.
>> Pilot Sports.
>> But at 200,000 mi, it's not uncommon for the engines on these to need an entire overhaul. And that's when you get to the point where it almost costs the same to overhaul it as it does to just buy one that someone's already It's It's crazy the amount of money they want to fix these things. You're talking about just starting at 20 grand to overhaul the engine in there if you pay a company to do it. If you can do it yourself, of course, maybe you could do it for half that, but got to do it right.
Flat six, not like working on an LS, you know? There was a lot of good stuff out there today. Hey, I want to hear from you guys down in the comments. If you had to spend your own money on one of those cars as a project, let me know which one down in the comments. I think the best values could be that 997 Porsche 911 or of course that nice flatbed tow truck. But this is the car that we are going home with from this auction is a 2010 Cadillac Escalade.
Yes, I know it is very boring looking and well, if we come under the hood here, it still remains uh well somewhat boring. This is all stock. But I bought this specific car for two reasons.
Number one, it's a rearw wheelel drive Escalade. And I found out recently that Teimu has a cam shaft upgrade that's like $60. So, I'm dying to try it out.
But I think that this is the perfect car to do it on, especially because when you get a closer look again at this engine, it is just so stupid clean for a car that's in otherwise very mediocre condition. Also, extraordinarily cheap.
Only 200,000 mi on the odometer, a couple owners, and uh cost us a whole $3,000. That's including fees and everything. So, it's a run and drive.
We're going to take it to auction, too, to pick up our second car. And as long as it makes it there, I don't see why it won't make it anywhere. It is an LS, of course. All right, let's see how good it runs and drives. Check that out. Half a tank of gas.
No check engine lights. What a deal for three grand, man.
>> 100 ft. Take a sharp left after Furry Friends Retreat.
>> Furry Friends Retreat. What the heck is that? You got to love how solid these Chevy trucks are, right? Like the most reliable here. Sorry, guys.
I think I spoke a little too soon.
Actually, that's the worst possible light that could be on right now. And we don't have another car to get home. So, we're going to see how far this makes it. I got a good idea. There's actually the PDQ is actually just a few miles away from here. We can see if it makes it to the PDQ. And if it does, it's more than likely just a sensor that's causing that. Oh, check engine light just came on on top of it. We're cooked, dude.
This is not looking good. That engine was a little too clean, wasn't it?
Does that dinging in the background sound familiar to you? The dinging? Does that sound like a car you've ever heard before?
>> My Kia kind of has a sound like that.
>> It's not a Kia. It's not a Kia. Let's see if I can flip the screen around for you here. It's a It's an Escalade.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> This is the generation. Did you ever have one of these as a 2010?
>> I skipped that one. I went from the GMT800, the 2005, and then into a 15.
So, I skipped that generation altogether.
>> Well, you're missing out. Um because I just got this one for a whole $3,000.
Only 200,000 miles on the dash and >> barely broken it.
>> I've gone a few miles from the auction.
Seems to run and drive fine, but there's a light that came on the dash and a warning that says stop. Oil pressure low. Do I send it? Do I go home? If I made it two miles, will I make it 25 miles?
>> What? Any noises?
>> No. Well, a slight miss at at idle, maybe, but other than that, I think it's pretty good. But no knocking noise.
>> No, definitely no knocking noise. Sounds beautiful. Really?
>> What if you if you rev it up? Does the oil pressure do anything?
>> No. Still that Well, I mean, I can't get that light off of the information thing.
It just Yes. I can't get the the message off the dash trying to clear it, hitting the check button. The button right here.
>> Well, yeah, but there's a Is there an actual gauge, though? There's an actual gauge, right?
>> No, I don't think so. Look, you've got fuel, you've got coolant, and that's it.
You've got an information screen where it will show up right there.
>> Yeah. Yeah. So, does it show any PSI in there?
>> No, it just just won't show anything.
>> But come on. Come on. You don't think it's just a switch? It's a switch.
>> It's It's probably a sensor. The switch.
Yes. I mean, those didn't really have oil pressure issues >> at that year. So, >> and if it's not, the engine's what? 900 bucks, 800 bucks.
>> They're getting up there these even the junkyard LS ones. But yeah, you you could probably Is it It's a 6, right?
>> 62 >> or the 62, right? Uh those are kind of expensive, man. Um I would probably spend it. I'd probably send it. I think it's going to be fine.
>> I mean, I got to get home. I think it's But yes, it could leave me strand. So, here's the thing. How long will go I mean, it's not going to go very far with low oil pressure, right? We're good.
We're good. Just say it's good. So that way if something goes wrong, I just call back to you. I say, "Hey, Alex told me to send it."
>> Two miles. You can go another two miles.
>> Okay, fair enough. Well, I figured >> 20 is a little rough if it's really at zero.
>> Here, answer this last question and this will decide what we do. Have you ever replaced an oil pressure sensor on any General Motors car in your life?
>> Yes. Many.
>> Many. There. There's your answer. We're going home, everybody. We're going to make it. All right. Oh my god. I don't know how much longer I can take with that noise. However, we've driven this car now, I'd say at least 15 miles. The engine has not exploded. Thank God.
But it will not stop chiming. I did a quick search how to shut off the oil pressure uh warning chime and it came up. You cannot shut off the oil pressure chime because it is a safety feature.
Anyway, we've made it to auction two where we are picking up our second car.
This one, I assure you, is way more exciting uh than the Escalade. Um, but we have no clue what sort of mechanical condition it is. It was sold totally asis on what's called a red light. So, whatever we paid for, we got. And well, it looks just insane in the photos. I sent Andrew to go get the car. He says he's coming up with it now. supposedly runs and drives. Here it is. Look at this thing.
How's it work?
>> This thing is awesome. And it's got a full tank of gas.
>> Oh, look at the gas.
>> Dude, how do we luck out today? Two cars. That's one of the things I noticed most first on this car is that it's got aftermarket Willwood brakes. Those couldn't be cheap. And someone someone had to spend an absolute fortune on this. Here, pull it right here. Let's take a closer look real quick. The color is outstanding. It's like a black but blue in certain lights. And it's got carbon fiber everywhere. Again, someone must have spent like a lot on this thing. Huge carbon wang, Union Jack, big sunroof.
Engine sounds darn good. I thought for sure we were going to get this and it was going to be a misfiring mess. And it's funny, what did I tell you earlier?
I said, "Hey, chances are we might have to trailer that Mini home and we'll be able to drive the Escalade. It might end up being the other way around." I'm hoping both of them make it. Let's get both of these cars home and I got to show you what's under the hood of this Mini because it is insane.
Now, we have no RPM signal. It's also telling me to service stability track, but the dinging noise is gone. So, hopefully that's a positive.
Oh my goodness. The suspension is just shot in this thing.
We made it.
Oh, this engine is misfiring really bad at this point. Just going to leave it running for one second. See if there's any real nasty noises because it's hard to hear over that darn chime. But I can feel the vibration at idle.
Yeah, you could see it's got a little bit of a shimmy to it, but you know, no nasty ticks or taps or anything like that. So, I'm really hoping it doesn't have anything catastrophically wrong with it. Well, the Mini made it, too.
Let's see. How'd it work?
>> It was really good. Really good. Really peppy. Broke up a little bit once you start hitting boost and the check engine light came on.
>> Ah, that's a mini. It's kind of normal.
The AC feels good.
>> Nice and cold, so that's all that matters.
>> Yeah, you're lucky. I'm about to go nuts after listening to that chime for the last hour.
>> Yeah, I got I got the better end of the bargain there.
>> Now, I hardly know where to start, nor do I know what I'm looking at in this Mini's engine bay. If you have any ideas, let me know down in the comments.
And while it looks absolutely insane, on the surface, it's just a bunch of extra shrouds and a painted valve cover. So, it will be interesting to peel everything back and see if they upgraded the turbo and maybe even the engine.
We'll be doing this very soon, so make sure you're subscribed so you're the first to find out when we release this next video. And as for the Escalade, we figured the fastest way to see whether we had a serious problem was to just drain the oil. And what came out looked exactly like what you should expect from a $3,000 auction truck.
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