Police Bike Auctions

[Flur]

What do you think about buying a bike at a police auction? Good way to get a bike, or trouble?

[Trek420]

Good things:
the money goes to your local PD and/or their charity drives
keeps one more bike out of the landfill
you get a bike with character and history instead of identical from a shop
If you just love a guy (or gal) in uniform you could meet a cop

Bad thing:
Keep the receipt on you. If someone runs up to you "Hey! That's MY bike" you could need proof that you bought it. If that ever happened to me and they had proof it was theirs I'd give it back.

[wolfak]

I would do it, but I'd make sure that I "made it my own" ASAP after purchase by customizing it and such to avoid that "Hey! That's my bike!" issue. If they let you inspect prior to the sale/auction, I think you could come up with a winner fairly easily.

[Flur]

That "Hey, that's my bike!" thing is a bit of a fear for me. I'd hate to buy a stolen bike, even if it's from the cops and they've looked for the owner. I'd still feel bad about it.

That said, DH is looking for a cool frame to convert to a fixie and if we got one for me I'd be painting it, so either way the bike would wind up looking so different the original owner probably wouldn't know it if they saw it.

[Iris616]

How do you find out when a bike auction is scheduled to happen? A search of my city website didn't show anything

[mimitabby]

I got a bike from a police auction once! It beat not having a bike.

Call your local police department and ask.

[SadieKate]

Don't get caught up in the auction fever and bid over value. We've seen plenty of bikes go for more than the value and still need more money spent on repairs.