Went to a heavy equipment auction in Tulsa and watched a guy pay $12,000 for a parts truck with a cracked block

Honestly I've been to a few auctions but this one took the cake. This older fella kept bidding against two dealers who were clearly just messing with him. The truck had 400k miles, oil in the coolant, and a hole you could stick your fist through on the side of the block. He was smiling the whole time like he got a deal. I get that parts are parts but nobody checked the frame rails or even popped the hood before bidding. Is that normal for auction crowds or did I just land on a weird day? Anyone else see people overpay for junk just because they got caught in the heat of it?

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green.hannah17d ago

That $12k buys a LOT of shiny new wrenches and a good tow strap, so at least he's got that going for him. I swear auction fever makes people forget how to count, I once watched a guy bid $800 on a box of rusty brake rotors just because the auctioneer kept saying "going once." The dealers probably knew the frame was bent worse than a pretzel and just wanted to see how far his wallet would stretch. At least if the truck catches fire, he'll have a nice warm spot to stand next to while the smoke clears.