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What’s It Like To Buy and Sell at Big Valley Auto Auction?

April 18th, 2024 | 9 min. read

On September 1st, 1991, Harry Potter began his wizard journey as a student at Hogwarts. The reason was to learn more about his magical abilities and Hogwarts was a community of other witches and wizards. This is similar to registered car dealers beginning their journey with Big Valley Auto Auction, joining a community of other registered dealers.

Although we aren’t a school for wizards from the 10th century, we are a dealer-only auto auction, founded in 2008.

In this article, you’re going to learn exactly what it’s like to buy and sell with Big Valley Auto Auction, along with the services we provide, what makes us different, what you need to know, and how to register with us.

After reading this article, you’ll have the information needed to decide if our auction is right for you.

Who Is Big Valley Auto Auction?

Big Valley Auto Auction is a dealer-only auto auction, located in Donna, Texas. Since 2008, our mission has been to help you succeed, one vehicle at a time. We started off as a simple idea written on a napkin and have since grown into the premier auto auction in South Texas.

But no matter how much we’ve grown, we’ve never forgotten our Louisiana roots. Family is very important in Louisiana and we brought that spirit to Texas. We can’t choose our family, but we can choose who we treat as family. That’s why we tailor our business to each individual dealer. Whether it’s providing bilingual customer service, searching for your preferred vehicle type, or simply following up after a sale, we do our best to ensure our dealers have a memorable experience.

Who Is Big Valley Auto Auction For?

Just like Hogwarts is only for wizards and witches, Big Valley Auto Auction is specifically for registered dealers. As much as we’d love to help every person trying to sell a car, our auction is dealer-only, meaning only registered dealers can buy and sell with us.

What Do I Need in Order To Buy or Sell At Big Valley Auto Auction?

Although you don’t need magical powers to buy or sell with us, there are 4 requirements needed:

Dealer license
Bond
Sale Tax ID from your business
AuctionACCESS account

How Do I Get My Dealer License?

There are 5 steps to complete in order to obtain your dealer license:

Have a physical dealership location
Obtain a dealer surety bond
Submit application to the Texas DMV
Fingerprinting
Pay the $700.00 license fee

How Do I Register With AuctionACCESS?

Once you’ve obtained your dealer license, you’ll need to take 2 more steps to register with AuctionACCESS:

Apply on the AuctionACCESS enrollment page (or check with your local auction).
Pay the annual fee of $103.00 per individual.

What Services Can I Receive at Big Valley Auto Auction?

There are 5 services you can request from Big Valley Auto Auction:

Inspection: Inspection services include pre-sale, post-sale, and frame checks, to make sure your vehicle’s mechanical structure is accurately announced.

Reconditioning: Reconditioning services such as wash, vacuum, and detailing are used to shine your vehicle and make it ready for display.

Transportation: Our transportation services help you get your vehicle to and from the auction.

Title: Title services include replacement title attached documents, application for bonded titles, and application for duplicate titles. These help ensure proper transfer of vehicle ownership.

Arbitration: You can request an arbitration to settle any unannounced issues with the vehicle. If you buy a vehicle that is listed as having no issues, but ends up having damage, you can file an arbitration. You can also file for a Title Arbitration if you have not received the title of your vehicle within 30 calendar days of your purchase.

What Makes Big Valley Auto Auction Different?

While being a dealer-only auto auction separates us from most other auctions, there are other aspects that differentiate us.

Open Door Policy: You can walk in and talk to management or sales without an appointment.

Second Chance Sale: In case you can’t make our morning sale, we have another one at 4:00PM.

Food and Beverage: We try to make our auction days as enjoyable as possible by providing breakfast tacos, sweet bread, and lunch, plus chicken wings for our Second Chance Sale.

Events: Not all our auctions are the same. We have special event sales for holidays including New Year, Cinco de Mayo, 4th of July, and our Anniversary Sale in September.

Giveaways: Along with our special sales, we also have occasional giveaways. Items you could receive include caps, YETI cups, and even BBQ grills and TVs.

Dog Adoption: We dedicate ourselves to rescue stray dogs that find their way to our property. You can adopt any of the dogs that we have in our lot for free.

What Online Platforms Does Big Valley Auto Auction Use?

There are 3 online platforms Big Valley Auto Auction uses to promote dealers’ vehicles if they didn’t sell during auction day:

OVE

SmartAuction

Auction Edge

In case your vehicle doesn’t sell during our auction, we’ll immediately post it on these 3 platforms once the Second Chance Sale is done.

What Fees Should I Be Aware Of?

There are 3 types of fees associated with Big Valley Auto Auction:

Required: These are fees that are mandatory to pay.
Situational: These fees depend on the situation, such as insufficient funds.
Optional: These are fees related to optional services, such as inspections.

Fees for Buyers:

Buy Fee (required)
Late Fee (situational)
Post Sale Inspection Fee (optional)
Diagnosis Fee (optional)
Mechanical Work Fee (optional)
Flooring Fee (situational)
Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF) Fee (situational)

Fees for Sellers:

Sale Fee (required)
Rerun and Storage Fees (situational)
Pre-Certification Fee (optional)
Mechanical Work Fee (optional)
Condition Report Fee (optional)

What Payment Methods Does Big Valley Auto Auction Accept?

Every business is different. That’s why we accept 7 different forms of payment.

Cash (Cash payments are deposited immediately)
Company Check
Cashier's Check
Flooring Company
ACH
Wire Transfer
Credit Card accepted for AR payments.

What Flooring Companies Does Big Valley Auto Auction Accept?

We accept the following 10 flooring companies:

How Do I Register with Big Valley Auto Auction?

There are 2 ways you can register with us:

Visit our office, located at 4315 North Hutto Road, Donna, TX-78537.
Email registration@bigvalleyaa.com and we will send you an application to fill out.

Once this process is complete, you’ll be able to start your journey as a registered Big Valley Auto Auction dealer.

Is Big Valley Auto Auction Right For Me?

Just like Hogwarts is tailored to wizards, Big Valley Auto Auction is tailored to specific dealers. However, we know all dealerships are not the same. We understand we might not be the best fit for your dealership. Whether it’s with us or another auto auction, we wish you the best in your dealer journey!

If you have unanswered questions, here are a few other options:

Call us at 956-461-9000 to speak to our sales or dealer registration specialists.
Send us an email at registration@bigvalleyaa.com
Visit us in person at 4315 N Hutto Road, Donna, Texas.
Check out our Learning Center for informational articles and videos.

If you've decided that Big Valley Auto Auction is the best choice for you, click the button below to speak with our dealer registration specialist to get you registered.