CARAUKTION

CARAUKTION AG has run online vehicle auctions from Altendorf, on the upper end of Lake Zurich, since 2004. It is one of the few Swiss platforms operating at real volume — several hundred vehicles in a single Classic round — and it serves fleet operators as a disposal channel, with a vehicle valuation service attached. The interface runs in German, French, Italian and English, which reflects both the country and the cross-border trade around it.

What you can buy

• Used passenger cars: the bulk of the stock, from fleets, leasing returns and the trade.
• Light commercial vehicles: vans and utilities from the same sources.
• Damaged and non-running vehicles: the salvage end, described in the lot data.

How the bidding works

Two formats run in parallel and they behave differently. CARAUKTION Classic holds two auctions a week with binding reserve prices, and the vehicle has to be physically available before it is offered. CARAUKTION Direct runs daily from Monday to Friday with no reserve price — the seller decides after each auction whether to accept the highest bid, so winning is not the same as buying. A bidding agent is available to buyers on the Direct format. Registration covers both bidding and selling.

What to check before you bid

The Direct format's post-auction decision is the thing to understand before you commit time: a high bid there is an offer the seller may decline, and the vehicle can reappear. Check the reserve position of the sale you are in rather than assuming. Switzerland sits outside the EU customs union, so a car bought here and taken into the EU faces import duty, VAT at the destination rate and a type-approval question — none of which are the platform's problem, and all of which change the arithmetic. Confirm before bidding whether the platform admits your kind of buyer: it presents itself around fleet operators and the trade, and we have not been able to establish from its published pages whether private buyers can register.