First-time auction buyers make the same mistake: they budget for the hammer price. Then the invoice arrives with a buyer fee, an internet fee, a gate fee, a documentation fee and, if they were not fast enough with the tow truck, storage. On a $6,000 car the extras easily reach $1,000. Here is how Copart and IAAI charge, and how to compare them honestly.
The fee categories both auctions use
- Buyer fee. A sliding-scale fee based on the sale price. The higher the price, the higher the fee in dollars, but the lower the percentage. This is the biggest line item.
- Internet / proxy bid fee. Charged when you win online rather than in the lane. Also on a sliding scale.
- Gate fee. A flat charge for releasing the vehicle from the yard.
- Environmental / service fee. A small flat fee that quietly appears on every invoice.
- Late payment fee. Both auctions want payment within a few business days; miss it and you pay extra, and repeat offenders lose their account.
- Storage. Free for a short window after the sale, then charged per day. This is where budgets die when a car sits for two weeks waiting for a transporter.
- Relist fee. If you win and do not pay, the car is relisted and you are billed a substantial penalty.
Exact amounts change several times a year and depend on whether you are a licensed dealer or a public buyer, on the vehicle type and on the sale type (secured vs unsecured payment). Both sites publish their current fee schedules; always check the live schedule for the sale you are bidding in rather than relying on any article, including this one.
Copart vs IAAI: the practical differences
| Copart | IAAI | |
|---|---|---|
| Public access | Many vehicles open to the public in most states; "dealer only" flagged per lot | Public bidding more restricted; brokers are common for non-dealers |
| Membership | Basic (free, low bid limits) and Premier (annual fee, higher limits) | Registration with deposit or licensing; broker accounts add their own fee |
| Buyer fee scale | Sliding scale, separate schedules for secured and unsecured payment | Sliding scale, generally comparable; differences of tens of dollars at most price points |
| Internet bid fee | Charged on online wins, scale by price | Charged on online wins, scale by price |
| Storage grace | A few days after payment, then daily | A few days after payment, then daily |
| Deposit | 10% of intended bid (min. amount) for non-Premier | Deposit or dealer license depending on state and buyer type |
The honest summary: at the same sale price the two fee stacks end up within a small margin of each other. The bigger cost differences come from where the car is (transport), from how fast you can pick it up (storage), and from whether you need a broker (a flat or percentage broker fee on every win).
A worked example
Say you win a car for $6,000 online as a public buyer. A realistic invoice looks like: hammer price $6,000, buyer fee in the mid hundreds, internet fee under a hundred, gate fee under a hundred, small environmental fee, then transport of a few hundred dollars for a regional haul. Landed cost before any repair: roughly $7,000-7,300. Add the parts and labor from the damage photos and you have your real number, which is the number you must compare with retail prices for a rebuilt-title car, not with clean-title prices.
The fee nobody lists: the car you should not have bought
The most expensive fee at either auction is winning a car that has more wrong with it than the photos show. Auction listings state the "primary damage" and sometimes "secondary damage", but they do not tell you that the car was already sold at the same auction 14 months ago with flood damage, or that its odometer showed 40,000 more miles in a 2023 dealer listing.
A VIN history check before bidding costs less than the gate fee and shows exactly that: previous auction sales with photos, title brands across states, theft records, the odometer timeline from dealer listings and open recalls. Run it on every lot you plan to bid on. On VIN Data Hub the preview is free and shows how many auction and listing records exist before you pay for the full report.
Budget checklist before you bid
- Live fee schedule for this sale type and your buyer category.
- Transport quote from that yard to your address (get it before the sale ends).
- Days of free storage and your realistic pickup date.
- Broker fee if you cannot bid directly.
- State fees to convert salvage to rebuilt: inspection, title, and any required receipts.
- VIN history report and a parts estimate from the photos.
If the total is not comfortably below the retail price of a comparable rebuilt-title car, let the lot go. There is another one tomorrow.
Related: Complete guide to buying at Copart and IAAI online and what to inspect on an auction car.