Not every person who drives a luxury car is wealthy. The guy next door who drives a BMW or Mercedes may have received the car as a gift, inherited it, or won it in a bet or a raffle.

If you don’t have any rich relatives likely to give or leave you a Jaguar, or if you don’t fancy your luck in games of chance, there’s one more option for you. Get a government-seized car on auction, and you’ll be able to drive the car of your dreams without paying an arm and a leg for it.

What is a government-seized automobile? When criminals are caught, the government seizes their property, including their automobiles. The government then auctions these automobiles off.

As you might imagine, a lot of criminals drive expensive or highly customized vehicles, and these are the kinds of vehicles that end up in government-seized automobile auctions.

How do I find a government-seized auto auction? These auctions are held at frequent intervals in different parts of the country. There is likely to be one near you, but if you’re willing to travel, that expands your range of options considerably.

You can look for auction listings in newspapers or online. If you decide to look online, you can either do your own search or use an online auction directory service (for a one-time fee). If you hire a directory service, make sure you get a money-back guarantee.

How can I participate in a government-seized auto auction? When you’ve found an auction you want to participate in, get in touch with the auction administrators and ask about registration requirements. In most cases, registration is free, and a photo ID is all that’s required.

How do I pay for my purchases at these auctions? Most auctions accept cash, cashier’s check, and credit card (Visa or MasterCard). Payment terms differ from auction to auction. Some auctions will require a deposit on the day of the auction and the balance the following day.

Other auctions require immediate full payment for all purchases. Auctions that allow deposits on the day of the auction might require immediate full payment for purchases worth less than a certain amount, say, $5,000. Before you go to the auction site, find out what modes of payment the auction allows.

Are these auctions for real? It’s possible to get good deals at these auctions, but you will have to do your homework. Don’t go in there before you’ve armed yourself with information about the kind of car you want and the kind of prices such a car would fetch on the market.

The best deals at government-seized auto auctions are usually on older, well-maintained vehicles.

There are several downsides to acquiring vehicles at government-seized auto auctions. First, the selection changes all the time. You can’t specify the kind of vehicle you want. You have to settle for what’s available. And because of the constant changes in selection, you can’t expect detailed information on descriptions and prices.

What information you do get is not necessarily reliable. It would be best to check out the vehicle yourself. If the auction is far from your place of residence, you will have to travel to the auction site at least a few days before the day of the auction to inspect the goods.

Second, you won’t be able to test-drive the vehicles. You’ll be able to look the vehicle over and ask questions, though. Vehicles aren’t available for inspection on the day of the auction, but there are auction previews, usually a day or two in advance. This is another reason to travel to the auction site at least a few days beforehand.

Third, these auctions don’t offer warranties. So be sure to get as much information as you can about the car you want. Ask the auction administrators for the car’s Vehicle Information Number (VIN) and use it to get a CarFax report on the car.

The CarFax report will give you valuable information, including odometer readings and history of flood damage or accidents.

Finally, bidding can get extremely competitive, especially if the car you have your eye on is new, popular, or well-maintained. You may find yourself bidding against used-car dealers, many of whom search these auctions for bargains that they can resell in turn.

Furious bidding can push auction prices up, sometimes close to or even exceeding the actual value of the automobile. When this happens, there’s little point in acquiring the automobile at an auction. You might as well buy it somewhere else.

There are a few things that you should always look for if you are buying a used car. Here are the tips that you will need not to get a lemon.

1. Warranty Facts

You can sometimes get a car that is still under warranty. If this is the case, check with the warranty (perhaps call the number in the warranty book) to ask if there is anything that you need to do to keep the warranty when you buy the car. This often just involves sending out a letter with the purchase information to the dealership.

If you buy from a car dealership, you can often get warranties on used cars. If you want peace of mind when purchasing, consider this option for sure.

2. Warning Signs

If the odometer reading doesn’t match the wear and tear of the car, then you should definitely ask for some records.

If there is any vagueness about getting the service records for the car, you might want to walk away.

3. Getting a Good Price

Because the cost of new cars is going up, there is more of a demand for used cars. This means that some dealerships believe that they can take more money than the car is worth. There are a few things that you need to do to get a good price.

Do your research; check online and in used car guides (often available at the local library) to find out what the prices of cars listed online to sell are. If you are uncertain about buying a car online, then don’t. Often purchasing a car online means that it will come from a long distance, and as such, you will have to pay exorbitant shipping or delivery costs, which will not be worth the money that you are saving off the sticker price.

4. Making the Payments

Instead of getting a car loan from the dealership and paying the dealer or the seller monthly payments, consider taking out a loan from the bank. You will often get better interest (or financing, as it is called with cars) rates. Go to a bank or credit union before you go shopping for your car. Salespeople will try to talk you into going with the dealership’s rates; you will be better off if you already have your financing set up. Credit unions can sometimes offer even better rates than banks on loans and are an often-overlooked choice.

5. The Information to Get

In Ontario, and in some states, you can ask to get the used vehicle information package. This will have the details of the previous maintenance and ownership history of the car.

Always do a complete visual inspection of a car. Even if you are buying a car from the internet, buy one from your province or state so that you can go and check it out first. Alternatively, agree with the seller that you have the right to return the car for a full refund (including shipping) if it does not meet your standards.

6. What not to Trust

Don’t judge the use of a car by it’s brakes; a dealer can buy new brake pads for less than $10, which is often an easy fix for a car.

If a car has rear-door-hinges that are very worn, it might have been used as a taxi, and you should probably find another one. Check the roof of the car to see if there have been any holes filled in; this could have been a sign for a delivery vehicle. They also often have been used a lot.

Be careful if a car looks like it has been freshly painted. This could mean that it has been in an accident that is trying to be covered up.

7. And finally…

Buying a used car can be a great deal for you. You can save money on the car itself, and you can get a safe means to travel. Remember, the condition of the car is more important than if it has had multiple owners, or even the odometer reading. Good luck shopping!

A help to millions of drivers, burdended by overbearing car insurance costs is on the horizon, and could be a reality very soon.

Pay-as-you-drive car insurance, a idea that allows motorists to purchase coverage on a per-mile basis, is getting lots of attention as one answer to rising gas prices and growing commuter traffic.

With the pay-as-you-drive concept, insurers will factor in such criteria as your driving history, vehicle type and geographic into a per-mile price, which will range between 2 cents and 10 cents a mile. Your mileage readings will be recorded with onboard sensors in cars or odometer readings.

People in favor of the plan say that if drivers could save on premiums by reducing distances driven, instead of paying a large annual or semiannual policy charge, whether the miles are driven or not, drivers would probably take fewer trips, or more likely use other means of transportation.

Several findings have determined the idea could reduce overall driving by around 10 percent.

Says Dean Baker, director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, in Washington, D.C., “It’s almost a no-brainer when you look at reducing gasoline use and conserving oil.”

The state of New Jersey has never looked into a “pay-as-your go” car insurance premium idea, even though it boasts the country’s highest average car insurance rates.

In the year 2003, the average person in New Jersey paid $1,188 a year for their car insurance premium, a whopping 44 percent above the average in the U.S. In that same year, state legislators passed a law that partially deregulated the New Jersey’s auto insurance market, which had, at that time, a reputation for excessive bureaucracy in the car insurance industry.

Study findings at the Georgia Institute of Technology found that 27 of 43 states would be legally permitted to offer pay-as-you-drive insurance. Those states included Alabama, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon and Pennsylvania. In other states, the study found that state laws would need to be revamped to allow pay-as you-drive insurance.