Collection

• Bikes that come to find themselves at a police auctions usually get there in one of three ways. They were either stolen and never claimed, confiscated from the result of a crime or abandoned by their owners. As a result, they stack up in police storage until an auction of assets is held.
  
  

Setup

• Bike auctions are typically advertised through local police department websites, ads in the local paper and possibly signs along the side of the road. In some cases, you might hear an announcement on a local radio channel. The bikes are normally set up with lot numbers so that they can be identified. Potential buyers are given a list of the sale items and time to look them over. Sometimes a police sale will only sell the bikes in groups.
  
  

Bidding

• The auction itself usually works like any other auction. There is an opening bid and the price goes up until the bidding stops. If the individual bikes are not selling, they might be put together in the middle of the auction process and sold in larger lots in an effort to clear the stock. In a lot of cases, police auctions are cash-only sales. The money will either go into the police budget or to a charity. Bikes are expected to be taken home by the new owners. If someone did not plan ahead and has no way of taking it home immediately, the police usually will hold the bike for a limited time while arrangements are made or until the owner is able to go home and bring an appropriate vehicle with which to transport the bike.