I would think a person would have to actually have been there and done that to give you an accurate answer. I'm registered to bid and have been to the one in Houston. There is everything from a burned out pile of MH metal to nice stuff. With nice stuff being rare. I didn't get to buy the one I was after but have looked at a good number of them. During the winter of 2013/14 I was bidding on a 2012 Dutchmen Kodiak TT. I dont know the exact model but it had opposing rear slides, rear entertainment and fireplace, kitchen and L shape counter. It was like brand new. There really wasn't much exterior damage and what I was guessing happened is that it slid off the road or something and damaged the driver side lower side panel.
It looked like they pulled on it from the passengers side because the shackles and part of the I shaped frame were bent with the passengers rear most shackle being the worst. It tweaked it and the springs all sort of at an angle with little damage to the front and progressing to the rear. It was nothing terrible and certainly easy fabrication with welding cutting grinding skills. It would need some cross bracing steel reinforcing and hydraulic force to bend the I shaped sheet metal frame into shape. I wasn't worried about any of it and always figured I would be putting the same work into any I shaped frame rig I would ever buy. It's not an I beam it's 3 pieces welded together. My main challenge would be to get it 15 miles to the storage yard were I could then Bend it all good enough to get it home 1000 miles.
After you register can see when the final auction date is and watch your pre bid. It's been almost 3 years so I'm rusty at even explaining all of it but what happened with me is that I was in pre bid at around $5,000 and they moved the auction date up to a point where I couldn't hang around any longer as we are snowbirds. As I checked back on the unit it suddenly disappeared from the bid list. I didn't enquirer so I dont know why it happened. Maybe the owner snatched it up. The other issue with that rig that probably wasn't repairable was that the frig was stuffed full of food and had a stench that would darn near drop you. It was the worst thing I have ever smelled.
So it's like anything else, it can be good and it can be bad. There are rigs that are repairable yet to me most of it is trash. You can walk up to one of them and think wow this is nice yet when you go inside the whole interior is totally trashed because the roof has leaked so much. There are many that probably have been wet yet could be usable. I had a pretty narrow window of what I would accept but for a person who wants to get in for little money I think it could be done if you have the time to be "In the game". Meaning be there to look at the rig and follow it as it is bid on. If it was coming down to the final hours of bidding I would want to be on site and do my final inspection right then and there.
Just say I was looking at something that I wanted because the end cap or the couch or something in it is was what I was looking for and it's $125, I wouldn't be real worried about bidding on it. I could trash it if it didn't work out well.
Aside from all that, as a guy and an rv'er I thought it was a great place for entertainment. It's fun to browse all the different stuff and see huge boats that look ok as you walk up yet the whole rear end is burned off or MH that have burned. It's not a place to look at an rv on the website and bid on it then go pick it up. You could be very surprised.
I was there one day in 2015/16 for entertainment and talked to a guy who was loading an old popup. He buys them for parts and fixes one now and then.
This is the model I bid onAnother interesting thing that I found is that I was able to get the vin off the rig and go to the tax office in Tomball and pay a couple dollars, sign my name, and get the owners name address and phone number and iirc the bill of sale with original purchase price!!!! Now that is scary.
I had a lot of pics but must have deleted them
