Has anyone ever bought a POD?

I noticed we have a POD Auction in two weeks, and I have never been to a POD Auction yet. Has anyone here every done a POD Auction? What to expect? Are they worth going too? Are they too much of a gamble? How did you do with your POD?

PODS are good. Normally higher end goods. But that also means higher prices.

I have been to several, and a few friends of mine have gotten a few containers, and they have always paid of big time.

Thank You Mr. Andersen, so I'm guessing these could be filled with not only a home, but could also have a business or products in them?

Thank You Mr. Andersen, so I'm guessing these could be filled with not only a home, but could also have a business or products in them?

I have seen high-end home stuff, also regular household stuff. But often we see business related stuff.
2 months ago a friend of mine got a PODS container that belonged to a company, the container was filled up with office furniture in the front, that was all you could see from the door. He got it for 600 dollars, he called med two days later nd said it belonged to a cell phone retail store because he found 45 brand new Motorola cell phones and 30 brand new Nokia cell phones, + alot of carrying cases and stuff.

So in Pods you can find anything.

Up in the Seattle area, the prices on pods are still beyond stupid.  They have always been more costly to buy than a regular storage locker, but since the shows, they have been out of sight.  It doesn't help that the main pod seller up here advertises all over craigslist and even puts up links to auction hunters and storage wars, and all of the local tv stations and newspapers have covered the last few auctions.  I don't even bother going to them right now.

But, overall, I would say that the quality of items inside them is probably a little better than the typical storage locker.  They are a little more expensive, and usually once they are packed, the renter doesn't have access to their stuff, so if they get behind they don't have a chance to pull the good stuff out!

In my area pods are terrible auctions.

Not only do they heaviily advertise them but because all their "storage units" are at one or two main facilities there are normally alot of people who come out as opposed to regular auctions where they are spread out, some people dont wanna waste the gas or wont come that far just for a few lockers.

I went to one pods auction on christmas eve thinking it may be slow b/c people were busy. Over 300 people. I saw a pod with 4 mattresses sell for $1020.

Someone either thought the shows are real and it was stuffed with gold or someone thinks there is a market out there for $250 used mattresses.

I went home after like 3 units.

Here in memphis the PODS goes for between 250.00 and 750.00
And there is normally 15 to 25 people attending the auction.

Infact the last 3 weeks all storage auctions in Memphis has dropped in both price and crowd wise.
Now we se a crowd of 8 to maybe 25 at the most, and prices are going back down.

Now we se a crowd of 8 to maybe 25 at the most, and prices are going back down.

I can't wait!

Thanks for all the input guys, I think I'll stay away from PODS right now as I only have storage at home for 10x20. So with the lkrs that I have purchased my space is limited.

I did do some checking on PODS and found I can either rent or purchase one to put on my property and expand my storage space. My wife seems to think it would be best to purchase a POD, I think she's hoping I'll let her use some of the space for her extra storage, which I would do since it was her idea. LOL

I noticed we have a POD Auction in two weeks, and I have never been to a POD Auction yet. Has anyone here every done a POD Auction? What to expect? Are they worth going too? Are they too much of a gamble? How did you do with your POD?

Hey Gravell....

One of my eight or so really MEMORABLE lkrs was a POD.  I paid $2500 for it based on the Honda Quad which was visible right at the door (its back end). I paid that because I figured I could get about $3K for it and it boded well for the other contents.

I had the POD folks deliver the POD to a 30 day special storage lkr near my home. That was fun to watch when they offloaded it.  When I got inside I also found a Honda dirt bike (smaller type, but in perfect condition like the qaud). The locker paid off well. I got $2500 for the quad, $700 for the bike, $250 for a Ruger target .22, and other good items. Total profit on the POD was $1800.  It took me 11 months to clear the quad with dmv and Honda finance. Bike cleared right away.

So yes, they can be good, but I have also seen standard household PODs as well, so not a guarantee. I bought another one a few months later for $350 I think it was and I only made $200 profit on it. It was not full. That location is now gone and nearest POD place is about 40 miles away.

Sounds like a nice POD Movieman, I think I'll wait on going to a POD auction right now. I have Storage lkr auction this thurs. I give a report on it and I just saw another for Wed. not sure if I can get the time off to hit both though. Humm maybe I'll just come into work late on Wed. !!!! We'll see either way I'll give a report on one or both.

movieman did you have to get anything new ignitions or were the keys in the unit?

Im surprised every time I see a motorcycle there's never a key. I keep mine in the ignition when I put it away forthe winter otherwise I'd never find it agani but I'm always surprised there's never keys with the bikes.

Just curious if keys were there. If not curious how much a new ignition costs for something like that?

That's always something I try to build into the price is how much will a new ignition cost me.

rfr....

The keys were in the ignitions with plastic tie-wraps making a big loop as a key-chain. This of course was great as re-keying or getting new locks with new keys would have hurt the profit.

Several years before that I got a Harley lookalike (3/4 size) in a locker; auctioneer went in to look at it and found the keys and paperwork in a baggie on the seat. The locker was sold with the bike "as parts" so that way they didn't have to do any lien work on it and postpone that part for a later sale date.

I went to dmv and they showed it was clear (no bank owed on it) and it had no back taxes. They signed it over to me with no problems. Lkr cost $600, I sold the bike for $500 to the property manager at MY permanent storage and the rest of the lkr did really well too. It was one of the 8 or so MEMORABLE lockers I have gotten in 7 years doing this.

Just curious, what would happen if a bank were owed?

Does the bank have any right to take the bike from the person who bought the unit? Obviously if this were the case you'd just keep your mouth shut and part it out but just curious.

Also, if a bank is owed would you have to pay the bank to get a clear title if thats even possible or is it just a parts bike?

rfr .... in response to your post #13 in this thread.

This is (I think) hijacking the POD thread, so I'll keep it brief, and my response only relates to my experience with the quad.

Honda Finance (in Georgia) told me that they had archived the account 5 years before I started talking with them on the phone. They said they would need something from California DMV showing DMV would be OK with me getting a release of interest from Honda.

DMV said they could provide nothing to Honda, that Honda would need to contact them releasing the interest. It went on like this for about 3 months, back and forth written communication. This was after I had spent about 6 months just dealing with 3 different depts at DMV until it got to the right one. (also docs were lost in the DMV mailroom !).

Finally, after a couple of more months of these two not talking to each other, I got ahold of a VP of fianance at Honda in California and faxed him copies of all my docs to DMV and the Honda Georgia office. The NEXT day I had a FedEX in my hands from Georgia with the release of interest.

After that it was easy with DMV. Eleven months of red tape; listed the quad on eBay classified. It ran, expired in 10 days and THEN I got a call from a prospective buyer. Sold it ! Thanks, eBay!

You could start a thread asking the question you asked. Basic answer is...it will vary on state DMVs, whether there were back taxes owed, stolen vehicle, etc. It's complicated !

The Harley look-alike I got I told DMV it was in crates when I got it (as parts). I put it together, etc. What the story was with its old owner I don't know, but there were no past dues on it, and it went through smoothly. The bike in the quad locker had no money owed on it and hadn't been active for years, so they let me have it with the receipt from the auction.