So one of the questions we’re asking ourselves around here lately is, Should the auction companies allow in unregistered buyers?

Of course many of these unregistered folks are not — repeat, not — exactly disposing of vehicles in an ethical, environmentally conscious fashion.

How many of these unregistered buyers are in business for unethical reasons?

Y’all know where most of their vehicles go. They’re taken out of the country and sent to Timbuktu where they’re given bad repairs that degrade their safety and put people at risk. Or they’re chopped up overseas.

Unfortunately some of these unregistered buyers are just looking for VIN’s and titles to transform stolen vehicles into legal vehicles.

We wonder if the sellers’ immediate ROI kicker selling to exporters is actually hindering the longterm savings of having more recycled parts available in the commerce stream for future savings on repairs.

In other words, aren’t unregistered, overseas buyers also bad for the insurance carriers who own the total-loss vehicles? More vehicles going overseas means insurers paying more for recycled parts in the U.S.

We’d humbly submit that higher domestic part prices more than cancel out the marginal increase in bid prices that insurers’ total-loss assets command from overseas buyers.

The recycling industry is as sophisticated as ever and getting more sophisticated every day. The supply and demand analytics tools recyclers use today are driving bids on vehicles higher as they find more avenues to sell the vehicles’ parts.

We’d like to see the auto auction folks block unregistered buyers. Why not support the folks here in the U.S., who’re doing the right thing, and get longterm savings rather than making a quick buck off questionable overseas buyers?