Quick Answer
Copart adds a tiered buyer fee, a virtual bid fee, a gate fee ($95 non-clean title / $79 clean) and a $15 environmental fee to your winning bid. The buyer fee changes with both the title status and the payment method: on a $3,000 non-clean win paid by a secured method the fees are $875, for an all-in cost of $3,875 — 29.2% of the bid. Paying by card instead adds $175. A broker fee is a third party’s charge, not Copart’s, so this calculator leaves it blank.
How Much Are Copart Fees? (How They Add Up)
Copart never sells a vehicle for just the hammer price. Your total cost is the winning bid plus a stack of fees, and the two biggest of them scale with the bid — which is why this Copart fee calculator asks for the bid first and then itemises every charge:
The buyer fee is set by three things at once — the bid, whether the title is clean or non-clean, and whether you pay by a secured or unsecured method. The virtual bid fee is tiered by the bid and also differs by title status. The gate fee is $79 on a clean title and $95 on a non-clean one; the environmental fee is $15 flat. A broker fee and sales tax are optional inputs, and both are blank until you fill them in.
Copart Buyer Fee Chart 2026 (Standard Vehicle, Public Buyer)
The buyer fee is Copart’s biggest charge, and the table below is the whole published Standard-vehicle schedule for a Non-Licensed (public) buyer — all 44 brackets, in the four combinations Copart actually prices. Below $15,000 it is a flat bracket amount; from $15,000 a percentage of the bid replaces the table.
Two things fall out of the numbers. An unsecured payment costs more at every one of the 44 brackets, not only on expensive lots. And a clean title is cheaper than a non-clean one at 40 of the 44 brackets and never more expensive — the $16 gate-fee difference is the small part of that gap.
| Winning bid | Non-clean · secured | Non-clean · unsecured | Clean · secured | Clean · unsecured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $0 – $49.99 | $25 | $27.50 | $25 | $27.50 |
| $50 – $99.99 | $45 | $50 | $45 | $50 |
| $100 – $199.99 | $80 | $90 | $80 | $90 |
| $200 – $299.99 | $130 | $145 | $120 | $135 |
| $300 – $349.99 | $137.50 | $155 | $120 | $137.50 |
| $350 – $399.99 | $145 | $167.50 | $120 | $140 |
| $400 – $449.99 | $175 | $200 | $160 | $182.50 |
| $450 – $499.99 | $185 | $210 | $160 | $185 |
| $500 – $549.99 | $205 | $235 | $185 | $212.50 |
| $550 – $599.99 | $210 | $240 | $185 | $215 |
| $600 – $699.99 | $240 | $275 | $210 | $245 |
| $700 – $799.99 | $270 | $312.50 | $230 | $270 |
| $800 – $899.99 | $295 | $342.50 | $250 | $295 |
| $900 – $999.99 | $320 | $370 | $275 | $325 |
| $1,000 – $1,199.99 | $375 | $440 | $325 | $385 |
| $1,200 – $1,299.99 | $395 | $460 | $350 | $415 |
| $1,300 – $1,399.99 | $410 | $482.50 | $365 | $435 |
| $1,400 – $1,499.99 | $430 | $510 | $380 | $455 |
| $1,500 – $1,599.99 | $445 | $530 | $390 | $470 |
| $1,600 – $1,699.99 | $465 | $555 | $410 | $495 |
| $1,700 – $1,799.99 | $485 | $582.50 | $420 | $510 |
| $1,800 – $1,999.99 | $510 | $620 | $440 | $540 |
| $2,000 – $2,399.99 | $535 | $662.50 | $470 | $590 |
| $2,400 – $2,499.99 | $570 | $705 | $480 | $605 |
| $2,500 – $2,999.99 | $610 | $775 | $500 | $650 |
| $3,000 – $3,499.99 | $655 | $830 | $600 | $775 |
| $3,500 – $3,999.99 | $705 | $927.50 | $675 | $875 |
| $4,000 – $4,499.99 | $725 | $935 | $710 | $935 |
| $4,500 – $4,999.99 | $750 | $1,000 | $750 | $1,000 |
| $5,000 – $5,499.99 | $775 | $1,025 | $750 | $1,000 |
| $5,500 – $5,999.99 | $800 | $1,055 | $750 | $1,000 |
| $6,000 – $6,499.99 | $825 | $1,085 | $800 | $1,050 |
| $6,500 – $6,999.99 | $845 | $1,110 | $800 | $1,050 |
| $7,000 – $7,499.99 | $880 | $1,145 | $800 | $1,050 |
| $7,500 – $7,999.99 | $900 | $1,175 | $815 | $1,065 |
| $8,000 – $8,499.99 | $925 | $1,200 | $840 | $1,090 |
| $8,500 – $8,999.99 | $945 | $1,225 | $840 | $1,090 |
| $9,000 – $9,999.99 | $945 | $1,225 | $840 | $1,090 |
| $10,000 – $10,499.99 | $1,000 | $1,390 | $850 | $1,200 |
| $10,500 – $10,999.99 | $1,000 | $1,390 | $850 | $1,200 |
| $11,000 – $11,499.99 | $1,000 | $1,390 | $850 | $1,200 |
| $11,500 – $11,999.99 | $1,000 | $1,400 | $850 | $1,200 |
| $12,000 – $12,499.99 | $1,000 | $1,400 | $850 | $1,200 |
| $12,500 – $14,999.99 | $1,000 | $1,400 | $850 | $1,200 |
| $15,000 and above | 7.50% of bid | 12.50% of bid | 7.25% of bid | 12.25% of bid |
The virtual bid fee is charged for bidding online. It is tiered by the bid, higher for a Live bid than for a Pre-Bid, and — a detail Copart’s pages do not flag clearly — it also differs by title status:
| Bid amount | Non-clean · Pre-Bid | Non-clean · Live | Clean · Pre-Bid | Clean · Live |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $0 – $99.99 | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| $100 – $499.99 | $40 | $50 | $39 | $49 |
| $500 – $999.99 | $55 | $65 | $49 | $59 |
| $1,000 – $1,499.99 | $75 | $85 | $69 | $79 |
| $1,500 – $1,999.99 | $85 | $95 | $79 | $89 |
| $2,000 – $3,999.99 | $100 | $110 | $89 | $99 |
| $4,000 – $5,999.99 | $110 | $125 | $99 | $109 |
| $6,000 – $7,999.99 | $125 | $145 | $119 | $139 |
| $8,000 and above | $140 | $160 | $129 | $149 |
These figures come from Copart’s own Non-Licensed member fees schedule. Fees change, and they vary by vehicle class, so confirm the current table before you bid on anything expensive.
Secured vs Unsecured Payment (Why Your Card Costs More)
How you pay changes the buyer fee, and it changes it on every lot rather than only on big ones. On a $3,000 non-clean win the buyer fee is $655 secured against $830 unsecured — a $175 difference before any other charge. At $5,000 it is $775 against $1,025. From $15,000 up, the flat table is replaced by a percentage and the gap widens: 7.50% secured against 12.50% unsecured on a non-clean title, or 7.25% against 12.25% on a clean one. On a $25,000 bid that single choice is worth $1,250.
Gate, Environmental, Membership — and the Fees Copart Does Not Publish
Two flat charges land on every US sale, and they are in the calculator’s total:
| Fee | Amount | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Gate fee | $79 clean title / $95 non-clean | Every sale — releasing the vehicle from the yard |
| Environmental fee | $15 | Every sale |
| Basic membership | $99 | Registering to bid |
| Premier membership | $249 plus a $400 deposit | Registering at the higher tier |
Copart’s pages do not say whether the membership charge recurs annually, so budget for it as a one-off and check when you register.
Storage, late-payment and relist charges are not on the member-fee schedule at all. Storage is set per yard and published by location rather than nationally, and the payment deadline and what happens when you miss it come from the Member Terms and your invoice. Every “$X a day, $Y after day 8” figure you will find on third-party Copart fee sites is copied from somewhere else, so treat those as rumour: read the lot page and your own invoice, and if you want a published, day-by-day table for comparison, Copart UK does print one on our Copart UK fee calculator page.
Getting the car home is the other cost people forget. It is not a Copart charge and it is often larger than the gate and environmental fees combined — estimate it with our towing estimate calculator before you set a maximum bid, and check the VIN against the free NHTSA vPIC decoder while you are still deciding.
How to Use the Copart Fee Calculator
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Enter your winning bid
Type the high bid you expect to pay for the vehicle, in US dollars. Every scaled fee is worked out from this amount.
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Set the title status
Pick Non-clean or Clean. This is not just the $95 or $79 gate fee — Copart runs a separate buyer-fee table and a separate virtual-bid-fee table for each, so the two settings can differ by far more than $16.
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Set the bid type and payment method
Choose Live bid or Pre-Bid, then Secured or Unsecured. Secured is the wire or cashier’s-cheque column; unsecured is the card column, and it is dearer at every bracket.
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Add a broker fee or tax rate only if they apply
Both start blank. Enter your broker’s own fee if you are bidding through one, and your state sales-tax rate if you want it in the total — the calculator applies that rate to the bid. The panel then shows every fee, the all-in total and the fees as a percentage of your bid.
Copart Fee Examples by Bid Amount
Every row is a real run of the calculator with no broker fee and no sales tax, so the only charges are Copart’s own:
| Bid | Title · bid type · payment | Total fees | All-in cost | Fees % of bid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $500 | Non-clean · Live · secured | $380 | $880 | 76.0% |
| $1,500 | Clean · Pre-Bid · secured | $563 | $2,063 | 37.5% |
| $3,000 | Non-clean · Live · secured | $875 | $3,875 | 29.2% |
| $3,000 | Non-clean · Live · unsecured | $1,050 | $4,050 | 35.0% |
| $3,000 | Clean · Live · secured | $793 | $3,793 | 26.4% |
| $8,000 | Non-clean · Live · secured | $1,195 | $9,195 | 14.9% |
| $25,000 | Non-clean · Live · secured | $2,145 | $27,145 | 8.6% |
| $25,000 | Non-clean · Live · unsecured | $3,395 | $28,395 | 13.6% |
The three $3,000 rows are the same car at the same bid. Switching the payment method to unsecured costs $175; switching the title to clean saves $82. And the fee share collapses as the bid rises — 76.0% of a $500 bid against 8.6% of a $25,000 one — because below $15,000 the fee is a flat bracket amount, not a percentage. That is the single most important thing to know before bidding on a cheap car.
How to Reduce Copart Fees
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Pay by a secured method, on any size of bid
Not just on expensive lots: the unsecured column is higher at all 44 brackets. It is $175 on a $3,000 non-clean win and $1,250 on a $25,000 one.
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Read the title status before you bid, not after
A clean title is cheaper at 40 of the 44 brackets and never dearer, and it changes the virtual bid fee as well as the gate fee. At $10,000 the buyer fee alone is $850 clean against $1,000 non-clean.
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Stop treating a broker fee as unavoidable
Copart publishes no broker fee, and its Non-Licensed schedule is priced identically to Licensed Standard. If you are paying a broker, that is the broker’s own price — compare two of them, or check whether the lot needs a licensed buyer at all.
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Collect quickly and confirm the storage rate with the yard
Storage is set per location and is not on the national fee schedule, so the only reliable number is the one your yard gives you. Ask before you bid, not after the free window has closed.
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Budget with the all-in total, not the bid
Use a Pre-Bid to trim the virtual bid fee, add your own transport cost, and set a maximum bid that keeps the whole total inside your budget.
Frequently Asked Questions
Buying at a Copart auction outside the US? Use our Copart UK Fee Calculator for Fee A, Fee B and 20% VAT, or the Copart Canada Fee Calculator for CAD fees plus provincial GST/HST/PST.
