Copart Inc. (CPRT)

Copart runs online auctions for vehicles, mostly salvage. Insurance companies and other owners hand it damaged, total-loss or recovered stolen vehicles; it processes them and sells them over the internet to dismantlers, rebuilders, repair licensees, used vehicle dealers, exporters and the general public. It was incorporated in California in 1982, became a public company in 1994 and reincorporated in Delaware in January 2012. From a single facility in Vallejo, California it has grown to a network of facilities in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Brazil, the Republic of Ireland, Germany, Finland, the U.A.E., Oman, Bahrain and Spain, and it is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

How the auction works

Sales run on the company's own platform, Virtual Bidding Third Generation, or VB3, and are open to registered buyers, called members, anywhere in the world with internet access. Bidding has two steps. The first is open preliminary bidding during the preview period, where members can see the current high bids and the BID4U feature bids incrementally on their behalf up to a maximum they set. The second is an internet-only virtual auction. The company states that the virtual format widens the pool of buyers and removes the expense and capital of holding live auctions.

Where the cars come from, and where they go

Insurance companies supplied 79% of the total vehicles processed in fiscal 2026, against 81% in both 2025 and 2024, with the rest from dealers, individuals, charities, rental car companies, banks, finance companies and fleet operators. Most insurance vehicles are either deemed a total loss, not economically repairable, or a recovered stolen vehicle. The company says vehicle dismantlers are the largest group of buyers by volume. In fiscal 2026, 38.2% of U.S. vehicles sold, on a unit basis, went to international members.

Agent or principal

In the U.S., Canada, Brazil, the Republic of Ireland, Finland, the U.A.E., Oman and Bahrain the company sells primarily as an agent, earning auction and auction-related fees plus fees for services after the sale such as delivery and storage. In the U.K., Germany and Spain it acts both as agent and on a principal basis, in some cases buying salvage vehicles outright and reselling them for its own account. In the U.K. it also sells dismantled parts through Green Parts Specialist, and in Germany it lists vehicles for insurance companies and insurance experts to determine a residual value or help arrange a sale for the insured.

Services and other businesses

Around the auction sit mobile applications with bidding in numerous languages, a Recommendations Engine, Buy It Now and Make An Offer for purchases ahead of the live auction, payment through ePay, credit cards and third-party financing, total loss assessment through Total Loss Express 360 and Co.ai, title procurement and loan payoff through Title Express, specialty sales for motorcycles, heavy equipment, boats, recreational vehicles and rental cars, and Night Cap sales for vehicles that have not reached their minimum bid. BluCar serves financial institutions, fleet and rental car companies, and majority-owned Purple Wave, based in Manhattan, Kansas, runs no-reserve online auctions of construction, agriculture and fleet equipment sold from the seller's own location.

Segments and people

There are two reportable segments, the U.S. and International, which are geographic. The U.S. segment produced 81.6% of revenue in fiscal 2026 and the international segment 18.4%. The company had approximately 11,900 full and part-time employees at 31 July 2026, of whom approximately 62% were in the U.S. and 38% in the International segment.

From Copart's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended 31 July 2026. The filing