On the cars/odometers analogy, I don't know what auto auctions are required to do legally, but I do know how one handled that sort of stuff in the late 80's.
I worked for a dealership. As most do we got a decent number of cars we didn't want to resell either because of condition, age or they were stuff that was just too hard to sell. (Like a black on black Iroc Camaro with no AC... )
so we sent them to a wholesale auction.
They ran 4-5 different lanes of cars, and the ones I had the most experience with were the A lane cars. Old worn out high mileage, crash damaged..
The sales in the A lane were very nearly as-is. And very little was disclosed. The only car we had returned was one with a non-disclosed bent frame. The buyer figured it out before leaving the lot, had it examined by the auctions shop that existed just for that sort of dispute, and the auction company handled it quickly as the arbitrator. We got to keep the car, but sold it the next week with the damage disclosed, and got nearly as much.
There was the occasional dealer, usually smalltime who would try to get that sort of thing through regularly, and after a few times getting caught and being difficult about the sale being rejected they were thrown out. In at least one case bodily- what a fun day that was, even the sleazy dealers hated him.
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