I've worked in dealers for 21 yrs now and INHO, most of the better ones these days try to keep only the better used cars for resale as they'll have better customer relations doing that vs selling cars in poor shape, questionable condition.

Not to put down your friend or his cars (as I don't know his circumstances, etc) but generally it's my experience that most cars found at auctions are also those that are typically less desireable, very often lease returns (had little to no maintenance) or marginally repaired "crash puppies", sold because they were no longer "like new" or (again) dealer rejects because the dealers didn't want to have it come back with an angry customer. Most experienced used car people have "been there, done that" and they eventually learn from mistakes, don't want to repeat them if they plan to stay in business at the same location with their name in front.

We have a few guys that bring us some of these wholesaled auction cars and every one is more messed up than your typical older, but well maintained one owner Volvo. Every one I can look at and see why it was found at an auction.