Car Auctions

That's why I said 'for the most part' :) - but the majority of my time was spent at BCA Enfield and Bedford, which of course, are all daylight.

It does vary from place to place though, so depends where you are an awful lot.

I spend most of my time now (or at least, did) hanging around the local auction, as a result, in my long coat with a black book, but that's even worse for inflated prices :D Tends to be more 'interesting' things though......3000GTOs, Imprezas, lots of 3 and 5 series, a handful of old Mercs, etc...
 
Moeks said:
Hehe well ...I'm not saying he can't find a bargain and get a nice car, I'm just saying it's a mine field with these cars ...and not being able to properly look at them and test them before purchase would send me running to the hills, knowing what I know.
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More importantly, the buyers you might get for those sorts of cars post auction aren't going to be the type of people you can fob off with 'oh yeah, the engine is meant to make that grinding/thunking noise, that's the accelerator pump working' - they're quite specialist/niche cars so buyers are likely to be enthusiasts
 
Maz said:
I often buy stock from Auctions (BCA, Manheim, Scottish Motor Auctions, Sytner Online Auctions) When I'm running low on stock.

Best place these days is to look at classified ads and offer them trade price, a lot of the time it's a better price than webuyanycar.com have offered and sometimes they'll sell you it!

But buying from auctions isn't quite a gamble as you may think, generally restrict yourself buying cars that have come from a reputable source (Ie: National or big local dealer group) As these are genuine main dealer part ex's which aren't disposed of because they are faulty - rather disposed off because the owner has upgraded.

These dealer groups will have a contract with the auction and must sell so many cars per year to get whatever deal they're on.

The cars can often be viewed before the sale date, so If I find something special or a bit different - I'll go and take my time and view it properly a day or two before the sale.

This lets you check the service history, the interior condition, the exterior condition and lets you generally spend more time looking at a car to see if it's a ******* or not.

I bought a 56 Audi Q7 not long ago, I went to view the car a couple of days earlier and took photos off the service history and rang the dealers to make sure it was genuine - and checked the car out properly and even the silly little things you might not notice till you've had the car a while.

Oh and stick with you limit, sometimes someone else will have more money for a particular car - while increasing your limit might not be a problem for a private buyer as you might not be able to buy a similar vehicle for a similar price anywhere else.

The auctions also have catalogues with trade prices in them, generally the public won't be given these as they are usually reserved for account holders but I'm sure if you ask nicely they'll let you have one - this will give you a benchmark as to what to pay.

Fees - big one, fees for private buyers is huge in comparison to account holders - so if you plan to buy a few open an account sooner rather than later, or find someone you might know who has a account who doesn't mind letting you purchase on.

Sorry for any grammatical errors etc, had a few!
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Thats all good if you are buying late ex lease and company stuff, our man Joshy is talking about taking the jump into the unknown with 10-12 year old big lumpy gear.
 
Hmm, I might go back to the drawing board then :(.

I had hoped that the fact that these cars would be part exs from big main dealers would limit the likelihood of ending up with a right dog, I mean there are not many big dealers in the country is going to put a 94 840ci on their forecourt, no matter how good a car it was.

I know going for newer, ex lease stuff makes far more sense, but I can't bring myself to consider it a proper business just yet, only a hobby. That's why I'm more keen on looking at cars that I personally want, rather than what will sell super easily.
 
Joshy said:
Hmm, I might go back to the drawing board then :(.

I had hoped that the fact that these cars would be part exs from big main dealers would limit the likelihood of ending up with a right dog, I mean there are not many big dealers in the country is going to put a 94 840ci on their forecourt, no matter how good a car it was.

I know going for newer, ex lease stuff makes far more sense, but I can't bring myself to consider it a proper business just yet, only a hobby. That's why I'm more keen on looking at cars that I personally want, rather than what will sell super easily.
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NEVER confuse the two, forget what you like, you either have to do this to make money or forget it really.
 
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