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[Allenm]

Now the school holidays are over, sharing a car with my missus is no longer particulary convenient, so I need to get myself a car until mine is back on the road (hopefully October before the Santa Pod meet ).

So I have been looking at the best way to get me a runaround without losing money on it.  2 options, 1 get a Cavalier out of the local paper for £500, or 2, get over to the Bedford General auction on Monday and take my chances.

What do you guys think?  Any tips for Auction buying?  Should I look for a tidy PX or spend a bit more and hope to get it back via Auto Trader.

Thoughts welcome as ever

Cheers
Merv

[Markie]

well...these are just my thoughts but i ( just counted) have bought and sold 26 cars from auction in the last 3 years....

I would always always go the auction route.

£500 for a cav...or £500 at an auction - that buys a very different car!

£500 cav unless its mint no way - should really be only a few hundred for a typical rust covered cav - plus all the other problems you may face.

Yes at auction you take a risk - but i presume you know your way around cars to check the basics and your looking at getting even a p plate vectra for the cav money you are quoting - in scotlands auctions anyway.

Give you an example - i bought a 1999 s reg Mitsi Galant for my dad nearly 3 years ago at auction £1900

My dad this week traded it in against a new car - 25000miles more 3 years older, no major work done in that time and got £1650. Thats a £250 loss on an auction car over 3 years  

In otherwords you will possibly make money out a good car bought at auction, ran a while, looked after and sold for small profit.Hope this helps

[Markie]

oh and if you really want an old cav, check the auctions i have seen some strugle to get £50, although not much more than a real banger lol  

[tunnie]

oh and if you really want an old cav, check the auctions i have seen some strugle to get £50, although not much more than a real banger lol  

Damn your auctions are cheap!

They don't seam to go that cheap down here.  

[Markie]

oh and if you really want an old cav, check the auctions i have seen some strugle to get £50, although not much more than a real banger lol  

Damn your auctions are cheap!

They don't seam to go that cheap down here.  

seen crap go through ( like 93 micra`s) at £20 - remmber you have fees on top of it but thats still a £100 car - franky though you wouldnt be seen near it never mind in it.....

[Timbuk]

Bought many cars at auction, as you say you take your chance. My advice is:-

Be there when they start it up to take it in, if it struggles, bangs or smokes walk away

Go with you instinct, you can usually get a feel for a car, if your not sure walk away

Read what it says on the screen, and remember it, a car with 2 weeks M.O.T left is going to cost you money and most auction cars will not be taxed

Be sensible with your bidding, set your limit and stick to it, don't get carried away

Enjoy the buzz and enjoy your cheap motor

[Taxi_Driver]

oh and if you really want an old cav, check the auctions i have seen some strugle to get £50, although not much more than a real banger lol  

Damn your auctions are cheap!

They don't seam to go that cheap down here.  

Auctions up north do seem cheaper.

Guy i know swears by an auction house in Manchester....and lives in Swindon
He bought 26 cars the other week up there.....mostly astra's, the odd rover 75, some 406 pugs, all diesels and between 3/4 years old. Dont think he paid more then 2.5k each for any of them!

I go with the advice given by others....make sure its got a fairly long mot on it.

If your limit is £500, stick to it.......otherwise before you know it you've ended up paying £600.

Remember there will be a buyer premium, its usually bout 5% but there may a min amount so check it out first and adjust you max limit accordingly.

I would pay a visit to the auction first, to suss out how things work and you get a feel for the place, check out a few cars, see what price they fetch, then you'll see how much they usually fetch.

You dont want to go paying £500 on a motor, that usually only fetches £250.
On the other hand you dont want to go paying £100 for a motor that normally fetches £250....theres probably summat wrong with it that you havent spotted

Stand/sit where the auctioneer can easily see you, then what i tend to do is have a bid about 1/2 way through, so the auctioneer knows you interested, then wait until i think no one else is going to bid and if it stays under my limit one or two bids more and hey you just bought a motor  

HTH

[Martin_1962]

See if you can find a cheap 2.0 Carlton for about £200

[Admin]

I am suprised no-one has mentioned eBay.

It is the main place I would be checking out.

[Markie]

I am suprised no-one has mentioned eBay.

It is the main place I would be checking out.

fair and valid point by Dave

I am of today to pickup a cheap v6 reflection - probem with ebay is i find that the prices currently seem inflated, but there are still some crackers if you sift through the rubbish....

[RonaldMcBurger]

I must have bought over 100 cars at auctions over the years. It used to be THE place for traders to buy cars. However, I wouldn't buy a car at auction these days whatsoever.

Problems are that you usually don't get a chance to check the car properly, other than cosmetics. Engines cannot be checked properly with the bonnet open for 10 seconds whilst moving forawrd. You cannot establish clutch, heating or most engine problems. Cars are always 'as is' with no comeback at all. Auction commissions are a total rip off and I have been stung many, many times.

The only places to buy cars these days is NOT at an auction. The exception is EBAY. I have bought many cars from ebay. I have not lost on one yet and have made a packet on many. But, strange as this may seem, you can get a good deal from a main agent too. I bought my 2003 Corsa at nearly £1000 below what they normally sell for at main agent, plus got rid of my pug at the same time.

It all depends on what you are after. Ebay is the best place I have found. No extra costs to me the buyer. I can go and see and usually drive the cars BEFORE bidding. I am also covered if I don't view and the car turns out to be SUBSTANTIALLY different, ie no engine, falling apart etc. I can just walk away and the worst I can get is negative feedback.

Car auctions, no. Avoid like the clap.

[Taxi_Driver]

I must have bought over 100 cars at auctions over the years. It used to be THE place for traders to buy cars. However, I wouldn't buy a car at auction these days whatsoever.

Problems are that you usually don't get a chance to check the car properly, other than cosmetics. Engines cannot be checked properly with the bonnet open for 10 seconds whilst moving forawrd. You cannot establish clutch, heating or most engine problems. Cars are always 'as is' with no comeback at all. Auction commissions are a total rip off and I have been stung many, many times.

The only places to buy cars these days is NOT at an auction. The exception is EBAY. I have bought many cars from ebay. I have not lost on one yet and have made a packet on many. But, strange as this may seem, you can get a good deal from a main agent too. I bought my 2003 Corsa at nearly £1000 below what they normally sell for at main agent, plus got rid of my pug at the same time.

It all depends on what you are after. Ebay is the best place I have found. No extra costs to me the buyer. I can go and see and usually drive the cars BEFORE bidding. I am also covered if I don't view and the car turns out to be SUBSTANTIALLY different, ie no engine, falling apart etc. I can just walk away and the worst I can get is negative feedback.

Car auctions, no. Avoid like the clap.

It may depend which auctions you go to Ron......yes I agree you dont have time before the auction to check the various bit and bobs you mention....Auction place i goto, many but not all, have checklist in the windscreen stating brakes/engine/etc/etc has been checked and found to be in good order and is an 'approved' car. With these ones you get until close of sale I think, maybe longer, to checkout the car. You find summat wrong that hasnt been disclosed or they say its good when clearly its not, then you get your deposit refunded. Oh and you usually can check the engine as they tend to unlock the cars and shove the keys in them, 10 mins b4 its going thro the ring.....so you've a 10 min window to start them up and have a listen.

Agree 5% buyers premium is a rip......tho i think if you register with them as trade (which you could) then the bp fails to about 2.5%

Mind you auction place i goto usually only sells 2/3/4 yo cars....and probably gives the 'approved' bit as a bit of reassurance as these cars are in the thousands not the hundreds.

Other auction places selling cars 1k or less probably dont do the above.....i dont know  :-/

[Timbuk]

I must have bought over 100 cars at auctions over the years. It used to be THE place for traders to buy cars. However, I wouldn't buy a car at auction these days whatsoever.

Problems are that you usually don't get a chance to check the car properly, other than cosmetics. Engines cannot be checked properly with the bonnet open for 10 seconds whilst moving forawrd. You cannot establish clutch, heating or most engine problems. Cars are always 'as is' with no comeback at all. Auction commissions are a total rip off and I have been stung many, many times.

The only places to buy cars these days is NOT at an auction. The exception is EBAY. I have bought many cars from ebay. I have not lost on one yet and have made a packet on many. But, strange as this may seem, you can get a good deal from a main agent too. I bought my 2003 Corsa at nearly £1000 below what they normally sell for at main agent, plus got rid of my pug at the same time.

It all depends on what you are after. Ebay is the best place I have found. No extra costs to me the buyer. I can go and see and usually drive the cars BEFORE bidding. I am also covered if I don't view and the car turns out to be SUBSTANTIALLY different, ie no engine, falling apart etc. I can just walk away and the worst I can get is negative feedback.

Car auctions, no. Avoid like the clap.

Don't entirely agree with Mr McB on this one. Auctions have become more expensive and more public than ever go to them but there are still plenty of bargains to be had. Last car i bought was a mondeo estate for 350 quid, sold it 2 weeks later on  ebay for 620. Thats a lot of beer tokens for doing nothing.

 Yep, there are plenty of bargains to be had on ebay and if they are not as described you walk away, but a lot of people buying on ebay don't have the mechanical knowledge that a lot of the guys on here do so they don't know what they are looking at anyway, yes they should be taking someone with them who does know what to look for  but they don't and thats there own fault, so whether they buy at public auction or from ebay there knowledge is limited.

If you are looking for a specific car then ebay is definately the place to buy, the choice is unrivaled, but prices are very eratic as we all know. I certainly would not rule out public motor auctions

[tunnie]

Disagree with the oh mighty great one?   Bah you all will be punshished.  

Serisouly though, it varys from auction to auction juding by threads here.

The BCA car auction at Blackbushe was good, you can have a propper nose around the car, all its interior and pop the bonnet and look inside.

If you ask very nicely they usually start it up for you too, as there were a lot of people who work there wondering around.

I had a good nose all over a RR's vans and Jags

[Allenm]

Thanks for all the replies.  The reason I didn't go the ebay route is that I don't want to go trekking round after a car - I only want one for a month or so.  I only thought Auction because the bedford BCA is only 20 minutes from me.

I will probably go and have a look on monday - might buy one - might not.   It may well come back to a cav from the paper - they all go for around £500 - so I am thinking I should be able to offload it for the same money when I'm done.

Thanks again.

Merv