Any of you guys bought a car at auction?
Discussion
dealers/traders do it a lot as if they buy a lemon they can shift it on to the trade (sold as seen), maybe even a small profit, without legal comebacks and the hassle of being up-front about a car's faults. Private individuals can have the perception of being 'stung' but in reality can still sell the car on at a reduced retail price, and depending on what the fault is, may even make some money or more likely not make a loss. The hassle comes with selling a lemon to the public, even at way less than book price. People are stupid and will be demanding an immaculate car and a discount no matter that price or condition it really is.
StottyZr said:
No such thing according to trading standards when I rung them about a Lemon a dealer had sold me 
UK law offers CONSUMERS (note this bit) protection against goods which are "not fit for the purpose" or "not of merchantable quality".To buy at auction you usually have to register as a business/trader - cars bought are considered 'trade sales' and thus you waive those rights entirely (business to business transactions being exempt from consumer protection laws).
Thus there's NO comeback with cars bought at auction above and beyond anything a specific site may offer. Some sites give you an hour to report significant faults that they didn't mention in the catalogue, but many offer nothing.
You would have comeback if the car transpired to be stolen or have outstanding finance of course - auctions are supposed to check that before selling it...
Summary:
Buy only if you can afford to lose a bit of money should you buy a dud.
BE CAREFUL as auction prices are often not far short of retail anyway - know EXACTLY what the car is worth, take off a bit and pay not a penny more.
Edited by johnpeat on Tuesday 31st May 12:52
Bought loads, never done too badly. Did have a Primera yonks ago that needed a new engine, but that was mainly due to inexperience and partly due to a cock-up by my garage who worked on it.
Just don't get carried away with the price, and remember to factor in the buyer's premium. I'll be off down Bristol on Thursday for a billy bargain!
Just don't get carried away with the price, and remember to factor in the buyer's premium. I'll be off down Bristol on Thursday for a billy bargain!
Acheron said:
How much cheaper would you get a car at auction compared to a main dealer?
Im talking about e90 3-series, M Sport diesels here.
Trade price, i.e. from the book. Maybe a couple of grand, maybe more. Issue is, you have to think about why a given car has been sent to auction rather than retailed. Some of the time it is because they are contract hire cars at the end of their contract, but more often they are massive miles, ex daily-rental, repo, PoS's or just awful nick. It takes some effort to find a gem, but auctions are fun. Go along and check it out if you have time.Im talking about e90 3-series, M Sport diesels here.
V8Wagon said:
Cheers guys. I was looking at either ex-motability cars as they have a specific auction for these or main dealer px's. I've got a budget of 5k so I was looking at something pretty new(ish)
Bear in mind that Mobility have two lines for returned cars depending on condition. The retail-able ones are put on a web site and retailed direct to dealers. Those that aren't up to standard are auctioned.In other words it's all the sub standard ones from Mobility that go to auction.
CS111 said:
I bought my mums last fiesta at a motobility auction, it had 6k on the clock and was split mint
The car hasnt missed a beat in 3 years
Couldnt really go wrong with a car with 6k on it to be fair
It took 2 or 3 visits to get the right car though
to be fair it prob got sent to block as a risky low-miler, lifetime of short journeys and all that. The car hasnt missed a beat in 3 years
Couldnt really go wrong with a car with 6k on it to be fair
It took 2 or 3 visits to get the right car though
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