BCA Expectations

[Oliverr]

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone has much experience at BCA auctions, am looking to shoot off to pick up a update for my current car, probably an Audi A3. Is there anything worth noting before/while i am there?
Also, would anyone roughly guess the going price for an 08 5dr 2.0 TDi manual A3, with for example 80k on the clock?

Thanks in advance!

[StyleTechnik]

Things you should know.. Private bidders pay three times the commission than a trader does on the final bid. So mr trader can bid 6500 pay 2% and cost him 6630. you may bid 6400 and pay 6% and it will cost you 6790.

so basically he can out bid you and still get it cheaper.

As for what car will go for well depends who's in the room, but last time i went cars were going for forecourt prices there not a magical room of discount cars.

[BE57 TOY]

Oliverr said:

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone has much experience at BCA auctions, am looking to shoot off to pick up a update for my current car, probably an Audi A3. Is there anything worth noting before/while i am there?
Also, would anyone roughly guess the going price for an 08 5dr 2.0 TDi manual A3, with for example 80k on the clock?

Thanks in advance!

For an SE around £6.5k, sport £8k and S lines go for £9.5k. Roughly.

[highway]

It was all over at BCA years ago. You. can buy better, cheaper via eBay or auto trader or the PH classifieds. You can haggle and drive the car first as well.

[caprirob]

highway said:

It was all over at BCA years ago. You. can buy better, cheaper via eBay or auto trader or the PH classifieds. You can haggle and drive the car first as well.

I can confirm this - went to a BCA auction a couple of weeks ago on an info-gathering mission as I was considering setting myself up as a car trader.

Spent a couple of hours noting the prices of everything that sold, then came home and started researching "retail" prices.

Came to the conclusion that traders buying from BCA must like working for free, and flying by the seat of their pants when it comes to warranty.

Prices of some of the junk that sold were unreal.

[highway]

Private buyers seem to fall into a mindset of "I'm at an auction, everything here is cheap" there was a Time that was true but not for a decade or so.

BCA prices are, literally, a joke. Save your fuel and fire up your Mac instead.

[redgriff500]

I've found the same for many years.

I think it's simply that larger Traders need to buy say 5 cars a week.

They don't have the time to spend trawling the papers and driving all over the country to frequently find the sellers are lying.

Hence paying a bit more at Auction is reasonable to them.

[confused_buyer]

BE57 TOY said:

For an SE around £6.5k, sport £8k and S lines go for £9.5k. Roughly.

Sounds about right. Closest recent sale has been an 08/08 A3 2.0 TDI S-Line Q170 with 76k which sold for £9000 exactly.

You can get reasonably buys at auction but you need to go often and know what sales and cars to look at. Something like an ex-lease A3 is very common so going to be pretty much spot on the CAP price unless it is tatty, a horrible colour or has loads of options.

Edited by confused_buyer on Sunday 8th April 13:46