Buying a car from an auction?
Discussion
I will be getting a car the end of febuary/ march
I was told for a good cheap bargain buy to go to an auction....
A few wee questions here as I live in the highlands of Scotland near Inverness and always bought my cars privately..
Where is the nearest or best auction to go to from here?
Has anyone bought a car from an auction, and was it easy to purchase, also with all documents.
After you bought car after further investigation did the car need a lot of money spent on it that you might of missed when looking at it on the day...
I guess you check out the cars in the lot, see which one you like, highest bidder wins.. Job done????
Any feed back would be great on anything else I need to know.
Cheers ray
Ps lets see pics of your auction buys with prices you payed lol
I was told for a good cheap bargain buy to go to an auction....
A few wee questions here as I live in the highlands of Scotland near Inverness and always bought my cars privately..
Where is the nearest or best auction to go to from here?
Has anyone bought a car from an auction, and was it easy to purchase, also with all documents.
After you bought car after further investigation did the car need a lot of money spent on it that you might of missed when looking at it on the day...
I guess you check out the cars in the lot, see which one you like, highest bidder wins.. Job done????
Any feed back would be great on anything else I need to know.
Cheers ray
Ps lets see pics of your auction buys with prices you payed lol
you need to factor in buyers fees, so not as cheap as you might imagine.
I was recently looking for a cheap car and spent the morning at the local auction house, and was quite surprised at the money some of the stuff went for.
You would be well advised to attend an auction, making a note of the hammer values, adding the buyers fee, then going home and comparing these with offerings from local dealers
I was recently looking for a cheap car and spent the morning at the local auction house, and was quite surprised at the money some of the stuff went for.
You would be well advised to attend an auction, making a note of the hammer values, adding the buyers fee, then going home and comparing these with offerings from local dealers
There are 2 or 3 reasonable Auctions between Glasgow and Edinburgh- they're probably your best bet if you peruse the online catalogues before coming down. I know that Intercity (in Glasgow) offer 7 days free insurance, so you could train down and drive it up the road
the key to auction buying is to go in with your eyes and ears wide open. Read the Fees and indemnities before bidding- they can add a significant chunk onto your costs.
I've had several cars from auction- never had an issue, but it all depends on taking the time to look the car over/listen to it start etc.
What are you looking for, a £500 snotter or a premium £5k plus car?
£500 on an old banger for 6-12 months- auctions are well worth the effort- especially "private entries"- the traders prefer stuff from dealers with history etc.
Watch out for anything on the VCAR register- thats insurance write-offs- could be a scuffed wing on an old car, or something more major on a newer one.
at £5000 I'd PERSONALLY be scouting out a respected and recommended dealer that can provide a warrenty, or a private buyer with just the right car, right colour and reciepts for every lightbulb and spark plug, but thats just me!
the key to auction buying is to go in with your eyes and ears wide open. Read the Fees and indemnities before bidding- they can add a significant chunk onto your costs.
I've had several cars from auction- never had an issue, but it all depends on taking the time to look the car over/listen to it start etc.
What are you looking for, a £500 snotter or a premium £5k plus car?
£500 on an old banger for 6-12 months- auctions are well worth the effort- especially "private entries"- the traders prefer stuff from dealers with history etc.
Watch out for anything on the VCAR register- thats insurance write-offs- could be a scuffed wing on an old car, or something more major on a newer one.
at £5000 I'd PERSONALLY be scouting out a respected and recommended dealer that can provide a warrenty, or a private buyer with just the right car, right colour and reciepts for every lightbulb and spark plug, but thats just me!
Bought my last car (Peugeot 307) from an auction. Best advice I can give you is to do plenty of looking around and going to as many as you can before you commit, to get the general gist of how it all works.
It can be frustrating, I saw 2 very nice C4's but was outbid on both. Then I found a very nice Xsara Picasso in a yard but then that wasn't being put through until the following week.
In the end I made a very big mistake and rushed. I went to one the day before I had work again and I needed to buy a car that night. I saw the 307 and it looked perfect. Right age, so would be the newest I'd get for my budget, nice colour, which looked very decent, sounded very smooth and quiet when it was pulling up and it had a low verified mileage with MOT's and service stamps. Unfortunately in my haste I forgot to look at the dials. Car went through, I bid until I won and then I paid the 10% deposit there and then to the lady next to the auctioneer. You then had to go around to the sales office to pay the rest of the amount, including auction fees (don't forget them when bidding) and then you got all the documents and a receipt. You then had to go to the keys office (a hut outside) to collect your keys. It was during queueing for my keys that I rang my insurance company and told them of the change. You got your keys and they tell you which area your car is in. Of course my 307 was right in the middle of a hundred other cars. So collared someone over and they moved some of the cars so that I could manoeuvre mine out. It was at this point I started her up and got a beep, an engine management light and a message on the dash saying anti-pollution fault.
Drove it home and although it wasn't in limp mode (thank god) it had a flat spot around 2,000rpm and was a little hesitant on the throttle.
Drove it for about a fortnight before I could get my trusty mechanic to look at it. In that time it once broke down on me after it gradually got very jerky and then the engine stalled altogether and failed to re-start. I let it sit for 20mins and then tried again and it started and got me home. Another 2 times I stalled it and it and after it took 2 or 3 times to get it going again, it then for about a minute was very down on power and then all of a sudden after that minute it would pick up again.
Finally the fortnight was up and I could get it to my mechanic to find out what was going on. He's a family friend and specialises in PSA cars, which is why is why I buy and look at them. He works from home and for major stuff he has a workshop but his son also owns a Peugeot dealership.
First thing he tried was to sneak it in to his sons Peugeot workshop and clear all the faults and do a software update. This did clear the fault but the car still felt lumpy and finally after another fortnight the fault came back.
This time he looked at it more closely. Turned out the manifold was cracked and the lamba sensor was borked. Replaced both, cleared all the faults again and problem solved. In the end cost me £150, apparently if I had got a Peugeot dealer to do all the work that had been done, it would have been close to a grand, which is one of reasons why I think the car was in an auction.
After getting the major fault rectified it was then a case of getting the other minor faults fixed. The reverse light didn't work even after a changed bulb but that turned out to just be a broken switch in the gear leaver and was cheap to replace at £13. The front offside indicator didn't work but that was just a bulb. I then started noticing other little faults and problems with the car.
The front nearside wing (which is made of plastic) had been replaced... badly. It was a 307 wing but it must have been a cheap one, as all the edges were rough. It also hadn't been fit properly and bulged out in the middle. There was no other damage to the rest of the car underneath nor to the chassis so it must have just been a car parking ding someone's tried to fix.
Then I noticed the drivers lock. It was pushed back a little and loose. If you poked it with your finger you could push it in further and you'd have to use the key to pull it back out. There was also a huge gash in the paintwork just above the lock that someone had tried to touch up. So at some point it looked like someone had tried or had maybe been successful in breaking into it with a screwdriver.
Strangest thing was the fuse box in the engine bay. It was a complete mess. It looked like someone had taken all the panels that contain all the fuses out and then just shoved them all back in, in a wire tangled mess.
Then all the niggling faults started happening. After given it a good clean I found some copper piping cut-offs, bolts, washers and boiler parts under the boot and in the spare wheel bit. Soon after that both rear coil springs went, so I assume the previous owner had maybe used it for work and had carried a load of tools and heavy equipment in it.
Bulbs kept blowing. The other indicator went, a headlight, both brake lights and then interior bulbs which was one behind the dials and one behind the heating controls.
Then the A/C packed in. Got it re-gassed and for 3 weeks in worked again. However after a long drive I opened the bonnet to find a load of green liquid had pissed all over the engine bay and the A/C stopped working again. Turned out to be a split hose connected to the system.
By this point I was fed up with it. I just wasn't connecting with the car and it was beginning to really get on my tits. The final straw was when I noticed oil was leaking into the cooling system. The oil was fine with no water in that but there was oil, that wasn't there before, in the header tank somehow.
In the end I just traded it in. Paid £2400 for it at auction and it was a 2004 (54) with 32,000 miles, traded it in after a year for £1800.
Good bargains can be had at auctions but for the love of god be careful and don't rush like I did.
It can be frustrating, I saw 2 very nice C4's but was outbid on both. Then I found a very nice Xsara Picasso in a yard but then that wasn't being put through until the following week.
In the end I made a very big mistake and rushed. I went to one the day before I had work again and I needed to buy a car that night. I saw the 307 and it looked perfect. Right age, so would be the newest I'd get for my budget, nice colour, which looked very decent, sounded very smooth and quiet when it was pulling up and it had a low verified mileage with MOT's and service stamps. Unfortunately in my haste I forgot to look at the dials. Car went through, I bid until I won and then I paid the 10% deposit there and then to the lady next to the auctioneer. You then had to go around to the sales office to pay the rest of the amount, including auction fees (don't forget them when bidding) and then you got all the documents and a receipt. You then had to go to the keys office (a hut outside) to collect your keys. It was during queueing for my keys that I rang my insurance company and told them of the change. You got your keys and they tell you which area your car is in. Of course my 307 was right in the middle of a hundred other cars. So collared someone over and they moved some of the cars so that I could manoeuvre mine out. It was at this point I started her up and got a beep, an engine management light and a message on the dash saying anti-pollution fault.
Drove it home and although it wasn't in limp mode (thank god) it had a flat spot around 2,000rpm and was a little hesitant on the throttle.
Drove it for about a fortnight before I could get my trusty mechanic to look at it. In that time it once broke down on me after it gradually got very jerky and then the engine stalled altogether and failed to re-start. I let it sit for 20mins and then tried again and it started and got me home. Another 2 times I stalled it and it and after it took 2 or 3 times to get it going again, it then for about a minute was very down on power and then all of a sudden after that minute it would pick up again.
Finally the fortnight was up and I could get it to my mechanic to find out what was going on. He's a family friend and specialises in PSA cars, which is why is why I buy and look at them. He works from home and for major stuff he has a workshop but his son also owns a Peugeot dealership.
First thing he tried was to sneak it in to his sons Peugeot workshop and clear all the faults and do a software update. This did clear the fault but the car still felt lumpy and finally after another fortnight the fault came back.
This time he looked at it more closely. Turned out the manifold was cracked and the lamba sensor was borked. Replaced both, cleared all the faults again and problem solved. In the end cost me £150, apparently if I had got a Peugeot dealer to do all the work that had been done, it would have been close to a grand, which is one of reasons why I think the car was in an auction.
After getting the major fault rectified it was then a case of getting the other minor faults fixed. The reverse light didn't work even after a changed bulb but that turned out to just be a broken switch in the gear leaver and was cheap to replace at £13. The front offside indicator didn't work but that was just a bulb. I then started noticing other little faults and problems with the car.
The front nearside wing (which is made of plastic) had been replaced... badly. It was a 307 wing but it must have been a cheap one, as all the edges were rough. It also hadn't been fit properly and bulged out in the middle. There was no other damage to the rest of the car underneath nor to the chassis so it must have just been a car parking ding someone's tried to fix.
Then I noticed the drivers lock. It was pushed back a little and loose. If you poked it with your finger you could push it in further and you'd have to use the key to pull it back out. There was also a huge gash in the paintwork just above the lock that someone had tried to touch up. So at some point it looked like someone had tried or had maybe been successful in breaking into it with a screwdriver.
Strangest thing was the fuse box in the engine bay. It was a complete mess. It looked like someone had taken all the panels that contain all the fuses out and then just shoved them all back in, in a wire tangled mess.
Then all the niggling faults started happening. After given it a good clean I found some copper piping cut-offs, bolts, washers and boiler parts under the boot and in the spare wheel bit. Soon after that both rear coil springs went, so I assume the previous owner had maybe used it for work and had carried a load of tools and heavy equipment in it.
Bulbs kept blowing. The other indicator went, a headlight, both brake lights and then interior bulbs which was one behind the dials and one behind the heating controls.
Then the A/C packed in. Got it re-gassed and for 3 weeks in worked again. However after a long drive I opened the bonnet to find a load of green liquid had pissed all over the engine bay and the A/C stopped working again. Turned out to be a split hose connected to the system.
By this point I was fed up with it. I just wasn't connecting with the car and it was beginning to really get on my tits. The final straw was when I noticed oil was leaking into the cooling system. The oil was fine with no water in that but there was oil, that wasn't there before, in the header tank somehow.
In the end I just traded it in. Paid £2400 for it at auction and it was a 2004 (54) with 32,000 miles, traded it in after a year for £1800.
Good bargains can be had at auctions but for the love of god be careful and don't rush like I did.
Edited by TheTurbonator on Tuesday 8th January 09:34
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff