Buying a banger at auction - values?

[Blue Oval84]

I'm looking to get myself a banger to go with the Z4 and was thinking MK3 Mondeo.

Does anyone have a recent idea of how much an early MK3 2.0 petrol Mondeo would fetch at auction? I've seen a few kicking around at about £1K in the private sales, but I would prefer to keep my costs down to a minimum. Would people agree that auction is the best way to go for this? Even if the auction doesn't yield a car for less than £1K I figure it may at least make my money go further?

I'm specifically interested in petrol only as I've had my fingers very badly burned by TDCi before, at the cheap end of the scale I have no desire to repeat the experience! I figure that a simply NA petrol will provide adequate power for this and still be marginally more economical than the 3.0 Z4 that I use at the moment. The car will be used to beat up and down the 5 miles to work each day, as well as being used for my occasional motorway jaunts.

It's also a very, very cheap way for me to scratch my car buying itch, it comes around every 9 - 12 months like clockwork, but I really don't want to part with my Z4 in order to satisfy it! I figure that if I get a good one at auction, run it for 6 months, detail it and stick it in the classified it may even sell for more than I paid!

Any advice appreciated!

[davepoth]

You're being too specific. Go with an engine size in mind by all means, but other than that be open to other things. Deeply unpopular cars will go for less than popular ones.

[Blue Oval84]

I know I should be more open minded, but at sub £1K there is very little else that I trust in the market! I am however open to suggestions!

• Must be cheap parts and have a decent reliability reputation
• Should really be of a similar size to the Mondog
• Would prefer something with just enough pull to not make me tear my hair out!
• Cheap insurance

Knock yourselves out guys!

Altho I think this looks decent for a hack:-

Autotrader ad

[Jimmyarm]

I would be very very careful about buying anything classed as a banger at an auction.

The cars I've seen from auction at the lower end of the scale generally needed as much spent in parts as the car cost just to make it roadworthy (including cars with long MOT's left)

There is a reason traders send cheap cars to auction, if they could make money on them they would be fixing and selling them.

Afaik the charges for cheap stuff are pretty steap for a one off buyer too ?

[Kiltox]

Aren't the earlier MK3 2.0 Mondeos renowned for inlet manifold trouble?

[Blue Oval84]

Kiltox said:

Aren't the earlier MK3 2.0 Mondeos renowned for inlet manifold trouble?

Wasn't aware of that, but I shall head over to Talk Ford and find out!

As for the fees at auction, hadn't really considered them but I shall check them out too, I'm beginning to think that a private sale may yield the best condition car for the least cash!

[Mr2Mike]

Blue Oval84 said:

I'm looking to get myself a banger to go with the Z4 and was thinking MK3 Mondeo.

Does anyone have a recent idea of how much an early MK3 2.0 petrol Mondeo would fetch at auction? I've seen a few kicking around at about £1K in the private sales, but I would prefer to keep my costs down to a minimum.

Bear in mind that at an auction you have no way of testing the car, it could have numerous faults that would only come to light on the journey home. If you are trying to buy something as cheap as possible at an auction, it's entirely possible (likely even) you will not end up saving money.

[Kiltox]

I may be mistaken but it might be one reason behind the fact they're available so cheaply.

[Blue Oval84]

Mr2Mike said:

Bear in mind that at an auction you have no way of testing the car, it could have numerous faults that would only come to light on the journey home. If you are trying to buy something as cheap as possible at an auction, it's entirely possible (likely even) you will not end up saving money.

I think the thing that I'm noticing is there are a lot of "trade" cars going for about £1100 - £1200, some of them clearly sold by home traders. This leads me to the conclusion that they must be buying them at auction and putting them back out with an extra £500 or so across them.

Basically I don't want to pay someone else for the privilege of going to the auction lol, however, after doing more looking I am coming to the conclusion that private could be the way to go here!

[cahami]

Check the likes of gumtree with £500 set as top limit, also a site called cars under £500 quid or similar you are more likely to get a bargain that way, and you still have the option of chancing your arm and bidding them up the bks or walking away from a st heap

[Mr2Mike]

Blue Oval84 said:

I think the thing that I'm noticing is there are a lot of "trade" cars going for about £1100 - £1200, some of them clearly sold by home traders. This leads me to the conclusion that they must be buying them at auction and putting them back out with an extra £500 or so across them.

So you will be in competition with all these people if something remotely decent turns up.

[lordlee]

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2011...

[HellDiver]

Kiltox said:

Aren't the earlier MK3 2.0 Mondeos renowned for inlet manifold trouble?

As is the 1.8 petrol. Both engines fixed in 2002, though.

OP shouldn't discount the 1.8 petrol. I have one, and it goes every bit as well as the 2 litre, and is marginally easier on fuel.

Edited by HellDiver on Thursday 24th February 12:46

[Blue Oval84]

Aye I would consider a good 1.8, I used to work in a Ford dealers and I know we had one through the door that was very quick, so much so we were convinced it was a misbuild with a 2.0 lump! I remember them always being ok, but since then have got a 3.0 and so am a little spoiled. I may need a test drive to convince myself that it's not too slow!

I've checked out Talk Ford and established that somehow Ford managed to give themselves the same trouble as BMW have with the 320d inlet Swirl Flaps. It's not a big job to remove them altogether so if I buy pre-2003 then this is what will be done for my peace of mind!

[king arthur]

If you buy a car at one of the reputable auctions, you pay a fee on just about everything these days. There's a cash handling fee, a fee for sending the docs to DVLA (which you have to let them do), and the indemnity fee, which can all turn the car that looked cheap in the auction hall, into one that doesn't look like such a bargain after all.

If you buy a car from one of the not reputable auctions, anything that seems cheap will be a lemon.

[Blue Oval84]

This is my local auction centre:-

http://www.manheimremarketing.co.uk/buying/cost_of...

Now, does anyone know which fee you have to pay from looking at that page? I'm guessing that you don't pay both the Buyer's Premium and the Financial Guarantee?

This is starting to make my head hurt!