2-4 year old Rav 4, BCA or not?
Discussion
Need to source a car for my girlfriend.
2013 + Rav4 2.2d Manual with heated seats and automated boot opening, not white, silver or red.
Toyota sell them with a 5 year warranty, so I believe that as long as the service history is up to date then should still be covered under manufacturer warranty.
I'm struggling to find anything near by, and came across "Flipping Cars" - for a fee they bid at auction, can arrange delivery etc.
and with their trade account at BCA / Manheim the fees overall are less than buying directly from auction.
Anyone have any idea what sort of prices relative to CAP / Glass these are likely to be making at the moment?
Is it likely to work out cheaper than buying the same car from a car supermarket ?
Thanks, James
2013 + Rav4 2.2d Manual with heated seats and automated boot opening, not white, silver or red.
Toyota sell them with a 5 year warranty, so I believe that as long as the service history is up to date then should still be covered under manufacturer warranty.
I'm struggling to find anything near by, and came across "Flipping Cars" - for a fee they bid at auction, can arrange delivery etc.
and with their trade account at BCA / Manheim the fees overall are less than buying directly from auction.
Anyone have any idea what sort of prices relative to CAP / Glass these are likely to be making at the moment?
Is it likely to work out cheaper than buying the same car from a car supermarket ?
Thanks, James
I don't think there would be any comeback on them if it were to be a lemon, but with manufacturer's warranty should be a non issue. If it were not as described then I think the auction house would be liable, although tricky I'm sure.
He has very good reviews on Feefo, all 97 reviews in the last year were 5*...
He has very good reviews on Feefo, all 97 reviews in the last year were 5*...
Thanks for the replies, the 48h is good to know.
I appreciate that it is a higher risk option than buying retail from a dealer, my question really is how much cheaper will it be and hence is it worth it?
Budget is roughly £10-15k, the car should come with balance of manufacturers warranty so serious mechanical issues should really have already been sorted or sortable under warranty. It's not as if we are talking a 10 year old exotic, it will be a 2-5 year old Toyota bore mobile that should, in theory at least, be fairly low risk.
There aren't any cars locally that fit the bill so if I'm going to be buying delivered unseen anyway, so if cheaper, then auction seems like a reasonable option. I just want to go in with my eyes open.
I have bought 3 cars on ebay, first a just repaired cat D mx5 when I was a student and failed to apply for my student loan on time and splurged after spending 3 months of eating little more than free out of date Oats So Simple. Whatever he had used to bodge the rad gave up 50 miles from home, but he sent me a good one by courier the next day and I kept the car for 3 years and px'd for a Chimaera.
No. 2 was a £2k 53 CRV that had no right to be as good as it was only needed consumables in 4 years.
No. 3 was a dealer px S2000 that was such a sh*t tip that I walked away.
I appreciate that it is a higher risk option than buying retail from a dealer, my question really is how much cheaper will it be and hence is it worth it?
Budget is roughly £10-15k, the car should come with balance of manufacturers warranty so serious mechanical issues should really have already been sorted or sortable under warranty. It's not as if we are talking a 10 year old exotic, it will be a 2-5 year old Toyota bore mobile that should, in theory at least, be fairly low risk.
There aren't any cars locally that fit the bill so if I'm going to be buying delivered unseen anyway, so if cheaper, then auction seems like a reasonable option. I just want to go in with my eyes open.
I have bought 3 cars on ebay, first a just repaired cat D mx5 when I was a student and failed to apply for my student loan on time and splurged after spending 3 months of eating little more than free out of date Oats So Simple. Whatever he had used to bodge the rad gave up 50 miles from home, but he sent me a good one by courier the next day and I kept the car for 3 years and px'd for a Chimaera.
No. 2 was a £2k 53 CRV that had no right to be as good as it was only needed consumables in 4 years.
No. 3 was a dealer px S2000 that was such a sh*t tip that I walked away.
Edited by jmsgld on Friday 6th October 23:06
First check that you have rights to claim against the auction house. It is likely to be the buyer ie not you but the company does the buying service.
You may well be left high and dry.
You aren't going to save enough to make the risk worthwhile. Maybe need to adjust your budget or look at an alternative like a Korando.
You may well be left high and dry.
You aren't going to save enough to make the risk worthwhile. Maybe need to adjust your budget or look at an alternative like a Korando.
I think that your budget is bang on TBH. I'm idly starting to research the replacement for my wife's RAV4, that's a 15 plate 1-owner Invincible 2.2 auto with pretty much all extras ticked and in immaculate condition. I think that will probably be chopped in at around 14.5-15K. IMO that's absolute top end RAV4, so your budget will get you absolutely anything you want (just not at retail). Well over 30K list new.
One thing you might not be aware of is that the 15 plate models had a light "refresh" and had a bunch of what was previously expensive cosmetic options rolled in (at least on the Invincible), plus fancier wheels
I think that your main problem is that the majority of the really good px stock will be sold by the franchised dealers they are px'd into. They won't be sending them off to auction, just the lower quality ones.
Much as I doubt whether many private buyers want to deal with selling cars themselves (I'm certainly happy to lose a four figure sum NOT to do that), searching the private sales would be the first thing I'd try.
One thing you might not be aware of is that the 15 plate models had a light "refresh" and had a bunch of what was previously expensive cosmetic options rolled in (at least on the Invincible), plus fancier wheels
I think that your main problem is that the majority of the really good px stock will be sold by the franchised dealers they are px'd into. They won't be sending them off to auction, just the lower quality ones.
Much as I doubt whether many private buyers want to deal with selling cars themselves (I'm certainly happy to lose a four figure sum NOT to do that), searching the private sales would be the first thing I'd try.
Thanks for all the replies, some useful info. I've done a little further research and think I'll go ahead, partly out of curiosity.
You have 48h from when an approved car leaves BCA to bring up any issues, flippingcars are happy to handle issues directly with BCA in the appropriate time frame, and I'm sure they're keen to keep their 100% positive feefo feedback.
Toyota will honour the full 5 year warranty so long as service intervals have not been longer than 10,000 miles or 12 months, non serviced item cover is largely unaffected by service history, going over by a few miles / months will be handled on a case by case basis.
I don't know what a Korando is. I sourced a car for my girlfriend earlier this year, she asked for an X3 manual, I accidentally doubled the budget and bought her a fellow PHer's X5 40d auto that he was pxing. It was a much better car than the X3 but she didn't like it. I have just sold it, and this time will be buying exactly what she wants.
I didn't realise there was a refresh in 2015, good to know, but as you say I think most of the decent newer cars never make it to auction, and I need the car sharpish so don't have time ta wait for one. Shame yours isn't a manual. There aren't many private ones advertised and those that are are largely more expensive than dealers...
Thanks for the advice, I'll stick to 1 owner FSH cars from BCA / Manheim and let you know how I get on.
You have 48h from when an approved car leaves BCA to bring up any issues, flippingcars are happy to handle issues directly with BCA in the appropriate time frame, and I'm sure they're keen to keep their 100% positive feefo feedback.
Toyota will honour the full 5 year warranty so long as service intervals have not been longer than 10,000 miles or 12 months, non serviced item cover is largely unaffected by service history, going over by a few miles / months will be handled on a case by case basis.
I don't know what a Korando is. I sourced a car for my girlfriend earlier this year, she asked for an X3 manual, I accidentally doubled the budget and bought her a fellow PHer's X5 40d auto that he was pxing. It was a much better car than the X3 but she didn't like it. I have just sold it, and this time will be buying exactly what she wants.
I didn't realise there was a refresh in 2015, good to know, but as you say I think most of the decent newer cars never make it to auction, and I need the car sharpish so don't have time ta wait for one. Shame yours isn't a manual. There aren't many private ones advertised and those that are are largely more expensive than dealers...
Thanks for the advice, I'll stick to 1 owner FSH cars from BCA / Manheim and let you know how I get on.
Edited by jmsgld on Monday 9th October 02:49
I have used flipping cars before. It's a good service, but don't buy if you wouldn't want to go and bid on the car yourself.
Flipping cars just makes life a bit easier with the online bidding and you should save a little on fees vs private buyer fees.
BCA and Manheim have reasonable condition reports on newer cars, but you obviously don't have the same comeback as buying fyom a dealer.
Pays your money, takes your choice.
Flipping cars just makes life a bit easier with the online bidding and you should save a little on fees vs private buyer fees.
BCA and Manheim have reasonable condition reports on newer cars, but you obviously don't have the same comeback as buying fyom a dealer.
Pays your money, takes your choice.
I found a car for sale privately in the end, 15 plate 2.2 Invincible manual with 47k on the clock, paid £13,400. Probably a little more than I should have done but hey ho.
A couple of the cars I was looking at bidding on have since turned up on Autotrader for around the price I was expecting to pay including fees and delivery, so suspect they went for a bit less than I expected at auction. 24h between BCA auction and Autotrader ads so minimal prep.
If the right car had come up I think it would potentially have come in for less than expected.
A lot of the cars at auction have an obvious reason why they are there - less than perfect SH, high mileage , poor grade etc.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
A couple of the cars I was looking at bidding on have since turned up on Autotrader for around the price I was expecting to pay including fees and delivery, so suspect they went for a bit less than I expected at auction. 24h between BCA auction and Autotrader ads so minimal prep.
If the right car had come up I think it would potentially have come in for less than expected.
A lot of the cars at auction have an obvious reason why they are there - less than perfect SH, high mileage , poor grade etc.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
I was just looking at the Flipping Cars website and it's an interesting concept.
I guess with the one off fee (any idea how much it is?) it ties you to Flipping Cars as you'd potentially be waiting for the right spec car to come up at auction.
I'd consider it if I was buying nearly new as less risk but not on an older higher mileage car.
I guess with the one off fee (any idea how much it is?) it ties you to Flipping Cars as you'd potentially be waiting for the right spec car to come up at auction.
I'd consider it if I was buying nearly new as less risk but not on an older higher mileage car.
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