Driving 90 miles to an auction - good idea?

terryya

Thanks to Happy Chappy on the BCA thread I've managed to get some info on the auction prices of the car I'm looking at and went to my local auction today and watched 4 go for decent prices although I had just gone to watch and didn't bid.

There don't seem to be too many near me in the next couple of weeks and with my current car sold and the buyer picking it up on Saturday I'm in a bit of a rush.

So I was just wondering what peoples thoughts are on driving 90 miles for an auction that has 6 cars I'd be interested in buying? I've nothing else at all to do tomorrow so that isn't really an issue.

big_gay_kirk

i'd do it.. but thats not necessarily a recommendation!

anewman

The thing I always think about auctions is - that's what it sold for without you getting involved. If you start bidding, those with the buying power might bid against you making it more expensive, or a waste of time.

Motmac

anewman wrote: »

The thing I always think about auctions is - that's what it sold for without you getting involved. If you start bidding, those with the buying power might bid against you making it more expensive, or a waste of time.

Also, the travel there may influence a bad decision to not come away empty handed.hard to keep a level head at the best of times at an auction.

terryya

anewman wrote: »

The thing I always think about auctions is - that's what it sold for without you getting involved. If you start bidding, those with the buying power might bid against you making it more expensive, or a waste of time.

Good point, even though at this time of night I did have to read it a couple of times before getting it. :think:

I'd always thought that I'd wait til the bidding died down and then start, providing it was below my top price. However, now I'm thinking it might be better to get in early then at least you should 'win' if someone else has the same top price as you. Like you said though if someone has more buying power then it could be a wasted journey!

terryya

Motmac wrote: »

Also, the travel there may influence a bad decision to not come away empty handed.hard to keep a level head at the best of times at an auction.

That is something I considered but I'm fairly certain that if it goes over my ceiling price then I'll just leave it. Plus it is more of a head buy than a heart, so I won't be falling in love with any of them.

balsingh

Motmac wrote: »

Also, the travel there may influence a bad decision to not come away empty handed.hard to keep a level head at the best of times at an auction.

This is a good point. Its worth taking someone else with you so if you get carried away, at least someone else with you can give you a 2nd opinion.

harveybobbles

Not all of the bids are comming from the hall tho.

So you need to be having a sly look around you at who is bidding, plus listen carefully to the online bidders (like me)

Wig

It depends if you can get the car somewhere else, if the car is available on Autotrader for cheaper or nearer to you then that is where you should look first and foremost. You have to add a buyers fee ontop of a £25 admin fee onto your bid at BCA. Plus you have to get it home untaxed or manage to arrange tax purchase on the day of the auction. Buying from private ads is far preferable, as you will be able to look at the car properly & will likely be taxed.

Only if your car is under 3 years old with FSH (assuming there IS 3 years manuf warranty - not all cars have this anymore, some are now 2 years, & some are more than 3 yrs) - or if the bid is incredibly cheap - should auction be considered equal to private ads. When I buy from auction I always check autotrader first, if it's not available, then auction becomes worthwhile.

Yes, I do travel across the country to get my (otherwise unavailable) cars from auction.

BTW which is your 'local auction' and which is 90 miles away?

terryya

Thanks for advice and info Wig. I'd read your advice about usually better to buy private rather than auction so did a lot of searching before deciding to make auction a possibility.

The local auction to me is Brighouse (about 5 mins drive on a good day) so I went down on Monday as there were four going through on the Motability sale. I was armed with the pricing info from HC so knew what they had been selling for recently and had checked out what the buyers fee would be-armed with this info I set myself a top limit. I checked out the cars and ruled two out straight away. I then watched about 100 cars be auctioned and decided if the price was right then I was comfortable bidding. On the day though the prices were above my limit and they sold for higher than the average price so I left it.

The only problem was that I had sold my car privately so needed a new one asap (also my wife had promised her parents a day out with the grand kids in our new 7 seater) so decided to go down to Measham were they had about 6. Again I set myself a limit for each car and checked them out before hand-ruling a couple out. It seemed (to my untrained eye) to be a lot quieter with less pros there but still (possibly because of the private buyers) the first two went for too much. However the penultimate one stopped a couple under my budget so I went for it. I ended up with 05 plate 1.6 Grand Scenic Dynamique, just under 25K with motability service print out for just under £4000 inc all fees. I've driven it for about 250 miles and it is absolutely great. The only 'problems' are that it was previously owned by a scruffy dog owner (although elbow grease and febreeze sorted that) and a broken light lens on the rear.

Looking on autotrader, even taking into account haggling a bit I think I'd have spent at least another £500 buying from a dealer and there aren't any private ads anywhere near that. So far I'm fairly pleased at the moment as I've managed to swap from on 03 focus 1.6 zetec with about £400 of body damage and 66k on the clock to an 05 Grand Scenic with 25k on the clock for £800.

A fairly long winded reply to a simple question but I thought I'd tell the whole story in case anyone was interested.

Again thanks for your advice and info in the threads and for the prices from both yourself and HappyChappy. :beer: