car auctions

flyingscotno1

cheekychappy wrote: »

If you see an old car at auction...remember that the last owner had a reason to sell it and a reason why the dealer wants to lose it. Lots of cars at my local scrappy with the Camden Motors winscreen labels and auction details as they are just had it. If the car was any good, it would probably have not needed trading in as a distress purchase.
My local auction house has a 2 hour after sale test, but only cars over £1000 qualify. Anything sold below is sold as seen.
Sorry you had a rough deal, but please avoid anything in auction that looks like a trade in. There is lots of good cars at auction, but you win some you lose some.

Sometimes dealers, particularly franchise ones, get shot of old part-exs that are alright, but do not meet their requirements to be sold on through approved used and they flog them to auction for smaller trade / independant garages to pick them up.

Usually 2 hour tests are only for the newest vehicles- those guarenteed to 'have no major mechanical faults'. Of course you have to listen carefully to auctioneer- if he mentions needs work on brakes, and you mishear or don't catch it- possible in the noisy auction scene, you can't get money back if you complain about brakes!

I wouldn't say avoid trade ins, but be more careful. Lease cars can be a good bet- things from big leasing companies.

emmell

We always bought the main dealer p/x cars at auction, not the ones put in by the smaller used car dealers. If they got any decent ones in p/x they would sell them on themselves.
The main dealer one's aren't usually 'cherry picked' before they go to auction because their salesmen don't usually know one end of a car from the other.
I would say, always look for the 'main agent direct' stickers, these are usually the best buys.
ML.

cheekychappy

...but when the dealer is yes car credit or the car shop, you know it was pushed or towed to the dealers as was a distress px from someone who never looked after it.
I agree the lease cars are a sound bet or part ex cars that do not fit the dealers corporate policy.

Wig

hewhoisnotintheknow wrote: »

now that's weird, usually they take the headlights, bumpers, mirrors, doors, starters, altenator's etc etc off

rather than just crushing it

Maybe it was picked up by a crane/claw and dropped over to where they dissassemble them. Round here they generally remove the engine & wheels leaving everything else on the car eg lights, wing mirrors etc. Then folk can go round the yard picking bits off that they want, and when the car has been there long enough/picked clean it gets crushed. They simply don't have the shelf space to store all the bits, plus it's easier to find the bit you want if it is left on the car.

emmell

cheekychappy wrote: »

...but when the dealer is yes car credit or the car shop, you know it was pushed or towed to the dealers as was a distress px from someone who never looked after it.
I agree the lease cars are a sound bet or part ex cars that do not fit the dealers corporate policy.

Even though they have stickers on the windscreens, welcome finance and cc trade cars are easy to spot, they're the knocked about heaps in the corner with more rubbish in them than a skip. I meant main agent p/x eg. Ford, Nissan, peugeot, renault etc.
Lease cars are usually up to 3 years old, I was talking about cars up to £2000 that usually go through the cheapie sales.
ML.

lollol

emmell wrote: »

We always bought the main dealer p/x cars at auction, not the ones put in by the smaller used car dealers. If they got any decent ones in p/x they would sell them on themselves.
The main dealer one's aren't usually 'cherry picked' before they go to auction because their salesmen don't usually know one end of a car from the other.
I would say, always look for the 'main agent direct' stickers, these are usually the best buys.
ML.

can you give me an idea on who these main agents ie names qnd also the auctions you went to. thanks

emmell

lollol wrote: »

can you give me an idea on who these main agents ie names qnd also the auctions you went to. thanks

The main dealer will be relevant to the area, as I live in Yorkshire it's companies like
JCT600, Co-op, reg vardy, Hartwell. All main agents for different manufacturers.
The stickers on the windscreens usually say if they are Direct P/X, this should mean that the cars have come straight to auction and not passed through a middleman.
When we have bought in the past the cars that seemed to have the most (biggest) problems are the ones that haven't been direct, up to a point that we refused to buy non direct cars because of the problems. That doesn't mean that direct cars are perfect, we just seemed to have less problems.
We (I say we because I had 2 partners) used a few different auction houses mainly around West Yorkshire but the one we always returned to was Manheim near Knottingley, smaller and more user friendly than some of the larger ones.
ML.

onejontwo

cheekychappy wrote: »

...but when the dealer is yes car credit or the car shop, you know it was pushed or towed to the dealers as was a distress px from someone who never looked after it.
I agree the lease cars are a sound bet or part ex cars that do not fit the dealers corporate policy.

CAR SHOP!!! How dare you!!:rolleyes: I take it you have had a bad experience with them???

cheekychappy

onejontwo wrote: »

CAR SHOP!!! How dare you!!:rolleyes: I take it you have had a bad experience with them???

no issues with the car shop, but as I see many of their part ex cars in the scrap yard with the auction details still on....

...would you buy a 1994 Escort that looks like it has been driven through a roadblock.


Agree with the main agent disposals, the car maybe simply a few months too old for their forecourt or a few miles over what they can put a warranty on.

onejontwo

The way the" CARSHOP "works is that anything that isn't good enough for retail ends up on the "reject line"which is used like a donation centre ie. the mechanics swap duff items for good items. (far cheaper than buying them!) So depending on the length of time it's stood there, the car could have accrued many faulty locks, switches, relays, tyres, wheels, bumpers, doors, body parts etc. So if you're bidding on one don't be surprised if it turns out to be not that much of a bargain!!