Auctions, worth going ?

ads2312

Hi

I've got about £6000 and am looking for a A3, Golf or similar, auto, less than 60000 and wanted to know what sort of age I might get at one of the auctions (wimbledon or near london).

From looking at Autotrader i'm looking at 2004 or 2005 if lucky.
Just trying to gage if its worth taking day off to go and have a look, deffo worth it if I could get a 06 but probably a bit optermistic !

cheers
:beer:

JQ.

You can pay online to see the all auction lists for BCA, circa £10 for a few months. If you see a car you fancy you can then phone BCA and they will give you the guide price, which is surprsing similar to what they actually sell for.

We bought one a Ford Cmax at auction last year and it's worked out very well. However, we specifically targeted 3 year old cars which had been lease owned - less likely to be problems with the car.

ads2312

thanks for the reply. I'm hoping someone may know what I might get for the money or even do a quick search for me but if not i'll cough up myself. How much difference was the price you payed compared to a dealer?

anewman

I think auctions are best for "undesirable" cars. Things like A3, Golf etc I imagine will always get well bid on, and you'll be bidding against people who may be willing to pay that little more than you.

JQ.

We payed £7,000. We would have had to pay £8,000 to buy one privately at the time and more from a garage.

There are loads of desireable cars going through the auctions, plenty of golfs, a3's, BMW's and Audi's. Just make sure you know what you should pay and stick to your limit. The one we got was the 3rd one we bid on, the first 2 went for too much money.

I'd just pay the subscription if I were you - you litterally need to be on it every couple of days to see which cars are being sold. BCA have auctions nearly every day.

ps, the only way to find sold prices is to actually be at the auction.

newfoundglory

anewman wrote: »

I think auctions are best for "undesirable" cars.

What about popular cars like Ford Fiesta/Focus and Vauxhall Corsa/Astra? Do those usually go cheap at auctions?

Chippy_Minton_2

Hope you know what your doing and know something about cars so you don't get your fingers burnt.

ads2312

If I can get a 1000 off a private sale price then its worth going. Anyone been recently ?

ads2312

probably go with ex fleet so hopefully be ok. Think i know enough about cars to get buy and will take a friend who tinkers a bit

goldspanners

Chippy_Minton wrote: »

Hope you know what your doing and know something about cars so you don't get your fingers burnt.

thats what auctions are all about!
of the cars ive been involved in buying at auction usually under £1000 half of them have been in need of more work than imagined. but all worked out economical luckily enough.

neilmcl

JQ. wrote: »

You can pay online to see the all auction lists for BCA, circa £10 for a few months. If you see a car you fancy you can then phone BCA and they will give you the guide price, which is surprsing similar to what they actually sell for.

We bought one a Ford Cmax at auction last year and it's worked out very well. However, we specifically targeted 3 year old cars which had been lease owned - less likely to be problems with the car.

Auctionview on the BCA site is now free to search listings and download catalogues, just need to register.

Remember you're bidding mostly against the trade so you should be aiming for around trade-in price, have a look via here: http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/vaux/pages/financeAndServices/valueYourCar/index.jsp for a Glass's guide valuation. Go a couple of times first to get the feel of things and to note down current prices and when you've done your research decide what you want to spend and stick to it, if you don't get your car today there's always the next auction.

I don't know what current values are like but the last time I went a few months back prices were high and a lot of cars were going well over book.