Car Auctions

bananachip

You need to be careful buying at auction but can also pick up some great bargains, it is after all where the dealers go to buy their stock. I have bought at auction twice and both times have been happy with my buy but I have taken a mechanic relation along with me and let him know what I want and the price I was prepared to pay and let him do the bidding. You should be able to buy a schedule of all cars with guide prices for less than £1 and then keep an eye on what you are interested in.

The fees are fairly steep so figure them into the price, I can't remember how much I paid in commision and it will vary depending on price but will be publicised on the day. I also had to pay £25 for them to send the DVLA documents away for me which I thought was a rip off as I filled them in myself and all they had to do was stick it in an envelope but the will not allow you to send the forms yourself in case you dont do it.

There are also 3% fees added on for paying by credit card which could work out a significant amount if the value is high so try and pay by debit card or cash.

terryya

From my recent personal experience auctions are very expensive at the moment. By the time you've added on commision and the £25 charge for posting a letter to Swansea you're better off buying private. To be honest the car I bought from a franchised dealer was only a bit more expensive than the ones I watched go through auction

hethmar

I went to one a few weeks back with my OH to hopefully buy an ex council small diesel van for my son. We were given a guide price of £1200-1500 - every one of the 35 vans went for over £2400 plus VAT plus the auction fees

nullogik

Beware the frankly rip-off charges that the big auction houses put on the used sale price of the car. They're extremely high unless you have a dealer membership card/or frequent visitor type card which will slash the fees.

A visit to one of the big car auction houses:

You want to view what cars are for sale - buy a catalogue which is around £5

Buy a £1000 car. The auction fee is £230(!!!!) on top of that. Yes nearly 25%. :eek:

You want to pay by cash. There is a 2% handling fee. Similar charge for a credit card. Debit cards have no charge.

Then there is the DVLA paperwork to fill in and send off (a small coupon in reality). Charge for that is £25! Yep, all for about 5 minutes of the clerks time and a stamp - if that.

I object to the frankly ridiculous buyers fee. No wonder they don't publicise this on their website as it drive most folk away. The only place you can view it is in the payment office.

Frankly, I'm surprised they don't charge for the air breathed in during your stay there.

With the prices for cars I saw going through there, I'd say you could buy cars for around the same price once you've factored in the 101 charges in the classifieds from private individuals. Plus you get to road test the car and view it under more favourable and a less pressurised environment.