best time to buy a car at auction

wojtur

Hi All,

The end of the year is near. I am planning to buy a car and I would like to buy it via car auction (probably at BCA). Can some one experienced in that matter please advice, is it better to buy now or rather wait until new year?
I am planning to buy something with 2007 plate so I guess if I wait couple of months those cars will be 4 years old and prices should be cheaper. On the other hand maybe traders want to get rid of those cars before the end of the year and prices might be also attractive?

Thank you

W

bigjl

If you have so little understanding of how the trade works that you need to ask questions as basic as these then the best advice is not to buy at Auction, you won't believe how many times inexpereinced private buyers push the prices at auction to just below dealer prices, as running bids against the wall is legal, and you wouldn't even know they were doing it, you see them there every week with a brand new copy of Parkers under their arm.

The simple answer is there is no way to buy at auction, no matter what Quentin Wilson has told you, prices vary only in as much as some cars are more desirable, you then have to pay a huge commission, especially as a private buyer at BCA.

My recommendation, buy from somewhere like CarGiant, you have legal comeback, and the cars are mostly ex fleet, the cargiant has exclusive deals with the large fleet companies to buy entire fleets at a time.

Only buy 1 owner, ex fleet with a full service printout, try and avoid cars that have been hammered round London or any other large city as they are shagged.

Traders never really get rid of cars unless they are an orphan, but most traders just avoid buying them in the first place.

One car that is cheap at auction is one the trade wouldn't want, in other words the previously mentioned orphan, as you need to sell it aswell at some point.

andygb

wojtur wrote: »

Hi All,

The end of the year is near. I am planning to buy a car and I would like to buy it via car auction (probably at BCA). Can some one experienced in that matter please advice, is it better to buy now or rather wait until new year?
I am planning to buy something with 2007 plate so I guess if I wait couple of months those cars will be 4 years old and prices should be cheaper. On the other hand maybe traders want to get rid of those cars before the end of the year and prices might be also attractive?

Thank you

W

Auctions are not a bad place to buy a vehicle - for the wary and prepared. If you know a fair bit about cars, or can take someone along with you, then you can save thousands.
Unfortunately, many people still think that auctions are the place where the trade offloads "lemons" on to an unsuspecting public (this is still true of smaller auctions). Nowadays, there are large companies, who wish to sell off huge numbers of cars - Motability vehicles being an example, BT, fleet sales, and this is where large auction houses like BCA, ADT come in to their own.
Get yourself on the net and register on their websites. You can then review the vehicles going through, and see who they are sourced from.
One of my friends picked up an immaculate "54 reg" Peugeot 307 a year ago for £1400, and it is a brilliant little car.
So, forget the scare stories, do some research and get yourself along there.
I am still running my X plate Mondeo Verona (Ex BT fleet car), purchased six years ago for a little over £2K, with FSH and 23K on the clock.
Good luck,
Andy

forgotmyname

When it snows and hardly anyone turns up. Bargains.

Depends what you want, How about an ex police vehicle with bits of trim missing and still faint
markings in the paint from the stickers?

Sadly the guns had been removed.

marlot

End November can be a good time, as the trade tend not to want to keep too many cars in stock through december (many have bank loans on the stocks). Prices tend to rise slightly in January as restocking starts again. But as forgotmyname says, snow can make a big difference.

If you don't know about cars and you really want to buy at auction, consider an auction buyer like joe dowd (google him). he'll pay lower commission than you so it need not cost a fortune.

EdGasket

From what I've seen of BCA, it is a waste of time for a private buyer because:

1) The cars are all locked up so you can't inspect, test drive, or even start the engine.
2) Most are sold as seen
3) The auctioneer is totally unintelligible and the PA system rubbish. Who wants to spend thousands when you can't hear properly what is being sold?
4) Not only do you have to pay the auction price plus usual extras (like insurance against it being stolen) but on top of that they charge you a buyers premium ! (they already get fees from the seller) I think these are greatly reduced for traders

Hammyman

Complete waste of time buying at auctions and has been for a good few years since scrap went up. Anything cheap will usually be knackered - blown headgaskets are the favourite.

As with point 4 above, a £1000 hammer price can quickly turn into £1250 or more.

vikingaero

I've found that there are very few buyers for the later auctions post 2pm as all the dealers and buyers rush back for admin or to pick the kids up from school.

andygb

EdGasket wrote: »

From what I've seen of BCA, it is a waste of time for a private buyer because:

1) The cars are all locked up so you can't inspect, test drive, or even start the engine.
2) Most are sold as seen
3) The auctioneer is totally unintelligible and the PA system rubbish. Who wants to spend thousands when you can't hear properly what is being sold?
4) Not only do you have to pay the auction price plus usual extras (like insurance against it being stolen) but on top of that they charge you a buyers premium ! (they already get fees from the seller) I think these are greatly reduced for traders

I do not know any auction where you can test drive a vehicle, so this is normal. The cars are not locked up all the time, you just have to do a bit of legwork, and not simply sit up in the seats waiting for the cars to come through.
Most are sold as seen, but large companies may give a warranty on mileage, FSH. Any car bought from a private buyer is sold as seen.
Our local auction is fine, the PA works, and although they speak quickly, the auctioneers are easy to understand.
I have never paid an extra insurance premium against a vehicle to prove its history. Everyone knows about buyers premiums - do you want the auction house to be run as a charity?
If you do not like auctions, and do not like buying "as seen", then stick to buying cars from main dealerships, I will then have the pleasure of knowing that there is one less person to compete with.;)

Wig

Told you before, I'll say it again.

Before buying at auction at least get yourself a good knowledge of the cost of the make/model you want from
local retailers,
local freeads newspapers
Autotrader online

and compare that to what you would expect it to bid for at BCA and then factor in the buyers premium and the Registration fee, & extra petrol costs perhaps and the probable inconvenience & risk of buying a car with no tax disc, are you happy to drive home with no disc? I am, but not everyone is happy doing this.


If you live near a BCA go there regularly to see how it all works, and what prices they are selling for.

Sales starting late in the afternoon are going to be better for you, this time (winter) of year will probably be better than summer, purely because of the foul weather we are having at the moment.

When buying at auction get there an hour early, and inspect the car from the outside & underneath, try all the doors & boot sometimes they are left open, if so you can get inside and open the bonnet and do a good inspection inc spare wheel. If not you will have about 5 minutes to inspect it inside once the driver opens it.

wojtur

I went to auction couple of times just to familiarize myself with the process. Armed with that experience I can say it wasn't that bad as some people describe it. Every car is sold in about 30 seconds and auctioneers speak fast but after listening to them for several minutes I could understand them enough to be able to make a bid. Also current price is being displayed on the screens. At BCA near me cars are sold during the week days and mainly they are fleet cars (2-3 years old). Most of the cars have a warranted mileage, log book and service history. I have been writing down all the winning prices during my BCA visits and then I compared them with car valuations available on the internet (for example whatcar website). Most of the selling prices were quite attractive and even after adding BCA fee the difference between dealer price and auction price was around 20%, BCA offers also transport of the car to your home for ~£60
My next visit at the auction will be to bid, and I will by armed with a list of cars that I want to buy and their estimated valuation so I won't pay more than I should. I hope weather will be bad :cool: and lower down the competition.

Thanks every one for your input.