buying a car from england?

williams55

Hi
Ive noticed a lot of local car dealers are selling ex fleet cars from england . Now im ready to buy as ive just sold privately and i thought to myself about cutting out the middle man and heading over . Does anyone have any experiance of doing this . I mean where do the dealers get there cars , is it the likes of bca car auctions ?

Also wondering what way that works , dont fancy standing out like a newbie with a bundle of cash in my pocket . Im after a bmw 520d and reakon there must be a load of them across the water . What sort of saving is there to be made when going over myself .
Any advice would be great .
thanks

CL

As far as I'm aware a lot of the dealers over here buy from Wilson's Auctions in their Bi-weekly Fleet Auction. The auction is open to the public and I got my current car there (saving about 40% on a dealer's price). You can view the catalogue for the auction 1 week before and can view the cars the day before the auction. You need £500 cash to get a bidders card. This is held as a deposit if you buy and returned if you don't.

The next fleet auction is 6th July in Mallusk and 7th July in Portadown

http://www.wilsonsauctions.com/malluskcarsfleetwed.asp

http://www.wilsonsauctions.com/portadowncarsfleetthur.asp

williams55

Really, thats handy . So the cars would be english ?
That sounds great , im off for a noisy on the website . Thanks mate

CL

My car was an ex-company car from Scotland. Most of the Audis, BMWs and the like are ex-company cars from England.

spike7451

My dad used to get a company car from Peugeot every year,(he was a senior manager when he retired,still got the car tho...) & he used to have to take the car up to Glasgow to drop off the old one & pick up the new one.I gather they went to auction up there.

Contemplates

A guy I work with regularly changes his motor.... Like every year! He almost always buys from the mainland and then sells over here once he is bored of it. I don't know if it's just his luck but he very rarely loses out on resale.

Hearing his experiences convinced me to try it, and I've now done it twice. The first time, I brought my own car over for trade in and lined three cars on auto trader(same specs/same cars) and planned which to visit first after getting off the ferry. I only visited two as I bought the second, before heading back. I defo saved a good couple grand, and that's even after ferry costs and hotel for the night! Add that tho the bigger choice of second hand, better specs of business motors, and the fact that miles driven on the mainland are usually easier on cars with more motorway cruising rather than the crappy roads we have over here.

I can't see me limiting myself to the second hand Market here next time either.

Oh and in case you aren't trading in, when my mate is arranging a viewing on mainland, he always has the cheek to ask the dealer/seller to pick him up or have viewing at the airport, and most of the time they agree. I guess you do have to prepare yourself for failure, and maybe coming home empty handed though?

36square

I've bought a car in England and brought it back. If you want peace of mind, your best bet is to buy within the dealer network if there's any outstanding warranty, that way you'll be able to take it to a local dealer. Most manufacturers list approved second-hand vehicles at their dealers on their websites.

dodo69

Good idea to pay a small amount and register for auctionview (google it) _ I did so several years ago and got a lovely Volvo at 20% discount over local dealer prices. It allows you to see prices achieved and the cars coming up for auction.

bonjovi99

Try looking at ebay, watch say 10 cars that you would consider buying to see what sort of price people are prepared to pay at auction. This gives a much more realistic idea of a cars value than looking at asking prices. I bought a dec 05 BMW 520d with 100k miles for £7k. The owner did 100 motorway miles a day round trip to work as a ASDA manager + it had FBMWSH. Avoid the older models as they had turbo issues that weren't sorted unil July 05