Car Auction

Omojo

I need help cutting my loses. I work in care sector and was unable to attend a car auction I registered for. Deposit of £950 was paid. I made the mistake of giving a friend my log in detail to bid for me with the car specifications I wanted. Unfortunately the one they closed on was way above my budget. It is a Land Rover 2016 diesel  car. I have w/o options. Lose my £950 deposit for failing to follow through or buy it at total cost of £5514 and trust the auction company to resell for me in the next auction. Which option should I choose

Woodstok2000

Omojo said:

I need help cutting my loses. I work in care sector and was unable to attend a car auction I registered for. Deposit of £950 was paid. I made the mistake of giving a friend my log in detail to bid for me with the car specifications I wanted. Unfortunately the one they closed on was way above my budget. It is a Land Rover 2016 diesel  car. I have w/o options. Lose my £950 deposit for failing to follow through or buy it at total cost of £5514 and trust the auction company to resell for me in the next auction. Which option should I choose

Couple of things worth checking:

1) What is the guide trade price for the car (try parkers or similar)

2) What selling fees would be due if you resold it at the auction?

Mildly_Miffed

A £5.5k 2016 DiscoSport in a local car auction would have me asking one question... "What's wrong with it?"

And the answer is almost certain to be "the engine", because that'll be a very early Ingenium.

Swallow the £950 loss, and count yourself lucky.

paul_c123

Its a fairly easy evaluation to do, if you know the likely price it would achieve at the next auction (you could guess at your purchase price minus the bid increment; or use CAP as a guide).

Option 1: £950 loss
Option 2: buy price + buyer's fees  + sale/entry fees - likely sale price.

Grey_Critic

My mate had an Evoque and when he got a report after service of possible g.box/engine troubles got rid within a week 0- let someone else have the problems.

forgotmyname

I doubt the final bill will be £950.  Storage fees and resell fees etc.

I don't know which auction you used to know their T&C's but the charges can soon add up.

shera12

Ouch, that’s a tough one 😬 Personally, I’d probably cut your losses and let the deposit go £950 is painful, but £5,514 total is a lot to commit to something you didn’t plan to buy. Trying to rely on the auction to resell is risky and could cost you more in the end.

jimjames

Omojo said:

 Lose my £950 deposit for failing to follow through or buy it at total cost of £5514 and trust the auction company to resell for me in the next auction. Which option should I choose

Known value of £950 or unknown value that might be more. Depends how much you want certainty of not owing more money than £950. I'd probably do that but it's an expensive lesson. As pre the posts above if your budget is limited I definitely wouldn't be buying a Range Rover.

born_again

Tell the friend well done on buying a car. Just that they need to go & pay, as it is not what you told them you wanted..

Grumpy_chap

Omojo said:

I need help cutting my loses. I work in care sector and was unable to attend a car auction I registered for. Deposit of £950 was paid. I made the mistake of giving a friend my log in detail to bid for me with the car specifications I wanted. Unfortunately the one they closed on was way above my budget. It is a Land Rover 2016 diesel  car. I have w/o options. Lose my £950 deposit for failing to follow through or buy it at total cost of £5514 and trust the auction company to resell for me in the next auction. Which option should I choose

Does the car work?
What would you get selling the car to an online car buying service?  Local "we buy cars for cash" trader?
Is the loss through buying at £5.5k and then selling via an easy means greater or less than the £950?

born_again said:

Tell the friend well done on buying a car. Just that they need to go & pay, as it is not what you told them you wanted..

I don't think that would be fair or conducive to keeping the friendship.
Buying cars at auction is fraught with risk and not for the faint hearted.  To have trusted this process to a friend, the OP must have known the secondary risks they were carrying and delegating to another.

sheslookinhot

Quite simply option 1.

That is before the wisdom of buying a 10 year old diesel Land Rover, unseen/untested.