I am looking to buy another car and have often thought of going to an auction but not sure how risky it is and who sells through an auction? Do they sell through an auction because the cars are knackered?

So any thoughts advice etc very welcome 🙂

Some auctions are really trade only: since the price that you pay will be the bid price plus a percentage (a premium, which can be more for non-trade buyers).
Which you do not get on Ebay.
If you have done your research and know what it is you want and can cope with the no warrantee way of buying then auctions are OK.

only if you hav3e the knowledge to know which ones are rubbish. I know a couple of people who bought pups from auctions.

The bigger auctions such as BCA are mostly ex fleet and hire cars as well as trade ins that have come directly from the car supermarkets.
My advice would be to go a few times and just observe before you buy.
Be aware that you will need to remove the car from their site the same day or possibly the next day or you might have to pay storage charges.

Smaller auctions will have loads of junk but of course prices will be far lower.

If you are asking for advice on here, then I’d suggest they are not the place for you…

Also be aware that at some auctions (like BCA) the additional fee/premium that you pay as a private buyer can be hundreds of pounds. In many cases this amount will close the gap between the hammer price and deal price at which you would buy from a trader (and even more so from a private seller) quite significantly.

I have bought many a vehicle from car auctions – mostly from Manheim, but in the past from BCA.Just a few simple rules to follow:
1. Run away if you know nothing about cars.
2. Stay clear of the local dealer trade-ins, unless you are prepared to fix them yourself.
3. Look for ex-lease cars with a full service history.
4. Buy only vehicles with a some manufacturers warranty left – so be prepared to spend at least £5,000 or more.( I bought a VAG group car that had an intermittent Audio unit fault, fixed free, with no questions asked by VAG).
5. Ex-motability cars are a good choice, but the trade loves them as well.
6. Never buy during school holidays.
7. Avoid weekend and evening auctions.

Hth
Marko

I’ve bought several cars from auctions and all have been bargains when compared to what they’d have cost elsewhere. In most cases you do need to know what you’re doing however, although the ex-rentals and ex-lease cars are less risky.

Its a while since I’ve last been to an auction but the real bargains were in the large big engined cars and 4×4’s. Stuff that traders don’t want becasuse it won’t move quickly.
Shopping cars were tending to go for quite high prices.

Go and watch some first before you buy.
Set a limita nd stick to it.
We’ve had 5 from auctions, 4 great cars and one dodgy one. Not a bad success rate, but it is a risk, hence the prices.

the pices can be, and often are, higher than forecourt prices, make sure you dont get into a bidding war with other private buyers who’ve all set themselves a limit of the forecourt price.

I’ve bought at auction, I’ve also sold two cars at auction when my conscience wouldn’t let me sell them face-to-face!

My auction purchase went well, I went and watched once first. Took someone who knew the score and their way round a car. I was buying at the cheap end of the market and got a bargain. If you buy a pup you can always stick it back in next week and make most of your money back. Before you take it away make sure it has oil, water etc – as otherwise it could be very expensive.

Two things to beware of (from someone who buys a lot at auctions) there are all sorts of odd deals going on, with people bidding stuff up for other people, and traders agreeing not to bid against each other to keep prices down! The other is that if you make it known you are a beginner that won’t necessarily be a bad thing; both staff an traders are reasonably nice (I’m sure a trader stopped bidding against me as I was a private buyer).

Not scientific, but that annoying guy on Discovery channel Mike Brewer, did a couple of programmes where he bought a car from an auction, did it up, then tried to sell it through another auction. Price at second auction was much beklow what he’d paid for it, and alledgedly he’d bought at an expensive auction and was trying to sell at a cheap auction. Can’t recall what he did in the end – think he sold it private.

An ex work colleague bought a car from an auction a few years ago, her & husband were doing lots of house renovations and they needed a small family car, got a Honda Civic at a really good price (so she said).

What br said.

Best advice would be to take someone who really knows their stuff.

Avoid buying a car just coz it seems cheap. If the dealers aren’t bidding on on a “bargain” they are likely to know something you don’t.

Decide what you car you want before you go and research the likely price beforehand. Go for ex-lease or if you can find out (sometimes the staff will tell you) company director’s cars (tend to be low mileage and well looked after).

Thanks all, i know its quite a specific place and something you need to have experience of etc etc thats why i asked the questions and as i thought and some of you have said i would be best avoiding it unless i can take someone who knows what they are on with.

IME you can get burnt – but as said above worst case is putting it back in the aution next week. You can loose money – but not a fortune.

Best safe bet is buying ex LEX, police (or other fleet). Avoid multiple owner cars with unwarranted miles and or service history.

As above – I only sell cars at auction that have major problems (eg headgasket).

As a half day out it’s pretty entaining! Most weeks there are cars for sale with no keys / remote (usually repros), cars that disgruntled partners have vandalised, cars that are obviously fubar, and stuff that goes for silly money.

Go along for a look see the first few times. There are some bargains.

Where in the UK are you? My mate will take you to an auction if you are in Newcastle. All he wants from it is 50 quid when you buy a car.

He’s done it for a few people now.

After this cold snap im going to be looking for the insurance write off’s. Cat D cosmetic damage only. Bought my civic aerodeck for peanuts as it had slid into a post damaged the bumper a headlight and bonnet. An hours work and £70 worth of panels of a scraper and id got a nice little motor.