OK – time to consult STW oracle… it does seem to be quite SingleCarWorld recently 😉

Anyone bought car(s) at auction? Went to a couple last week to get a feel for it and I'm going to head down to the same ones this week in the hope of making a purchase. Wondered if there were any pearls of wisdom to be shared? Good and bad experiences – and things to look out for please 🙂

Also – how does anyone ever decide on a motor? I have a certain amount of dough at the ready – but it seems to me that the level of compromise you have to make sucks the fun out of the deal.

Pragmatically, I suppose I should be getting something like a focus – but the prospect doesn't exactly make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. You'd think that there'd be a lot of options once you go above the high-mileage banger threshold – but it doesn't necessarily seem to be the case. Let's face it, none of us grew up wanting to drive midsize, used renaults or vauxhalls.

So, second question; if you had £7k and carte blanche, what would you buy?

(First person to say "a Moots frame, a big bag o' charlie and a couple of Peter Crouch's girlfriends for the weekend" – take a slap 😉 )

Yep, usually buy all my families cars from the auctions. Just bought a nissan note from BCA Manchester two weeks ago. 07 plate, 19000 miles warranted, fsh and fresh MOT, for £3500.

It can be a bit overwhelming, but there is some good deals to be had.
My tips are:
Get a price guide and look at all the cars your interested in, also go to the network q website, they have a value your car link that takes you to Glasses website, almost every dealer uses Glasses guide.

Get to the Auction early, get a program and go and look at the cars that you are interested in, check out everything on the bodywork, work your way around the car checking paint and panel alignment. Be there when the guys unlock them and check out the interior for wear etc, be there when they start it up and look for any warning lights on the dash, also listen to how it sounds on start and if there is excessive smoke from the exhaust.

If its BCA that you are going to they will have a print out on the windscreen, check if mileage is warranted and MOT/Tax etc all this should be on the print out.

Listen to what the auctioneer says about the car when it is driven into the auction hall, and have a price in mind (I usually use the bottom book price + £200), remember there will be a buyers premium to pay on the bid price so factor this in. Always stick to your price limit, that is important, your there to get a good deal not get in a bidding war with another buyer, there will be other cars.

Also, try to get one of the ex lease cars rather than a main dealers PX. You will also notice that the prices go cheaper later in the day, as most dealers will usually go when they have bought their quota.

Always aim to get it for at least £1500 less than what the main dealers are selling it for.

oh yeah. Check out auction view, its BCA's stock catalogue, so you can see what going through the auction centers, saves a wasted journey. Its free, you just have to register.

https://auctionview.british-car-auctions.co.uk/Secure/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fResults

Bought loads of cars at auction 6 month old ex demos or rental Vws mainly, Reign Mans advice is pretty much spot on .
Try and find out when the fleet stuff goes through, IMO you can get nearly new cars cheap or old cars cheap, the inbetween stuff tends to be at autotrader type prices.

– don't get sucked into bidding on one car

– be prepared to keep coming back week after week if the right car doesn't come up

– have a broad range of cars you're interested in (unless there are tons of Foci that come up every week)

Does anywhere sell write-off/crash damaged cars that anyone knows of?

Thanks folks – some sound advice there.

Today was a bit pants unfortunately. Hopefully tomorrow will be more promising.

Nobody answered my second question though… what would you try and buy buy if you had a 7k budget and no specific requirements other that decent reliability, running costs and not handling like a zeppelin?

Cheers.