Car auctions

[Phoenix]

So, today I had the day off work and decided to have a look at a car auction, had been wondering about them for a while and wanted to see what the setup was and more importantly what the quality of vehicles and sale prices was like.

Specifically, this was BCA auctions in Birmingham, the other main one appears to be Manheim but their stock of cars in the range i'm interested in totalled 1 vs about 30 at BCA.

I was kind of surprised at how it turned out, my area of expertise is larger BMWs, Audis and Volvos and this is what I stuck to looking at. In the past i've always bought privately or occasionally from dealers, but always cheap, significantly below average price with the usual outcome of selling it a couple of years later for about what I paid. I kind of fancy buying a more expensive car but reselling it a little sooner than normal to make a bit or at the worst break even several months or a year or two down the line.

The prices at the auction were IMO ridiculous, the sale price then has a graded buyers fee on top of that (sure it's less than public fee if you are a regular buyer) but of the cars I looked at and watched go through the auction they pretty much all sold at what I would say was average to above average private/dealer sale prices. I made notes of the prices and checked online later and this was still the trend, I could've got much cleaner or better spec examples privately or from dealers but would just have to travel further.

According to stats about 10% of auction attendees are private buyers, so why would so many dealers be buying cars at retail prices unless they just hope to sell them at way over the odds which is massive speculation (these buyers didn't exactly look like they ran high end dealerships that could attempt to charge much over the odds).

Just as an example, an '02 SLK 230 sold for 1050, worked out about 1500 with the buyers fees. This thing had no MOT, the front wings were beyond saving due to rust, new panel time, the rear arches would've likely needed welding, filling would've been a botch, the door lowers were rotted, was hard to tell how bad but given rest of car...bad. Madness, and it was an auction bidder not via the net so this person saw it.

Really, i'm just wondering who else has tried or actually bought from an auction, which auctions and whether they found the same. BCA and Manheim seem to be the big two, it's possible that smaller auction houses may get less selection but lower prices so any suggestions for the West/East Midlands area?

[mentalboy]

Because...

[Taught2BCauti...]

You could try Leicester Car Auctions
I don't think they have anything coming up this month, but it's worth a look.

I have bid on a few cars on there, also auctions at BCA, Melton Mowbray and Telford - but I almost feel like the regulars bump-up the prices for spite, as like you say, they sometimes go for ridiculous prices well-over Parker's Guide.

Best thing I found, was to ask around to find out what insurance or finance companies use the auction site, and contact them for a deal before they go to auction.

Years ago, I had a contact at Tricity Finance who occasionally tipped me off about repossessed cars that were waiting to be auctioned, and how much I needed to offer
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[N cee thirty]

i think you get alot that go in that haven't researched before hand about buyers premiums etc/ ran up by someone else and get stung
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[10 pence Short]

I've had a similar experience at the Commercial auctions at Measham.
The auctioneer was on first name terms with most of the bidders nothing went through particularly cheap. As said when you add the auction fees and VAT on top,it wasn't cheap, I presume regulars get a discount.

I eventually got a decent but not brilliant deal on a Berlingo van,It was late on in the day and because it was one of about 15 identical vans to go through, I think the demand was lower.
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[-]

£1050 to £1500 with fees? Eh nearly 50%. Surely a typo?

Auction fees would be nowhere near that.
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[Rogerborg]

[bamt]

[Slacker24seve...]

I've never been but a friend has had some successes at Brightwells. Oooh look, a police auction on Thursday:

https://www.brightwells.com/Vehicles/CarAndCommercial/Catalogue.aspx


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[Phoenix]

[-]

[Polarbear]

[Polarbear]

The car auctions in MK are really good for bargains as long as you are a bit savvy. There is no buyers premium, only an indemnity charge on top of the price you bid it at and that's only about £50.

I've bought lots of cars from the auctions and only had one real bad buy which was a Micra with a chocolate cam chain.

A mate is driving around in a little fiat bought for £200 with a long MOT.So what if it only lasts till the next MOT and then he will get half that back as scrap.

I bought my Alfa V6 sportwagon from the Auctions for £1050 and had it 2 years till the electrics started playing up. I sold it for £500 on ebay.
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[Rogerborg]

[Tomoose]