Anybody bought a car from eBay?

murphaph

Thinking about buying something in the NE of England/Wales on eBay. I use eBay regularly and am familiar with it in that respect but have never bought anything over a few hundred quid on it. Anybody ever bought a motor? What's involved in buying a motor in the UK anyway? Easy?

eBay seem to do HPI checks on the cars on sale there at a much reduced price than direct from HPI Ltd.

Anan1

I've done it, and it worked out well for me. Buying a car without seeing it is always going to be a bit of a gamble, but I found I could tell a lot from having a long chat with the owner before bidding. If you're comfortable with this aspect of the purchase, and know what questions to ask, then you should be fine. If you have any doubts or reservations, and I mean any, then walk.

kdevitt

have done it, no problems... just take the usual precautions

Bluehair

Done it too, HPI check and RAC/AA inspection vital in my opinion. Check out the 'importing a car from the uk' thread which is stickyed at the top of the forum for a lot more info on the procedure.

BnA

Done it twice.

If you can at all, try and buy off someone who has decent feedback. Particularly someone who has good feedback for selling cars. Also, definately look for a full service history. You're definately taking a chance without it.

If you can afford to wait, there are definately bargins to be got on it.

Gerry

Yep, did it a week ago. Talk to the owner as much as possible beforehand. If they are genuine they will have no problem talking to you and answering all your questions. Try to get as much service history as possible. Allow 3 hours at least to get to holyhead from birmingham with no traffic ( adjust as necessary ), do not take the a5. Take the full v5 from the owner, don't bother getting them to send it to dvla, it just complicates the whole process, as I'm currently finding out.

bucks

Have also done it but i had first seen the car advertised on a BMW enthuasists site so i was confident when i started bidding on it.

el tel

Fair play to anyone who is up for buying a car on Ebay.
This is the only car I've had the courage to buy there http://www.diecaststation.com/images.asp?id=14212
and I must admit I wouldn't have the nerve to buy any
real car without having test driven it, let alone seen it.
Ebay for cars seems to work for most people but I personally
would only go this route if it was something I couldn't get from
another source or if I knew a lot about the car's provenance from another source.

murphaph

It'll all depend on a job I'm going for (has company car or allowance scheme but I'd be screwed for BIK on the company car as there'd be 0 business miles a year! and to get the allowance there's a minimum spec the car has to meet <5 years old, saloon etc. Currently I'm just using my motorbike and have no need for a car but I don't wanna lose out on the allowance!).

I've been looking at fleet management companies shops and they have plenty of good feedback selling your average 3 years old ex-company car, fully serviced at main dealers for it's life with a lot of the average 100k being motorway miles. I'd likely go for a 1.9/2.0 diesel as I believe these to be easier to offload over here when I have to than a 1.8 or 2.0 petrol.

Was looking at 03 Mondeos/Lagunas for around £3800-£4500 from these places though I have a feeling it might be wiser to go for a more expensive A4/Passat for resale value over here (however then I'm into personal loan territory and would rather buy something from my own resources). I think GB cars are better spec'd and better looked after and have to endure fewer sh!te roads, so seem a better overall purchase, even if of paper it looks like the same cost for the same car. Thoughts on this?