Questions about buying from Merlin Car Auctions

boardswalker

Hi,
I am looking at buying a second hand car. I have a few models in mind. I am wondering if it would be worth looking at Merlin Car Auctions.
I am interested in a Honda Accord Diesel, Mazda 6 diesel or Lexus IS220d -
05s or 06s.
Looking at the Lexus as an example, I can see four 06's on carzone with 60-65K mileage for 19,950 all for sale from dealers.

From reading threads about Merlin here it seems that it might be hard to get value there. I am wondering if thats right.

Q1. What is the likely selling price from the dealer in the current climate. My guess is 19K.
Q2. What price would I expect to be in Merlin? Given that I would be buying sold as seen, no service, no warranty I would expect at least a 2K discount, maybe even 4k? Am I at the races? Other threads here indicate private buyers have been paying dealer prices (as if with warranty) at the auction.
Q3. Can you see the reserves with Merlin. I would like to know before I travel if the car is within my range.
Q4. If a car does not meet the reserve, do they sell it or hold it for sale at the next auction. That seems to be what happens.

I would go to the auction if I thought there was a decent chance of getting a car at a fair price taking into account "sold as seen etc"
I don't want to have to go several times chasing a specific car. I live in Galway and I couldn't go again and again. If its not practical, I will just search the dealers.
Hope someone can help.
Thanks

boardswalker

Anyone know anything about Merlin?

Tipsy Mac

If I was you I would instead look to getting one in the UK instead, easily get one for around £10000, when you factor in VRT and cost of getting it you should be looking at around €17k.

eeyore2502

Be very careful! My father traded in a badly crashed car to them a couple of years back and a few weeks later he got a call from a customer (hes a car mechanic) to check out a car he was considering buying to arrive to see his old car fixed and to be told that it was never crashed!!

boardswalker

Going to the uk is a lot of hassle for me. Taking time off work etc would eat into the savings to be made.
As for the reliability of Merlin, that sort of comment could be and probably has been made about most garages. The key point is by checking the car out your dad's customer avoided buying a crashed car. If I do decide to make a bid for any car, I will bring a mechanic with me and do all recommended checks.

I'm still interested in answers to the specific questions. There's a lot posted here about Merlin but a lot of it is hearsay. I am finding it very hard to get specific info.

Thanks for the replies

carface

Unless the exact car your looking for is in merlin. It can be a waste of time.
the best way to manage buying in merlin is to inspect the potential purchase
well beforehand which can be hard to organize.You need to decide what you are prepared to bid to and be ready to leave without getting it.
lots of independant dealers around galway supply cars to order from uk and price accordingly and will deliver to your door.
all the best

lifer_sean

boardswalker wrote: »

Hi,
Looking at the Lexus as an example, I can see four 06's on carzone with 60-65K mileage for 19,950 all for sale from dealers.

Q1. What is the likely selling price from the dealer in the current climate. My guess is 19K.
Q2. What price would I expect to be in Merlin? Given that I would be buying sold as seen, no service, no warranty I would expect at least a 2K discount, maybe even 4k? Am I at the races? Other threads here indicate private buyers have been paying dealer prices (as if with warranty) at the auction.
Q3. Can you see the reserves with Merlin. I would like to know before I travel if the car is within my range.
Q4. If a car does not meet the reserve, do they sell it or hold it for sale at the next auction. That seems to be what happens.

A1. One 06 Lexus IS220D in Tipperary for 17,950, and one in Cavan at 18,500. The vendor in Tipperary runs a salvage yard ... I'm not saying the car was damaged/repaired but do your checks if interested in that one. The two in Cork at 19,950 are at Lexus main dealer, which will add a bit to the end price. I'd guess you could get 1k euro off these, but bear in mind the sellers will know what way the others on Carzone are priced. There are several on Carzone well into the 20k's also, so Im sure the Cork dealer will know that.

A2. Again it's guesswork, but Merlin price would want to be less than 17k including fees to be worthwhile. Fees on a 16,000 euro car would be 1,150 so the most you would want to bid would be 15,800. Again at auction whether this would buy the car depends on the vendor's expectations and who else is interested in it ... if you had two dealers that thought they each had a "hot" buyer for the car and bid accordingly, then the price could be quite high. If it's a private vendor the reserve could be high. Conversley, if the car was a bit offish with a few marks etc, or had previous repairs, then it might be sold cheap. It all depends on the day.

A3: Reserves are not published.

A4: If car is not sold at auction, or not sold by private treaty after the auction, then it is usually submitted for a few auctions. If the vendor is private or trade, they might take the car away if unsold. If being sold by the bank, then they are more likely to revise the reserve price.

At the moment Merlin have one IS220d in stock, was auctioned yesterday. It's a 08, in from private vendor. Don't know if it is still available.

As Carface said, there will be guys around Galway that would import one for you, maybe not as cheap as you could bring one in yourself, but cheaper than the local main dealers. There are certainly guys in Limerick that would do this for you.

boardswalker

Hi,
thanks for those replies. That's good info.
I am not aware of the Galway dealers bringing cars in to order. That's interesting. If anyone can pm me some names that would be great. I know one dealer who brings cars in but I don't know if he imports to order.
Would you get a warranty if you bought from one of those dealers?
Thanks

Rod & Reel

Boardswalker i have bought from merlin. price range a lot lower than urs 3.5k max. i got it for 3.2k the one i liked. but after i had paid for it i went out to collect and it would not start, luckly it was a minor problem cost me 200 to fix so all was good and car runs perfectly now.
but ur price range i think needs a bit more than a "good look about it" to warrant putting 17k on the line.
there is no comeback if it is a non runner.
i think what the lads are saying about getting an import from a dealer is best at least u get a waranty that way.
17k is lot of money.

Atomic Pineapple

You can watch and bid online with Merlin auctions now as well.

It would be a good idea to watch a few auctions and get a feel for the prices people pay for particular cars.

There is one on Wednesday at 7pm, I suggest you have a look at it, there's two lanes, one that has repossessed cars and fleet cars and one that has private and dealer cars I think.

I was watching last Wednesday on the repossessed lane and practically none of the cars reached there reserve, some were provisionally sold meaning a deal would have to be sorted out after the auction, this must only happen if its close to the reserve price though because some cars were left as unsold even though there were bids on it

Gumbo

if its too much hassle to go to England yourself, then maybe an agent might be worthwhile??

http://ukdirect.ie/