Merlin Car auction's

tankbarry

has anybody ever went to 1 of these. Do you pick up any bargains there was thinking about going.

S28382

I know someone who swears by them he thinks they are great but you would want to be clued in to whats going on and have a decent knowledge of cars as you not getting a drive of what your potentially buying.

If my memory serves me well i think you have to pay 500euro at the start as a deposit as such thats of course if your going to be bidding and if you dont win anything you get your 500e back. I might just be wrong on how it works i cant really remember if that is what he told me.

dgt

You can pick up some serious bargains but beware. I got caught out once myself with a classy dud

Remember indemnity fees and vat go on top of the final sale price

I think its lower than 500,

been to it once.
didnt bid but the walls were defo making bids.

paddy147

Ive heard people say that these car auctions are "made" in favour of the car dealers/sellers.

Thats its very very hard for the average "joe soap" to get a car at the right price.

mickdw

I've been many times. Never bought or bid.
Was just getting a feel for it. To walk in there and buy first time out would be lunacy IMO.
There are a lot of trade people and they will catch you out. Firstly they all know each other, and the type of stock the other is likely to buy so if you are selling they won't drive the price up by competing with each other. If you are buying, you could be bidding against them while they own the car therefore making you pay over the odds. Then you will have the auctioneer taking non existent bids from the back of the room to drive up the price.
All of this together with the possibility of buying a lemon means experience is required.
I haven't been in a while but at the time when Rte were reporting huge bargains at auction there were a lot of private buyers and the hammer prices were far too high. Better value to be had via private sale imo

sheehan12

i go there and there lot of fake bids there . most all the fake bids are on dealers car put in there.. so know how car worth before you bid

MidlandsM

dgt wrote: »

You can pick up some serious bargains

you must have been at different actions......there is no value at Merlin auctions.......ejits buying scrap for retail money......and fluffers jacking up the price....:rolleyes:

OP.......you'd be better off buying private with a good qualified inspection prior to purchase.

thecomedian

You can watch it online to get some sort of idea. Most cars will have a reserve on them,

dgt

MidlandsM wrote: »

you must have been at different actions......there is no value at Merlin auctions.......ejits buying scrap for retail money......and fluffers jacking up the price....:rolleyes:

When it was in Ashbourne I was there every Saturday. Bought 4 cars from them, 3 were absolute bargains and the last one was a complete lemon. Our first auction buy was a 3 year old Bravo with some finance and a broken window, sold to us for less than half it's rrp at the time :eek:

It's not for beginners, mouths or the faint hearted

Only been to Naas a few times since, full of crap. Prefer Wilsons myself

doctorchopper

Be careful, a lot of dealers put the lemons they can't sell into the auctions. I'd say the best ones would be finance repos

wonski

Been there last week. Lot of really ****e cars, and the few decent ones go for more than in private sales.
There was a Jag with steel wheelies, and lot of the trade cars have been stripped down from original alloys (Accord with big mercedes alloys was hillarious).
After looking at the book it seems most of the cars are marked as trade, with only few repossesions...
Not worth it in my opinion - i rather pay extra few hundreds for a car, but at least have a chance to drive it before i pay.
Most of them were far from good condition anyway - stinky, dirty, damaged in many ways, and not worth a look. But some guys there seemed very excited about them, so i may be wrong.

MidlandsM

wonski wrote: »

- stinky, dirty, damaged in many ways, and not worth a look. But some guys there seemed very excited about them

it's a funny sight at the ned of the aution when they go to flog off the awfull sh!t over near the fence.......the scobies/creamers/body vested chaps from eastern europe all DART over like flies to shyte.......:p

Then later you'll see some of the aforementioned gentlemen pulling a yoke up the M7 with a tow rope n' hazards flashing, and within 24hrs it'll be on DoneDeal with low milage, running well and "mint"

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

wonski

MidlandsM wrote: »

it's a funny sight at the ned of the aution when they go to flog off the awfull sh!t over near the fence.......the scobies/creamers/body vested chaps from eastern europe all DART over like flies to shyte.......:p

Then later you'll see some of the aforementioned gentlemen pulling a yoke up the M7 with a tow rope n' hazards flashing, and within 24hrs it'll be on DoneDeal with low milage, running well and "mint"

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

I left before it ended...

monkeypants

dgt wrote: »

indemnity fees

What are these?

wonski

monkeypants wrote: »

What are these?

http://www.merlincarauctions.ie/buying_fees_and_payment_terms

dgt

monkeypants wrote: »

What are these?

Covers potential hidden costs such as outstanding finance with the car you buy in auction. Can't remember exact figures, I think its €140 for cars below €1500 and €180 above that. Ridiculous on a €50 car :rolleyes:

cletus

Bought two cars there, got a fairly good price on both i think, both cars running well, no issues. I would suggest you go for the repo cars, as the banks etc just want rid of these, so even if you come in under the reserve (as I did), oftentimes they will let it go anyway.

Can be a lot of ****, check out online ehats on offer, pick tow or three your interersted in, research aversge current market price for similar models, settle on a max figure you are willing to pay and DO NOT excee this (its very easy to do)

Last thing, get there early and have a good lookover the cars your interested in, preferebly with a mechanic or somebody who is knowledgeable

mcsean2163

Just back from Merlin today.

I was there two years ago on the Kylemore Road, saw a car I liked, came up with a price and bought it. It was actually a bit weird asa the Merlin guy insisted that I pay more than the bid price or he couldn't sell it to me, (kind of defeats the purpose of an auction!)

The car ran ok until a fellow driver decided to drive on my side of the road.

Anyway, I was hoping for a bargain but I guess so is everyone else.

The stand out car for me was a peugeot 407 08-D-43448 78,946km. It sold for I think €5,200 or €5,100. Add in another €313 buyers fee plus €200 indemnity. The car had no service log book or owners manual and it obviosuly it isn't possible to drive it before buying and there is no warranty. Anyway, I didn't purchase.

I was slightly interested in two 2007 laguna's. One had a service manual but had never been serviced, sold €2700. The other, 117,000km appeared to have an issue with the drivers side door, in that it didn't lock, sold €3,500.

There does appear to be a lot of high mileage cars that probably wouldn't be sold in a garage.

Bit disappointed to be honest but I'll probably go back again and hope that I get a bargain. There appeared to be two bargains, a Ford Mondeo and an Opel Astra but I had dismissed them in the lineup.

Also, every car sells. This is unusual to say the least.

kildarelad

Just back from Merlin today.

I was there two years ago on the Kylemore Road, saw a car I liked, came up with a price and bought it. It was actually a bit weird asa the Merlin guy insisted that I pay more than the bid price or he couldn't sell it to me, (kind of defeats the purpose of an auction!)

The car ran ok until a fellow driver decided to drive on my side of the road.

Anyway, I was hoping for a bargain but I guess so is everyone else.

The stand out car for me was a peugeot 407 08-D-43448 78,946km. It sold for I think €5,200 or €5,100. Add in another €313 buyers fee plus €200 indemnity. The car had no service log book or owners manual and it obviosuly it isn't possible to drive it before buying and there is no warranty. Anyway, I didn't purchase.

I was slightly interested in two 2007 laguna's. One had a service manual but had never been serviced, sold €2700. The other, 117,000km appeared to have an issue with the drivers side door, in that it didn't lock, sold €3,500.

There does appear to be a lot of high mileage cars that probably wouldn't be sold in a garage.

Bit disappointed to be honest but I'll probably go back again and hope that I get a bargain. There appeared to be two bargains, a Ford Mondeo and an Opel Astra but I had dismissed them in the lineup.

Also, every car sells. This is unusual to say the least.

Every car sells alright till it appears back in the auction the following week !

MidlandsM

kildarelad wrote: »

Every car sells alright till it appears back in the auction the following week !

+1

till the lads in the string vests and track suits eventually buy them and they wind up on DD the next day, described as mint.

M three

Anyone subscribed to merlin snapshot? It's a paid service - allows you to see what was paid at past auction for particular cars

Bigus

M three wrote: »

Anyone subscribed to merlin snapshot? It's a paid service - allows you to see what was paid at past auction for particular cars

It's irrelevant unless you've seen the actual cars and there respective condition .

mickdw

Bigus wrote: »

It's irrelevant unless you've seen the actual cars and there respective condition .

It was interesting to see regardless. Used to get it when it was a free service. Idiotic move making that a subscription service.

M three

Bigus wrote: »

It's irrelevant unless you've seen the actual cars and there respective condition .

Not to me it isn't, I have query re recent prices on a particular model, are you registered and would you mind looking up something for me?