UK Auction Sites

usher1890

Hey Guys

I'm looking into buying a car in the UK. I've been in touch with several dealers and all the usual websites. I almost bought a car the other day but for the VRT to go up 1,500 because it was a automatic.

The dealer bought the car from an auction (can't remember where he said) but rather than pay him an extra £1k for the car I'd like to buy the car direct and cut out the middle man.

Any of ideas of auction sites across the UK?

sunnysoutheast

usher1890 wrote: »

Hey Guys

I'm looking into buying a car in the UK. I've been in touch with several dealers and all the usual websites. I almost bought a car the other day but for the VRT to go up 1,500 because it was a automatic.

The dealer bought the car from an auction (can't remember where he said) but rather than pay him an extra £1k for the car I'd like to buy the car direct and cut out the middle man.

Any of ideas of auction sites across the UK?

British car auctions is about the biggest. Have you tried the car supermarkets - they are a good bet if you don't have a trade-in.

usher1890

sunnysoutheast wrote: »

British car auctions is about the biggest. Have you tried the car supermarkets - they are a good bet if you don't have a trade-in.

Hey thanks for the reply, I checked the British Car Auction sites online, but of those you can see the stock list, none have any models with decent mileage.

I've had a look at the car supermarkets and the pricing is not the best. The pricing of the car (2009 Honda Accord es/ex gt) varies massively between places. Some are looking for as little as £7.5k for one with 70k miles, others are looking for £10-11k. Any ones with mileage less than 60k are looking for between £10-16k.

In my case the car I was getting was £11k but after a HPI check which looked a little suspicious (since cleared with HPI) the dealer sent me his car check report and I noticed he only payed £10k for it at an auction. As you could understand I want to cut out the middle man and get the car for the cheapest possible.

Xpro

Just remeber for a non trader the Auction fees will be mental. So if you buy a vehicle from a UK auction there will be atleast another 300-500£ on top of the hammer price. Then your sterling rate and delivery, plus you will buying sold as seen, so if you get a lemon its your problem. At least when buying from a dealer over here, you have warranty.

cluttrell

I've been comparing Diesel Audi A4's from 08-09 for the last couple of months and have found that generally the car supermarkets seem to offer the best prices. A colleague of mine brought a Passat in from cargiant (www.cargiant.co.uk) and said the whole process was very smooth.

The issue at the moment is the continually fluctuating euro -> sterling rate, it's not making it particularly worthwhile in terms of € savings to go to the UK. I spent this Sat afternoon in some garages in Cork and noticed that for this type of car (full size diesel Saloon), at least half of them on sale are English cars imported from the UK by the dealers due to a lack of trade in's here.

I found that the selection is poor at the moment and looking at the stats for new car sales over the past couple of years it's only going to get worse as the year draws to a close.

I'm going to keep looking but ultimately I might end up waiting until Jan/Feb when there's a better selection as I'm looking for something with a high spec and low mileage that I'll hang onto for a good few years.

usher1890

cluttrell wrote: »

I've been comparing Diesel Audi A4's from 08-09 for the last couple of months and have found that generally the car supermarkets seem to offer the best prices. A colleague of mine brought a Passat in from cargiant (www.cargiant.co.uk) and said the whole process was very smooth.

The issue at the moment is the continually fluctuating euro -> sterling rate, it's not making it particularly worthwhile in terms of € savings to go to the UK. I spent this Sat afternoon in some garages in Cork and noticed that for this type of car (full size diesel Saloon), at least half of them on sale are English cars imported from the UK by the dealers due to a lack of trade in's here.

I found that the selection is poor at the moment and looking at the stats for new car sales over the past couple of years it's only going to get worse as the year draws to a close.

I'm going to keep looking but ultimately I might end up waiting until Jan/Feb when there's a better selection as I'm looking for something with a high spec and low mileage that I'll hang onto for a good few years.

That's exactly what I want to do, high spec low mileage. I know what you mean re: exchange rate and savings but by my calculations the price I hope to pay including VRT will be 16/17k euro's. The 2009 models here in Ireland are averaging from 15k for those with 100k+ to 22.5k for those with decent mileage. The VRT are valuing the car I was going to get at 22k.

To the last guy who said about auctions I know its a fair point but its like this, the Honda I was buying was from a dealer who bought it at an auction (he specializes in one owner ex-company cars), I was def going to buy that car only for the excessive VRT, so why not cut him out and go straight to an auction myself. I would be bringing a mechanic with me?

usher1890

Just to add to that, quicks.co.uk seem fairly cheap as well!

colm_mcm

usher1890 wrote: »

That's exactly what I want to do, high spec low mileage. I know what you mean re: exchange rate and savings but by my calculations the price I hope to pay including VRT will be 16/17k euro's. The 2009 models here in Ireland are averaging from 15k for those with 100k+ to 22.5k for those with decent mileage. The VRT are valuing the car I was going to get at 22k.

To the last guy who said about auctions I know its a fair point but its like this, the Honda I was buying was from a dealer who bought it at an auction (he specializes in one owner ex-company cars), I was def going to buy that car only for the excessive VRT, so why not cut him out and go straight to an auction myself. I would be bringing a mechanic with me?

Who knows how many auctions that dealer went to and how many accords he didn't bother with,

FacebookLAD

I'm looking for a 2009/2010 Accord with the works too, was going to buy soon but will wait until January now. Will be cheaper then.

bazz26

FacebookLAD wrote: »

I'm looking for a 2009/2010 Accord with the works too, was going to buy soon but will wait until January now. Will be cheaper then.

No guarantee of that given that VRT bands will probably be adjusted upwards in December's budget.

MidlandsM

bazz26 wrote: »

No guarantee of that given that VRT bands will probably be adjusted upwards in December's budget.

+1

OP, I'm in BCA's all over the uk often, and my advice is to go over, do not buy over the phone or internet, eyeball any car you are interested in.

L-M

You have to remember doing this is the lively hood of these lads, they know the auctions inside out, they know the costs inside out and they know pretty much everything else inside out.

For the sake of a grand, you're going to get a car VRT'd NCT'd and delivered to you without having to even blink an eyelid and also getting a warranty.

That's if you buy of someone reputable, and at that still do all the normal history checks etc.

lifer_sean

If you are looking for a 09 Accord Auto from the UK auctions, you could be in for a bit of a wait.

Tonight BCA have 12,002 cars in stock. They have 32 Accords, 7 of which are 09's. Only one is an automatic, and that one is a 2.4 petrol. Most have 55-65k miles.

Remember the British like low miles high spec cars aslo, so these will always make a premium in the auctions.

+1 on the high fees also. The fees don't reduce significnatly until you have bought 12+ cars from them, within a 12 month period.

usher1890

Thanks for the replies.

I'm just going to wait patiently until the right car at the right price comes along, even if it means waiting until the new year.

Ideally I would like to get one in the North but not much up there, or go to the UK to view some but its a bit costly to be going across if you don't find what you want.

Jellicoe

colm_mcm wrote:

Who knows how many auctions that dealer went to and how many accords he didn't bother with,

Exactly, and if he's any good, he'll get it cheaper than any private buyer will, so you won't end up paying that much more if you're buying straight, and you'll have a warranty and local service should anything go wrong if he's legit / decent.