Flipping Cars company

IBrows89

I'm currently looking at buying a car (preferably from the UK) and a friend mentioned Flipping Cars.The name alone sounds bad but looked at the website and it seems to be fairly well reviewed and a good concept. They have an Irish address and can ship to car over from the UK for around £300.

Has anyone used these before? I don't know anyone first hand that have used them so am still a bit wary.



Sorry if there is already a thread on this I must have missed it...

Notch000

my brother got a UK car through auction through this guy, he was very positive about the whole process afterwards. I believe he had a YouTube channel as well. He got the brother a car through auction stored it for a few weeks and meet him at the airport to hand it over keys and take final payment. The deal all went well for a pre-arranged fee

Shefwedfan

They not the same company as https://ukcarimports.ie/

That website used to have a person on boards to give advice,

IBrows89

Notch000 wrote: »

my brother got a UK car through auction through this guy, he was very positive about the whole process afterwards. I believe he had a YouTube channel as well. He got the brother a car through auction stored it for a few weeks and meet him at the airport to hand it over keys and take final payment. The deal all went well for a pre-arranged fee

It seems like a good service, I must watch some of the youtube clips and do a bit more research..

vicM

IBrows89 wrote: »

I'm currently looking at buying a car (preferably from the UK) and a friend mentioned Flipping Cars.The name alone sounds bad but looked at the website and it seems to be fairly well reviewed and a good concept. They have an Irish address and can ship to car over from the UK for around £300.

Has anyone used these before? I don't know anyone first hand that have used them so am still a bit wary.



Sorry if there is already a thread on this I must have missed it...

I got a car from auction using him, pretty painless and got the car delivered to Dublin as well

zweton

Shefwedfan wrote: »

They not the same company as https://ukcarimports.ie/

That website used to have a person on boards to give advice,

These guys look good, their website has everything you need.

Paranoid Mandroid

vicM wrote: »

I got a car from auction using him, pretty painless and got the car delivered to Dublin as well

Same experience myself. It was all dead easy and I found them great to deal with. Cost of delivery was about £390 (includes Vat).

damemcd

Very good service, got a vw golf in NOV.2017, very happy with it.

bf

Bought a few cars through Chris at Flipping Cars - highly recommend him, easy to deal with. He will also deliver to Dublin, but I would say go over & collect if possible (cheap flight to Birmingham & ferry back) as sometimes delivery can be slow.

IBrows89

Excellent, thanks for the feedback.

I might shoot him an email and get talking to him about the next car, I'll let ye know how I get on!

domrush

anyone think the guide prices look a bit low on their website?

terrydel

zweton wrote: »

These guys look good, their website has everything you need.

Except that it doesnt work.

IBrows89

terrydel wrote: »

Except that it doesnt work.

The website works for me when I've tried it. It does have the same cars repeated but not too bad to gt an overview.

Or do you mean the service doesn't work?

vicM

domrush wrote: »

anyone think the guide prices look a bit low on their website?

It may look low, but bear in mind that it's up to you to consider your budget and set it. You then of course get Chris to bid for you.
Think the guide price is just that..

terrydel

IBrows89 wrote: »

The website works for me when I've tried it. It does have the same cars repeated but not too bad to gt an overview.

Or do you mean the service doesn't work?

No, I just mean the website isnt working for me when I do a search mate.
Might be the network Im on at work, who knows.

Shefwedfan

terrydel wrote: »

No, I just mean the website isnt working for me when I do a search mate.
Might be the network Im on at work, who knows.

If you are talking about ukcarimports, dont use the main search, click on the top of page on used cars and search via that

gooner99

vicM wrote: »

It may look low, but bear in mind that it's up to you to consider your budget and set it. You then of course get Chris to bid for you.
Think the guide price is just that..

Would the prices generally end up more than the guide price at these auctions?

Anyone go for the trade sales option instead. I'd imagine in this case the listed price is the price?

zweton

Anyone know the difference between ukcarimports and flippingcars ?

Do they go the same route when geting someone a car? Both seem decent.

Shefwedfan

zweton wrote: »

Anyone know the difference between ukcarimports and flippingcars ?

Do they go the same route when geting someone a car? Both seem decent.

It would be interesting to see if both companies are owned or in partnership with each other

vicM

gooner99 wrote: »

Would the prices generally end up more than the guide price at these auctions?

Anyone go for the trade sales option instead. I'd imagine in this case the listed price is the price?

I know for some of the bids, the budget was a bit tight for me, but we went for it anyway, as once you have paid his fee you can bid as much as you like. Even then one car I really had my eye on and had bid, went for about 300£ now than we had budget and about 600£ morr than asking..

For the trade options, Id say you'd have to bid/buy in bulk but not sure, fire Chris an e-mail, he is quite good at getting back

vicM

zweton wrote: »

Anyone know the difference between ukcarimports and flippingcars ?

Do they go the same route when geting someone a car? Both seem decent.

Doubt they are the same, but could both be using the same biz model..I think for bca auctions in the UK you have to be a dealer of sorts to participate in the auctions

Flipping cars has a Irish arm flippingcars.ie

ewj1978

Stick to the flippingcars.co.uk website. Chris is sound and got back to me within a few hours of enquiring about a car.

dazzday

Hi all. Im looking at using this service - anyone have any recent feedback?

Is it required or worth it to upgrade my membership to get increased visibility into auction prices - or should i just pick a few cars and email Chris with my budget etc?

vicM

dazzday wrote: »

Hi all. Im looking at using this service - anyone have any recent feedback?

Is it required or worth it to upgrade my membership to get increased visibility into auction prices - or should i just pick a few cars and email Chris with my budget etc?

I recently used the service and can recommend. The membership does give you a more accurate expected cost, I'm not sure it's really worth it given you can tell from the site the approximate cost range of the car, then the auction fee is appropriately 300-400£, then Chris charge

Wheety

Does Chris check the cars out first?

IBrows89

I'm still very tempted by this but it's a lot of money to hand over without seeing the car or meeting Chris first, makes me very nervous.

vicM

Wheety wrote: »

Does Chris check the cars out first?

Nope, but there is a mechanical report and a condition report
The condition report is quite good
The mechanical report I think is a basic, is it working or not, what I did is stick with cars from the big leasing companies with fsh

IBrows89

vicM wrote: »

Nope, but there is a mechanical report and a condition report
The condition report is quite good
The mechanical report I think is a basic, is it working or not, what I did is stick with cars from the big leasing companies with fsh

How do you know if they're from these leasing companies?

vicM

IBrows89 wrote: »

How do you know if they're from these leasing companies?

Under the auction date column, it has the location of the car and underneath the vendor

vicM

IBrows89 wrote: »

I'm still very tempted by this but it's a lot of money to hand over without seeing the car or meeting Chris first, makes me very nervous.

Trust me it was a big risk and after completing payment I didn't hear from Chris for 2 days and begun ****ting myself, but he got back to after that to confirm funds received
He had sent me the invoice from bca which had the date, amount and car reg so that went some way in alleviating some concern

2smiggy

VRT would drive a person mad looking at the prices at some of the cars. How the government keep getting away with charging it is beyond me

Briando

vicM wrote: »

I recently used the service and can recommend. The membership does give you a more accurate expected cost, I'm not sure it's really worth it given you can tell from the site the approximate cost range of the car, then the auction fee is appropriately 300-400£, then Chris charge

How does it work? You make a deposit, he bids on the car you want. He ships it to Ireland and you give him a bank draft for the remaining amount?

vicM

Briando wrote: »

How does it work? You make a deposit, he bids on the car you want. He ships it to Ireland and you give him a bank draft for the remaining amount?

No, you pay his fee, identify cars you are interested in. I used his site in Conjunction with bca.co.uk while looking as he mainly sources from there anyway.
Once you have seen something you like, you get in touch with Chris and give him your budget.he then bids on your behalf.if successful, he will send you the invoice from the auction house and payment then needs to be made in full, which will include an auction charge plus delivery of you so choose.
When he receives all funds, he pays for the car then. I used revolut to pay to get best exchange rate as well as allowing to send the money to flipping cars Bank account

zweton

Im not sure about flipping cars but with ukcarimports if you pay i think its like 100 euro or so and when the car arrives over and you dont like it for whatever reason they keep that amount. Thats a good option to have not sure if flipping cars do this. Im looking to buy myself around august from one of them so will be keen to see any other feedback that have used either.

terrydel

2smiggy wrote: »

VRT would drive a person mad looking at the prices at some of the cars. How the government keep getting away with charging it is beyond me

I'll tell you one reason. Idiots keep voting for them.

gooner99

terrydel wrote: »

I'll tell you one reason. Idiots keep voting for them.

I wouldn't think it would matter who's in government. What party would kill the golden goose?

d31b0y

Used https://ukcarimports.ie/ at the end of last month. Richard was grand. Replied promptly to any queries I had. Never talked to him directly. Just paid a deposit, got the car checked (for a fee) then paid the final invoice and picked the car up from Dublin port. It wasn't an auction car.

He has other options like he will arrange paying VRT for you or you can get a warranty but the VRT process, I found, is very straight forward and I've heard the warranty isn't worth the paper it's written on (it's through a company called Mapfre).

bs2014

Folks, glad to hear all positive results. I've literally actually been just starting to watch some of flippingcars youtube content and its really interesting. Glad to see Chris is a good guy and that the tatoos arent to be off putting!! lol But call me old fashioned, I was looking at some of the prices and there really isnt much difference sometimes between say the lower end of the UK retail or northern irish retail market so just wonder would that be better

masit

bs2014 wrote: »

Folks, glad to hear all positive results. I've literally actually been just starting to watch some of flippingcars youtube content and its really interesting. Glad to see Chris is a good guy and that the tatoos arent to be off putting!! lol But call me old fashioned, I was looking at some of the prices and there really isnt much difference sometimes between say the lower end of the UK retail or northern irish retail market so just wonder would that be better

I was thinking the same myself. There is an auction in Scotland ( Central Car Auctions) that have a live stream and the prices some of the cars are going for is nearly and sometimes above cars you would see on autotrader. So by the time you give Chris his fee, buy the auction car, clean it up, touch up any paint or dents, maybe tyres and as you said, would you be better off buying from the lower end garages in the UK with a RAC/AA car check done on it?

bs2014

masit wrote: »

I was thinking the same myself. There is an auction in Scotland ( Central Car Auctions) that have a live stream and the prices some of the cars are going for is nearly and sometimes above cars you would see on autotrader. So by the time you give Chris his fee, buy the auction car, clean it up, touch up any paint or dents, maybe tyres and as you said, would you be better off buying from the lower end garages in the UK with a RAC/AA car check done on it?

Could you send me a link to where to find the live stream. Be curious to watch it. Not fully familiar with UK market but I have a feeling Scotland is abit like northern Ireland....the cars sell for more than they do in England. Also....do you know if some of the larger Irish dealers who import by the truckload get access to cars that aren't sold through the auctions. I mean let's face it if I was an auction house and I knew that dealer x bought regular volume....we could both skip the auctions and their fees

masit

bs2014 wrote: »

Could you send me a link to where to find the live stream. Be curious to watch it. Not fully familiar with UK market but I have a feeling Scotland is abit like northern Ireland....the cars sell for more than they do in England. Also....do you know if some of the larger Irish dealers who import by the truckload get access to cars that aren't sold through the auctions. I mean let's face it if I was an auction house and I knew that dealer x bought regular volume....we could both skip the auctions and their fees

https://www.centralcarauctions.com/vehicles/live-auction-streaming/

With the internet nowadays I don't think any part of the UK is cheaper than the other. Maybe London might be a bit more expensive. I heard years ago that people from the sound of England would buy cars from Northern England and Scotland because they were cheaper. You can see on dealer web site that they price check their cars to give the best deal so more or less the same price all over the UK these days.

I know of one car dealer near me who moves a lot of cars if you go by his Facebook page and he claims that he gets his cars from a main dealer group. I'm sure if you are buying enough stock these big dealer groups in the UK, they would be more than happy to deal with a dealer here. Plus a lot these UK dealers send their cars to auction because they maybe have been sitting in their yard for a while and cant't sell them, so if they can cut out the middle man( auction ) I'm sure they would.

vicM

bs2014 wrote: »

Folks, glad to hear all positive results. I've literally actually been just starting to watch some of flippingcars youtube content and its really interesting. Glad to see Chris is a good guy and that the tatoos arent to be off putting!! lol But call me old fashioned, I was looking at some of the prices and there really isnt much difference sometimes between say the lower end of the UK retail or northern irish retail market so just wonder would that be better

you are absolutely right, however I think a lot of this same low end dealers get from Auction. two cars I had bid on and lost appeared later on autotrader. I kept my eyes on autotrader,bca.co.uk and chris site

mickthewig

The guide prices (+/-10%) on the site seem a bit high. How much could you low-ball these by paying just one fee until you're successful in getting one?

Some of the guide prices are just under the prices on Autotrader for the same model, same year, same trim and roughly same mileage.

Given that with Autotrader you could send Dekra or someone else out to test the car at your leisure and at the auction you can't test anything and just have to go by the BCA report, I'd have thought that the sales prices at auction would be much lower.

Am I missing something here?

zweton

What/who is Dekra?

declan123

mickthewig wrote: »

The guide prices (+/-10%) on the site seem a bit high. How much could you low-ball these by paying just one fee until you're successful in getting one?

Some of the guide prices are just under the prices on Autotrader for the same model, same year, same trim and roughly same mileage.

Given that with Autotrader you could send Dekra or someone else out to test the car at your leisure and at the auction you can't test anything and just have to go by the BCA report, I'd have thought that the sales prices at auction would be much lower.

Am I missing something here?

Looked into this also and came to the same conclusion as yourself. If you are looking for something reasonably fresh there doesn't seem to be any value at auctions at all. The variance between dealer prices and auction prices are minimal all things considered. When you buy from a dealer the car will be prepped to retail standard which not the case with auctions. To me, the numbers just don't work.

mgn

There can be good value in auctions it just all depends on the auction the day the buyers.It only takes 1 other to drive the price of a car up.
Most the buyers have a set price and wont go above it.There at another auction the next day so the can wait until one comes in at the price the want to pay for it.
As for buying of the likes of BCA auctions it is what it is all cars are graded from grade 1 to 5 most have mechanical reports.As for the dealers telling you their cars come from UK dealers is nonsense the vast majority come from auctions.

Mynameistom

vicM wrote: »

I got a car from auction using him, pretty painless and got the car delivered to Dublin as well

Hi VicM,

Did it take him long to find the car you were looking for from initial contact ?

Thanks

vicM

Mynameistom wrote: »

Hi VicM,

Did it take him long to find the car you were looking for from initial contact ?

Thanks

Honestly did the leg work myself as I knew exactly what I was after
He basically just did the bidding and delivery

declan123

vicM wrote: »

Honestly did the leg work myself as I knew exactly what I was after
He basically just did the bidding and delivery

Did you make much of a saving on UK retail prices? I've looked at this route before and the savings were negligible but it might depend on the car also I suppose

vicM

declan123 wrote: »

Did you make much of a saving on UK retail prices? I've looked at this route before and the savings were negligible but it might depend on the car also I suppose

Think I did..2 cars I lost on bidding turned up on auto trader with an approximate 1500£ mark up

Mike3549

We bought our car through flipping cars. Chris did find some great cars that were not on his website, but they were a bit over our budget. In the end saw a car we liked and he won the bidding. Unfortunately didnt have a revolut acc at the time, could save another 100+ on fees and conversion rates