CAR AUCTIONS - Are They Any Good For Selling?

Ernest · 05-04-2005 8:51am #1

Has anyone any experience of selling a car in Dublin using the specialist Car Auction houses? There seems to be about five companies doing this but I don't know whether selling a car by auction is just one way of wiping another huge chunk off its value. Most dealers do not want to buy second hand cars except for trade-in and I have been unable to sell on websites, newspapers etc as the market seems to be flooded with second hand cars at the moment. Has anyone who is not a trader actually sold a car by auction and was a good price got for it?

lomb · 05-04-2005 9:10am

Ernest wrote:

Has anyone any experience of selling a car in Dublin using the specialist Car Auction houses? There seems to be about five companies doing this but I don't know whether selling a car by auction is just one way of wiping another huge chunk off its value. Most dealers do not want to buy second hand cars except for trade-in and I have been unable to sell on websites, newspapers etc as the market seems to be flooded with second hand cars at the moment. Has anyone who is not a trader actually sold a car by auction and was a good price got for it?

what car and year is it, what condition is it in?

alias no.9 · 05-04-2005 10:07am

You say you're having difficulty selling the car privately. Often, when people have trouble selling privately, it's because they either price it too high, obviously pricing themselves out of the market, or too low, making people suspicious about the condition or history of the car and unlikely to even view the car. If people have come to view the car and are still disinterested, I'd suspect you're not going to be impressed with whatever price you might get for it at auction. If you let me know the make, model, year, mileage, etc, I'll give you a realistic auction value.

Seth Brundle · 05-04-2005 12:56pm

I was at a garda auction a good few years ago (~98) and a new but burnt out fiesta van was sold for IR£750 (IIRC). I could not see anything salvageable in it!
However, there are so many good quality second hand cars about nowadays, that I suspect yours may not fetch much.

Ernest · 05-04-2005 1:15pm

I know that people often set prices too high but what I had wondered about was whether car auctions were any good as a way to dispose of a car that has had very few responses when advertised - either without a named price or with an "o.n.o." price. This is a 2002 small car with about 20,000 miles on the clock - not an old banger. Has anybody actually sold a car like that through an auction??? Merlin Car Auctions in Ashbourne, for example, list lots of reasonable sounding cars for auction but don't publish the prices obtained or whether the reserve prices were reached, so its hard to judge. Worse again they now charge a €5 admission price just to watch the auction which is the only way to find out what cars sell for or if they sell at all. So I wondered if any users of this website have any knowledge of anyone actually selling cars by auction and if whether a good price was obtained?

SouperComputer · 05-04-2005 2:02pm

if you check merlin's website, they have a section where you can request a "snapshot" for the last round of auctions. It will tell you the final auction price at least.

personally, I doubt I would try to sell at an auction, you will end up selling it too cheap more than likely as most of the people there are traders, not to mention that merlin will want their cut too.

you can try wilson auctions & naas road also, both based around the, well Naas road!

Juan Pablo · 05-04-2005 2:49pm

I have a full list of the snapshots for the past year or so from Merlin, if you post or PM me the make and model of your car I can see if any similar cars went up in the past month or so. Here are a few examples from last month.

Year Car Type Price 	CC Miles	Owners	Fuel Colour
2002 Nissan Almera 1.5 5 Dr AB CL EM EW PS 1 &#8364;5800 1498 45000 3 Unleaded Red
2002 Peugeot 206 1.1 5 Dr 2 &#8364;6350 1124 48000 1 Unleaded Blue
2001 Fiat Punto 1.2 3 Dr AB EW PS 3 &#8364;3500 1242 42000 2 Unleaded Gold
2002 Fiat Seicento 1.1 SX CL EW PS SR 1 &#8364;1800 1108 83000 1 Unleaded Blue
2001 Daewoo Lanos 1.4 SE CD 2 &#8364;2000 1349 30000 2 Unleaded Green
2002 BMW 316i 1.9 4 Dr AB ABS AC CL EW PS ALARM EX-FLEET 3 &#8364;16450 1895 90133 0 Unleaded Light

jhegarty · 05-04-2005 3:06pm

Juan Pablo wrote:
I have a full list of the snapshots for the past year or so from Merlin, if you post or PM me the make and model of your car I can see if any similar cars went up in the past month or so. Here are a few examples from last month.
Year Car Type Price 	CC Miles	Owners	Fuel Colour
2002 Nissan Almera 1.5 5 Dr AB CL EM EW PS 1 &#8364;5800 1498 45000 3 Unleaded Red
2002 Peugeot 206 1.1 5 Dr 2 &#8364;6350 1124 48000 1 Unleaded Blue
2001 Fiat Punto 1.2 3 Dr AB EW PS 3 &#8364;3500 1242 42000 2 Unleaded Gold
2002 Fiat Seicento 1.1 SX CL EW PS SR 1 &#8364;1800 1108 83000 1 Unleaded Blue
2001 Daewoo Lanos 1.4 SE CD 2 &#8364;2000 1349 30000 2 Unleaded Green
2002 BMW 316i 1.9 4 Dr AB ABS AC CL EW PS ALARM EX-FLEET 3 &#8364;16450 1895 90133 0 Unleaded Light

quick question on that snap shot.... I know what the 0-6 mean , but what does the NG mean .. is it a car thats fine , wrote off or just not rated ?

alias no.9 · 05-04-2005 3:19pm

NG means not graded. Gradings are carried out at the sellers request.

alias no.9 · 05-04-2005 4:01pm

Ernest wrote:

I know that people often set prices too high but what I had wondered about was whether car auctions were any good as a way to dispose of a car that has had very few responses when advertised - either without a named price or with an "o.n.o." price. This is a 2002 small car with about 20,000 miles on the clock - not an old banger. Has anybody actually sold a car like that through an auction??? Merlin Car Auctions in Ashbourne, for example, list lots of reasonable sounding cars for auction but don't publish the prices obtained or whether the reserve prices were reached, so its hard to judge. Worse again they now charge a €5 admission price just to watch the auction which is the only way to find out what cars sell for or if they sell at all. So I wondered if any users of this website have any knowledge of anyone actually selling cars by auction and if whether a good price was obtained?

Most people buying at auction are in the business of making money from buying and selling cars, some as a sideline and some are serious operators. If they believe they can turn a profit on a car, they will buy. Buyers often come from different parts of the country, and despite its small size, there are regional differences in used car prices and a sharp trader will often be on the look out for something that he can shift quickly but could possibly be impossible to shift in other areas. Some cars have crazy reserves, these usually come from private sellers and end up churning around the auction for a few weeks until the seller gets real and reduces the reserve or withdraws them from auction.

At the right price, any car will sell at auction. Lots of reasonably new cars pass through auction and sell. Their origin varys from car rental companies, finance companies, main dealers, fleet operators and some private sellers but if the price is right, they will sell. It is not a way to maximise your return, but does have the advantage of a quick sale. If you give us some more details about what your selling (make and model specifically), we can give you a realistic sale price and possibly even suggest a reserve price, this will help you make an informed decision about selling your car at auction or not.

CAR AUCTIONS - Are They Any Good For Selling?

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