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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...

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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

terrydel

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?

Like most middleman services, it's for people unwilling for whatever reason to do the work themselves. You don't get bargains from any of them.

bs2014

Aside from the actual asking price, what is the warranty like that Chris sells. Is it any good. Has anyone had any issues with their car (I'm sure somebody has somewhere along the way) and how did they get on. Did Chris arrange for an Irish garage to look at it for you etc or where you left to paddle your own canoe

krissovo

terrydel wrote: »

Like most middleman services, it's for people unwilling for whatever reason to do the work themselves. You don't get bargains from any of them.

~€700 to source & deliver was a no brainer for me plus some auction houses needs a trade membership. The car I just bought from them is valued between €26 > €28k, I paid just north of €21k all in so feels like a bargain to me. The car he sourced also had every pack and option loaded so very happy.

Serious value especially for EV’s that qualify for the VRT rebate/exemption.

Mynameistom

He waited a few weeks to take final payment ?

krissovo

Payment terms are to complete payment within 24hrs of a successful auction otherwise there are additional fees.

ELM327

Did you get finance through him?

krissovo

No, I don’t think he does finance

User1998

I don’t see why more people don’t use his service.. The majority of the newer cars that sell at BCA are retail ready. They come with AA mechanic reports and condition reports as well. And you do save money by using his service compared to bidding on cars yourself at an auction. His shipping is ridiculous tho, it took a month for my car to arrive to Dublin port (twice). A transport company could have it over in 3 days.

People go to the UK to avoid being ripped off here and end up being ripped off by dealers in the UK who litterly buy from auction, do no work to the cars and sell at much higher prices. If you look at Vendors such as Lex, they always have full service historys, 1 company owner, and an AA report. These are the type of cars that you see appearing on Autotrader for thousands more a few days later.

mgn

User1998 wrote: »

I don’t see why more people don’t use his service.. The majority of the newer cars that sell at BCA are retail ready. They come with AA mechanic reports and condition reports as well. And you do save money by using his service compared to bidding on cars yourself at an auction. His shipping is ridiculous tho, it took a month for my car to arrive to Dublin port (twice). A transport company could have it over in 3 days.

People go to the UK to avoid being ripped off here and end up being ripped off by dealers in the UK who litterly buy from auction, do no work to the cars and sell at much higher prices. If you look at Vendors such as Lex, they always have full service historys, 1 company owner, and an AA report. These are the type of cars that you see appearing on Autotrader for thousands more a few days later.

I have bought a good few cars of BCA over the last few years, some great deals there to be had, I think when people here the word auction being mentioned the think there is something wrong with them. Nearly all the fleet and finance cars goes through BCA, no difference than buying a car here that has being on a PCP plan,

ELM327

Absolutely no issue.
Well there is, he should have picked a less dodgy business name :P