depends wot ur looking for i think. mate does it for a living. he goes to auctions each wk and buys three cars does them up and sells them on. he knows what he's doing. he sells them for three time what he paid for them.

 

Car auctions are ok, a lot of cars that go through are from dealers, the cars they send tend to be older cars which they wont sell from their forecourt. You do get a fair few bangers so have a good look around before you go bidding. You also get summit like an hour after collecting the car to see what its like and if theres anything your not happy with you can take it back. You can definatly pick up a good bargain from the auctions.

 

cheers for advice Dave + L31gh

 

we're (my girlfriend and i) also intrested in doing that - her a Corsa, and me... well... whatever

is there a national list of places that hold them?

 

BCA are quite good.

I've been to the meesham one a couple of times, some good stuff there if you have about £1000-5000. Not really any old heaps really.

Nothing too special either though. Loads of basic 1.4 astra's etc

 

I used to buy a few cars at the auction. Thing is, the dealers are easy to spot and they are there to buy cars that require no work before selling on for a profit.

So watch them. If the dealers are bidding on a car you fancy, wait until they hit the top price they are willing to pay and bid a little more. This means the price of the car would eat into their profit margin and they will quickly loose interest. You get it cheaper than you would otherwise.

 

Car mechanics magazine have a regular auction spotlight, whereby they visit different sites each month and tell you the kind of cars that go and for how much etc.
Worth reading.

 

Try to visit your nearest the Car Auction the day before, during daylight. If your lucky you might someone who is going over them quite rigorously. If you see any that interest you, don't be frightened to ask for the keys. Although you won't be allowed to drive it, you will at least know if it starts and what it sounds like...
Check the exhaust too, both at idle and with a good once spurt blast.
Any other faults can be dealt with later...

 

I Go to quite a few auctions through work and there are some real bargais to be had, but there is also a lot of shite going through too.
Make sure you go to view before the auction and leave yourself plenty of time to have a good look round.

 

One example of a relative bargain,was the Cav turbo up here, was running 2-wheel drive and had a snapped belt, but had genuine documented 77,000miles on the clock went for £600

 

if they come with a long mot, that can cover alot of important things, also most if not all auction houses do hpi style checks on every car that goes thru so i was told, so u should be ok, if there is owt they know is wrong like stolen recovered, write off, its the auctioneers job to point it out by law i think.

just keep ur wits about u and go along to a few auctions to see what goes on before u buy

 

the last one I went to a few months ago had a calibra turbo for under 2k and a v6 cavalier went for under 1k.
There are some real bargains to be had if you keep your wits about you.

Go to them each nite for a few weeks before you intend to buy to see if there are any paterns.
Up here, every few weeks one of the major car dealers sends all the trade-ins they have had that are worth less than 3grand to the auction so they dont take up space on the fore-court. Generally they have really low reserve on them and can be agood buys.

 

I used to buy cars from auction for a living in my previous job. I mainly used to buy nearly new/low mileage vehicles, sometimes almost 50 cars a week!

There can be some real bargains out there (I bought my ST200 from a BCA auction nearly 2 years ago) but at the same time there are some dogs.

Best bet is to check out the local auction houses a few weeks before you buy, and only bid on cars that are entered in by lease/rental companies rather private individuals.

Auctions houses have to HPi every vehicle now so at least you get that piece of mind, it's just the mechanical risk. Try to stick to BCA or Manheim, their the biggest, therefore the most reputable.

May2002, if your in Leicester check out Manheim Auctions @ Shepshed on a Thursday, they have a Vauxhall Master Hire section there most weeks.

 

loverly juberly

I got a 93k reg 1.4ls for 3000 in 98 with only 2k miles after a vauxhall engine rebuild.

Then I got a just resprayed e reg 2l 8v for 500 and it ran like a dream.

 

Vauxhall Astra mk3 1.4 3dr

how much intrest is there in mk3's at auctions? am i in with a battle?

 

Depends on the day: who is there, the condition etc of the car . . . .

You could go one day and see identical cars do £500 difference!!

You've just got to chance your arm on the day!!

 

Not realy there can be loads of em going thro in a day round here but I have not been for ages its just luck of the draw really.