GolfGTIforum.co.uk
Model specific boards => Golf mk7 => Topic started by: Matt17121991 on 02 August 2017, 13:29
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I will be in a position to purchase a GTI in a couple of weeks, it will be a cash purchase, about £18k max. Wondering whether anybody had purchased similar from an auction - BCA/Aston Barclay etc? What are the actual savings compared to say a local garage forecourt or main dealer? I'm not really willing to hand over £2/3k more than necessary because its from a dealer or garage who have marked up the price, when I can do the dirty work myself. Looking at PP DSG, leather would be nice but not too fussed, should get me a very good 2/3 year old example and aim to keep for at least 5 years. From some research I would like to think I could get £1500-2000 off the price of a forecourt, depends on spec etc. I know. I was going to attend an auction next week to get a feel of the place and then go again once the right car comes up.
Thanks
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They'll be ex-lease usually. Can you buy there as a private buyer?
Usually auction = sold as seen. No warranty.
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The BCA chap who collected my last GTD was talking to me about the price that the lease companies generally get at auction. He said that they rarely go for more than minimal CAP value because dealers won't pay any more than that. Minimum CAP value being that the car is in sh*t order for its spec/age/mileage. A decent one should go for quite a bit more, but that won't pay that for them.
So you could get a nice one for probably easily 6k less than the dealer would crank it out for.
Dealers generally are only interested in low mileage too, if you find one with slightly above average mileage (ie 12k per year) and maybe 3 years old, you probably won't face anyone bidding against you anyway.
Just make sure you know your CAP prices for what you are looking at on the day.
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The BCA chap who collected my last GTD was talking to me about the price that the lease companies generally get at auction. He said that they rarely go for more than minimal CAP value because dealers won't pay any more than that. Minimum CAP value being that the car is in sh*t order for its spec/age/mileage. A decent one should go for quite a bit more, but that won't pay that for them.
So you could get a nice one for probably easily 6k less than the dealer would crank it out for.
Dealers generally are only interested in low mileage too, if you find one with slightly above average mileage (ie 12k per year) and maybe 3 years old, you probably won't face anyone bidding against you anyway.
Just make sure you know your CAP prices for what you are looking at on the day.
Thanks for the info, interesting!
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Make sure you factor in the Private Buyer Premium which will be in addition to normal auction fees.
Also consider that most clean ex. lease stock is picked up first by the trade in closed e-auctions, so anything left to the public is there for a reason.
Do your research of course, but I suspect you'll find the savings vs a dealer aren't as big as you'd want to balance the risk.
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Might be worth checking on auction results online, I assume you can do that with cars the same as other auctions. I think you'll do rather well based on a friend's experience buying at auction but I'd be nervous at spending £18k.....
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I haven't but, I have been keeping an eye on BCA website and theres been a few crop up in the last few weeks, but I couldn't attend. They don't publish sale prices as far as I'm aware.
If you look on BCA website the cars go through an inspection and are graded on condition, so you can see if they are in good nick, at least on paper!
And yes you have to pay an extra buyer premium fee on the sale price, which is a few more percent than volume traders pay and be ready to tax and insure it as soon as you leave with the car, which is same day, easy if you have a policy already up and running and tax can obviously be done instantly online.
I have read a lot about buying at auction and it isn't as cheap as it used to be, lots more buyers from all walks of life, both traders and private and chancers.
Might be worth a punt!
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I haven't but, I have been keeping an eye on BCA website and theres been a few crop up in the last few weeks, but I couldn't attend. They don't publish sale prices as far as I'm aware.
If you look on BCA website the cars go through an inspection and are graded on condition, so you can see if they are in good nick, at least on paper!
And yes you have to pay an extra buyer premium fee on the sale price, which is a few more percent than volume traders pay and be ready to tax and insure it as soon as you leave with the car, which is same day, easy if you have a policy already up and running and tax can obviously be done instantly online.
I have read a lot about buying at auction and it isn't as cheap as it used to be, lots more buyers from all walks of life, both traders and private and chancers.
Might be worth a punt!
My experience and it was donkey's years ago, you get lower grade dealers as such not particularly interested in £18k GTIs much harder to shift on, It would be a MK7 and unless a private sale, main dealers would still forecourt it unless very high mileage etc. Watch out for Cat d, but that would be clearly noted.
Be interested to see what turns up though, still thing private purchase best there are some nice ones out there.
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I would think you may reach your target price level by buying privately. I bought my GTi PP privately, it was also owned by the original purchaser and not a lease car.
I prefer to meet the previous keeper to get an idea how they have treated the car, not usually something you can do at a fleet auction.
Good luck!
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I would think you may reach your target price level by buying privately. I bought my GTi PP privately, it was also owned by the original purchaser and not a lease car.
I prefer to meet the previous keeper to get an idea how they have treated the car, not usually something you can do at a fleet auction.
Good luck!
I was just thinking exactly the same thing when pondering what to reply to this topic.
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Many years ago after I finished college and Thatcher was making life difficult for us young 'uns who weren't born with a silver spoon in our mouth the world was a different place.
I had a saturday job when at college helping prepare cars for sale in a small garage that was very big on quality of presentation.
I went to work for them for a year or so full time learning all about the trade, which as a young petrol head who had no real interest in the electrical engineering I'd been studying for a few years it was a breath of fresh air.
This was 30 years ago and times have changed but I do still have a friend who is a manager at a leasing and hire company who does the big auctions, putting stock through there that doesn't already have trade buyers, and he will buy the odd older car if he can see a few quid in it.
Leasing companies will often have buyers lined up for tidy stock (VW UK leases more so), then there are closed auctions, auctions for this, auctions for that...
I'm far from an expert on the subject and we do have a few dealership people on here who probably won't want to add in their own comments for obvious reasons... :whistle:
There is already lots of good advice on here and I can't add anything new.
If you're after a cheap Urano Grey Passat with a few miles on it you'll easily pick up a cheapie at auction on a good day. If you want a cheap base model Focus or Citroen or something along those lines then you will be in luck with a bit of patience and quick reflexes.
The trouble is with GTI's they'll be quite sought after by the trade as not only will big dealer groups take the volume of stock, but there won't be a huge amount in the system unless there's a big lease promotion that's come to an end of the 24 month period and they've been dumped into the open market as main dealers are flooded with them.
GTI's of a certain age will be less common at auction as VW UK try and keep as many as possible under their umbrella so they can manage trade prices and their finance on them.
That means cockney w*nker traders, wide boy dealers and small garages who can smell a car that won't be sat on their forecourt for months will be your competition, not to mention any private hopefuls like yourself who have the time and energy to go through that system of buying. it's all good high octane fun but you'll easily find yourself outbid on nice stock or even worse find yourself overbidding.
What are your standards like Matt 17th December 1991? Be honest with yourself. Do you want a car you can get back to mint at minimal cost or are you the sort of person that is quite happy for an average condition car? That does make a big difference, the people i know who pick up auction bargains have quite low standards of what they'd accept as they treat their cars like workhorses, they let their kids strew crap all over the inside of it, there'll be loose change and charger cables sat on the seats and carpets, drink cartons in the footwells, happy meal toys thrown around the place etc. If you're happy with the latter then you'll get what you want at auction. If you're a fuss arse like me who likes people to wipe their shoes off before they get in, if you lose sleep over a tiny stone chip or sulk for weeks if you get a tiny dint in the door panel then you'll be very lucky to pick up something that doesn't require some signicicant expenditure. Most people are probably somewhere in the middle of those two extremes, hopefully you are too.
Factor in the cost of a warranty too, you may well pay quite a bit more at a dealers but you'll get £500 worth of warranty on it if it's 3 years old on top of the fact they'll do all of the small bits of work on it that will be bugging you.
As Clubsport says, if you want a mint condition car to start with and will really look after it well then your money would be better invested in a private purchase which will be in between the two prices.
Wanted ad's on forums can turn up some nice cars if you're patient. You'll likely get a few chancers reply but if you time it right you'll find people with well looked after cars who find part ex prices insulting or are buying from a broker that don't offer top book money in part ex like a main dealer would for a mint car if there was still enough money in the deal for them.
Factor in what you'll pay at auction as a private buyer over what some guy with a performance car garage in Leicester will bid, plus a bit of tidying of the auction car, sorting out dints, getting alloys refurbished etc, removing two years of Eastern European car wash paint defects versus buying a tidy one off a realistic private seller...
CAP set their prices at what the trade can pick up cars in auction for then spend xx amount getting them prepared for retail and then priced so that they won't sit on a forecourt with no interest for months on end. So those prices are realistic but not the be all and end all- what they are though is a very good indicator of the true worth of a car in an open market. Once you get into older cars and enthusiast markets there is a gulf between the two that opens up depending on condition and provenance.
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In addition to buyers premium you also have to factor in charges for storage if you don't take it that day and they may also charge you for moving it.
Needless to say HPI is essential.
I am venturing off to auction next month all be it that was made in 1968 but so far has a glowing set of MOTs but need more due dilligence.
Lots of dealers like to pic up GTIs and Rs from private sales
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If looking to purchase a relatively recent car at auction it's worth taking in mind these tips:
1. Auctions have a peak time of day. For example WBAC is owned by BCA and their auctions are always held at the best time of day to achieve the most money for the cars - therefore these are usually the most expensive auctions. Big groups like Inchcape, Pendragon, Lookers etc will have their own auctions, usually with their own pecking order of their buying/p/x ability and the deal they've managed to work - the cost of the cars will be proportionate.
2. Disposals from franchised dealers/WBAC types/finance companies are normally going to be the best chance of a problem free car - in fact most include an AA health check before the auction for you to view for transparency. The further you go outside of these auctions the more likely you are to find problem cars being traded.
3. If buying from a branded auction and presented with a vehicle that the company has the brand of in group - ask yourself why. Remember the AA check only really picks up obvious mechanical damage, its entirely possible the car has been rejected from the franchises dealer on quality grounds for something that the AA check won't find.
4. The mileage and age of the car makes a big difference to its relative value at auction for a private punter. Most approved used car programs get expensive for vehicles that are over 60k or 5 yrs that means this kind of stock can be good value at the auction. Most dealers shy away from selling non approved same brand vehicles so 60-80k mile cars and low mileage cars over 5 yrs old can be good buys.
5. Research the auction list and ideally view the cars before entering the ring. Its a really fast pace so you need to set your price in your head before you enter, each auction is usually over in minutes. Do not wed yourself to one car, most people in the room are traders buying stock and it is not an emotional experience for them.
6. Remember auction charges are very high and most the regular buyers in the room are getting a discount on them so you are still paying a premium price for this car. Don't think that just because you've bought a car at auction it's automatically below the market value or even the forecourt value BCA and the like are very good at marketing their talents, often I've seen cars go for more at auction than I have exactly the same stock sitting on my forecourt for, and that's before charges - usually WBAC auctions.
7. Auctions are very seasonal, ideally go when nobody is interested - school holidays, week before a plate change, convertibles in winter, 4x4 in summer all ideal times for getting a real bargain. Combine to achieve the best results.