Car Auctions- Your views?

[GuvGTI]

When i was young i went with a few elders down to car auctions, but havnt been to one in a long time.

I normally like to take a fair bit of time to when buying a car and unsure if its for me as cant do a complete check and a bit of a gamble from my knowledge. I would like to know a bit more about em to be honest.

Whats your experience? have you bought from an auction? Any decent auctions out there?

Cheers

[Len]

Depends what you are after.
The biggest one down south is Blackbush. They do mainly ex company and hire cars. They also do all the hire cars from the Channel Islands which are worth going for if you want a small car, but of course they will be Ford/Vauxhall etc.

There are some good small ones like carterton nr Oxford.
But with ALL auctions you get what you see! You cant drive them. There is no time to give them a good looking over, but you will at least see them being driven.
Not always cheap either as cars can go for book if bidding is busy.
So its a lottery!
But worth a look.

[vixteris]

always a risk but ive never bought anything from an auction that couldnt have made more money in the locals.

i guess it depends why ur buying it - for ur wife no chance - to rag it - ofcourse 

[Stu.750]

I bought my taxi (mongayo) from the auccies , ex fleet car , 02 plate with 120.000 on the clock paid no-where near book for it , came with tow bar , service history , an with it being a fleet car mainly motorway miles , done me proud so far

  auctions are geat for a bargain , just set a limit , an get there nice n early to have a proper look , better now the clocks are forward as youll probably have more daylight to play with

 Bought loadsa cars from them n never had a lemon

[Martz]

My sister has purchased 5 from auctions, all have been decent. ADT in Northampton and Colchester.

All full history, no problems.

[billy_vw]

I have bought loads from Witney auction, & made a few quid too,
but it is a gamble as most are sold as seen and only a few you are allowed to have a drive after you bid and if there are faults you get your money back.

[Slimmedmk2]

Ive bought a few from auction,bought two last friday night.Of course it helps when you work there and get to drive them beforehand

[GT3 Turbo]

if your an impulse buyer i wouldn’t go along, there’s always risk on auctions, the more you know about the car before you buy the better,  obviously the price reflects your knowledge of the car, some peoples ignorance will think the cars worthless or people might see it as a simple fix....

[SpearMintTom]

I love car auctions, i sold my old MK2 Polo (piece of sh*t) and went to my first auction with my dad who strictly told me that the first rule of car auctions is to never have any cash on you!

I went down with him, wondered about, the usual ex-police vehicles and Vauxhalls  and generally cars i either didn't want or couldnt insure.. Then.. something caught my eye - :O a MK1 Golf!!!

I went over gave it a good check over (as much as you can without looking at the engine / inside), I took some photos went back home, did some research on what to look for and went back when the auction began.. She sounded abit rough, the exhaust was blowing ever so slightly.. but other than that looked gooorgeous!

She drove in fine, several "traders" told me not to buy it as it sounded like the head gasket was gone because of the blowing from the exhaust.. - funnily enough they were bidding on it..

I bid at the last moment and got it for just under a monkey Includnig a years mot & tax, respray, smoothed, debadged, loads of mods - tastefully done & no rust

Turns out the manifold had a few holes in that was all.. (my recommendation.. go once with no cash & no wallet, go research, go twice..). Set yourself a price you're willing to pay - then knock 10-15% off that price and see if you can get it for that. - I was willing to pay £700 for it (i was skint), but i agreed with my dad to set myself only £550. - I got it for less than that.

My dad picked up a 2005 Volvo V70 Estate 2.5T with full leather interior in mint condition, full service history with 23,000 mileage for £1400 :O

Deallll!

[Thom89]

Single out a few cars your interested in, check panel alignment,(gaps) fit and finish, and colour match of each panel, most cars at auctions will have had the bonnet, and front bumper painted, any more paint than that, be suspicious! check tyres for uniform tread patterns, includeing the spare
Be there when the driver starts the car up to move it into the bidding area, check for blue smoke on start up, ask him to rev the engine so you can listen, ask if the biteing point of the clutch feels OK.. and ask him to prove that the service literature is in the car... above all read properly what it says on the windscreen info sheet! and understand exactly what it says!
some cars will go "into book" upon sale, meaning that they have just sold for more than the claimed reccomended price that for example "Glasses" would allow... typical on newer Turbo Deisel models, not a problem if your not planning to re sell the car for profit..

Its all about doing your homework! and asking many questions!
Tom