I dropped into a car auction last night. I've been meaning to go to one for years, just to see what it was like. It was a general sale and seemed a bit quiet but I suspect that's the school holiday factor. It was an interesting experience, it was lower end stuff - seemed to be mainly trade ins 10 years old or more, but also some better stuff from local main dealers as well. Plenty of "sold as seen" sheds, too. It was entertaining to observe the way people behaved. Some of the local traders liked to show that they spend a lot of time there by leaning or sitting on each car as it was queueing into the auction room. Another chap insisted on turning the steering wheel of each car as it went by, I have no idea why. I also liked the fact the auction house drivers in the queue into the room just pull off with no warning, even if someone has his head stuck in the window giving the interior a once over. I heard plenty of trader talk - "that Merc's just right except no leather, nah, you can't sell a Merc with no leather". "I missed that Mondeo, that was good money for that Mondeo. Who got it? Dave? cheeky git". And so on.
Some of the prices were surprising. You could have had an early 2000s main agent trade in petrol focus, fiesta, corsa or zafira with service history and a long MOT for a song. I saw at least three very clean, good history, low owner runabouts categorised "no major faults" go through for a couple of hundred quid, barely more than scrap prices. Also a clean and tidy 2005 mondeo, one owner, full main dealer history on 110k for £750. I almost took a punt on a scruffy but one owner, full history 2004 Avensis 1.8 petrol which also went for £700. Surprising was how much older german cars went for - an example was a very scruffy 2004 BMW 320d estate which I think went for about 2k. It was a right state, budget tyres, paint scratched, dented and faded, and the sill on one side was taped up with gaffer, filthy interior.
Overall it was an enjoyable and informative evening. I think it was worth going to just observe, I'd feel a lot more comfortable to go again in future as a buyer having had the chance to see how it all worked
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