I am opting out of my company car scheme and have been looking at getting a mondeo/octavia from a dealer. I have £11000 to spend but I am thinking of trying the auctions as I feel I could get a good saving on the cars. I have never been to an auction so I am a complete virgin. Should I try it or is it only for the experienced person.
Anybody any advice what to look for if I go and what to look for?
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IIRC the buyers premium will be around £500 if you go to BCA with your budget. Probably better for you to employ a professional buyer (£250?). Not as much fun though.
Chris M
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You could go along and be lucky first time i.e. - get a car that is A1 condition, doc history & service history, no gremlins and is a fair bit cheaper than a main dealer. But remember - most sales are without warranty and sold as seen - potential headache. (See my thread 'Caveat Emptor')
You obviously need your car for business so it needs to be reliable and have some kind of back up support.
Half way house would be to go to a car broker for new, or hypermarket for late low (the best option)- or get an Ultra reliable 60-80k miler for £5kish (see my thread 'Farewell Honda') and you can make/save bucket loads over 3-4 years.
I spend a fair bit of time at auctions seeking an ultimate bargain and they are hard to find unless you are a time served expert (I'm not). I've had quite a few in the past but it does occupy alot of time.
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Would strongly recommend using an auction buyer. Went through Joe Dowd when also looking for Mondeo / Octavia last year. Extremely knowledgable- and cut out a lot of worry about buying a lemon.
Am extremely happy with the car. In the end went for the Mondeo TDCi as cheaper than the Skodas. Joe got an absolute bargain for me. Car before this was a Seat TDi- and IMO the Ford is definitely the better car- and proving cheaper to service. Economy the same despite being more powerful and larger car than the Seat.
Hope this helps.
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Sorry to hi-jack the thread, but I am interested in how using an auction buyer works in practice. How do you collect the car and how do you transfer the money ? If the auction happens to be a long way from where you live, do you have to make your own way there and how much time do you have to do so ?
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Sorry to hi-jack the thread, but I am interested in how using an auction buyer works in practice. How do you collect the car and how do you transfer the money ? If the auction happens to be a long way from where you live, do you have to make your own way there and how much time do you have to do so ?
In my case paid a (very reasonable) set fee to the auction buyer. Auction was in Blackbushe. As was through BCA paid for the car at my local auctionhouse (Bridgwater). Get a few days to pay. Not sure about what payment methods are taken. Also paid small fee for delivery and car was delivered to my house once the car was paid for.
Was very simple with little stress.
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Thanks for the information PW, that is very interesting. After learning you can pay at your local auctionhouse I might have to give this method some serious consideration - BCA Nottingham is only 5 minutes from where I live.
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