If anyone ever fancies a real horror show, however, I recommend Ellesmere Port Motor auctions. It'll scare you silly !

I used to go to the Sunday one, you're absolutely right! I think its either gone or moved following a housing development.

They moved about 5 years ago. As to 'gone', oh, we could but wish ...

ellesmere-port-motor-auction.co.uk/index.php/motor.../

Much like cholera, they're still around.

First time I ever went there someone I knew bought a Fiat Panda (this was back in the early 90s), and the engine nearly gave out as he was driving it up the Aston Hill by Ewloe. So he parked it up for an hour, topped up all the fluids, and it ran (moderately) smoothly again.

He'd obviously by now decided this car was a bad idea, so he parked it outside his house in Buckley for a couple of days, and then drove it over to the small car auctions site in Ewloe, and booked it in there.

Sold it at the next auction for £250 more than he'd paid for it.

Having a quick look, I see that place is still in existence too, amazingly.

Just goes to show the PT Barnum was correct !

You wouldn't make much flipping cars at auction now. The fees on purchases and sales would mean you'd need to be £500 up at least before you moved into profit!

Secondly, no sane person would ever bid on a car in "General" sectiion at auction with an unidentified vendor so such cars usually get misrerable prices or no bids at all unless you are lucky and get one or two idiot private buyers not knowing what they are doing. 99.9% of cars at auction from private sellers or smaller traders are complete sheds which are only there because there is no value in fixing them.

Auctions work on a national basis these days anyway - with online bidding and large groups splitting stock around the country to even out supply/demand and prices.

It is a big business and they want to sew up all ends.

For example, Cox Automotive are a huge multinational conglomorate and the idea is they lock dealers into their system. Therefore they collect and appraise the cars (often at end of lease/PCP) or the PX, move it, auction it (Manheim) then the idea is of their dealers has it delivered via Movex (which they own), finances it via NextGear (which they also own) and advertises it via motors.co.uk (which they own). Alternatively a franchised dealer can use the likes if dealerauction direct.....which, guess what, they own as well....

BCA have a very similar platorm of sourcing (e.g. Mercedes returns) or WBAC and have their own finance arm and huge logisics business etc.

No auction house really wants the odd buyer who buys one or two cars a year. They want you buying 100+ and using their transport, finance and advertising.

The breaks on prices at BCA and Manheim do not really get good until you trip over 100 cars a year with each and unfortunately they have 90% of the cars so if you want certain cars you will have to deal with them.

Edited by pd on 20/10/2017 at 16:09

I've written about it in the past, but here goes again...

Back in 2000-2003 or so, myself and a couple of friends (all properly insured, trade plates, etc) would buy X5s, Merc MLs, and the like up in BCA Manchester, Preston, Brighouse, and drive them down to Blackbushe (near Heathrow), and put them through the auctions there. The price differential for these more desirable SUVs made it very worthwhile.

We'd then buy Discoverys, Defenders, and the like 'darn sarf' (this was before the Disco was 'fashionable' with the 2004 Disco 3 lardball model), and drive them back 'oop North' for sale in Preston. Ker-ching, we'd make money both ways !

These days the price differential just doesn't exist to play that game.

But we had fun while it lasted. We'd turn over anything up to £200k of cars in a week, and were on the highest level of discount BCA did. We were once driving down the M40 in convoy, Range Rover, Cayenne turbo, Range Rover - all under 2 years old.

The Cayenne cost more to drive down than the other 2 put together. Never seen a car go through that much fuel !

It al ended when one guy decided he wanted to go 'retail' and not re-auction cars any more. So we split up the money, shook hands, and all walked away from it.

Looked at it again a few years later, but the market was saturated with people doing the same sort of thing by then. Margins were wafer-thin, and the risk:reward just didn't add up for me. In addition, BCA wouldn't allow 're-auctioned' cars to count so heavily for the discount levels, so that cut into the margin even more.

Ahh, I suppose those are the things that make up life. The phone going in the car :

"got to stop for fuel"

"But you filled up in Preston" (we're approaching Warwick)

"Yeah, you want to drive this damn thing ? Every time I press on the pedal, I can see the needle move on the gauge!"

-------------------

Fun times. Memories to laugh at. And even made a decent living off it.

Can't really ask for much more than that.

I've made many car buying mistakes in my time, but never been quite stupid enough to go to an auction on my own, and buy without expert advice.

One of my old bosses in the fire brigade was a bombastic chap who knew everything. Every now and again he would have a massive argument withe one of his adult kids before coming into work, and it was we poor humble firebobbies who got the fallout when he arrived to take charge of the night shift.

One time he bought a Panda from an auction somewhere or other, and proudly brought it into work to be admired by all and sundry. The other chaps, unlike Yours Truly, knew a thing or two about cars, and if anyone brought in a new toy they'd be all over it like a rash, picking holes and finding problems even if there weren't any, and giving the poor victim a sleepless night or two about the unwise nature of their purchase into the bargain.

They didn't have to look far with the boss's Panda: lifting the carpet revealed a hole in the passenger side floor the size of Bluto's fist. Silly beggar had given it nothing more than a cursory glance and bought the biggest pile of cack this side of the nearest rubbish tip.

Oh, how we all laughed on the way to being run ragged on the drill yard.

Edited by argybargy on 21/10/2017 at 00:36