I heard that Aston Barclay will allow a viewing prior to auction. They always were the most user friendly of the auction centres for us private buyers.

As already stated though, the days of it being truely viable to buy from auction are financialy over. The fees do not make it a vlable proposition in my opinion.

I miss the days of getting to the auciton early, finding cars in the many pages of A4 catalogue of interest. Then locating them in the car park to check them out and hear them start when the time came. Then, the buzz of bidding in the hall, trying not to bid over my own maximum.

I loved buying a bargain car straight from the fleet, running it for a few months and selling it for what I paid for it. Running a modern late plate car for no cost. Alas, those days are over. All the best stock is sold before Joe public even gets near it.

These days, I buy privately where possible. Same come back as auction, but at least you get to see the owner and try the car our. Even room for a decent haggle on occasion.