I've been considering buying a car at auction due to the cheaper prices, but I'm not sure I'm spending enough to really benefit with much savings or to be in a position to buy from the companies with a good reputation like Motability seem to have.
I was hoping to spend a maximum of £1,000 or if possible a bit lower for a smallish cheap insurance car, but I'm wondering if the ex motability cars go for that kind of price. In fact do any of the ex police, ex Motability etc. go for around that price?
Also, the only info I could find on auction fees was for Classic cars which seemed to be a minmum fee of £150. Is this the case for all BCA auctions?
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Ex-Motability cars are normally well looked after and maintained - you won't or are unlikely to get one at a knockdown price.
Dealers in particular snap them up as they are very aware that they are much sought after and can command good prices.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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So are you saying the Motability cars do go for a grand and under and I would be bidding against dealers or are you saying the cars don't go that cheap??
I know it's not 100 per cent guaranteed because I've heard of people who have clocked Motability cars so the didn't have to pay extra for mileage and maybe haven't treated the car as well as they should, but in general I guess most of them are looked after.
Do any of the other cars that go through BCA have as good a reputation as Motability for being serviced?? Like ex Police etc.?
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Motability cars are at most 3 years old when sold on for the first time (sometimes people die, lose the benefit, the car's not right, and so on, and they are sold earlier, but never later).
For £1k you might just get a Perodua Nippa or something but basically, Motability cars aren't even a vague possibility for less than £3k.
For £1k you'll get a better car at auction than you will at a dealer, perhaps a 96 or 97 instead of a 94 or 95, but if something goes wrong you'll have less consumer protection. If you don't know what you can expect for £1k, you need to learn to value and at least make a rough assessment of a car's condition and provenance before you bid.
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You would be better to look for a private seller if you are in the lower price range. That way you get to take it for a test drive and you can get a mechanic to check it out. Auctions are good for two year old cars where you can feel relatively safe in the knowledge that there is still a year left on the new car warranty so you aren't taking too much of a chance.
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Thanks for the advice guys. You saved me a trip to a BCA auction. I'm surprised that even the ex police ones might not be in that price range either, but there you go.
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My Dad had a motability car,a Peugeot 1.9DTurbo,97 on an R,and when the 3 years was up,he enquired at the dealer about buying it,as it only had something like 18k on the clock.
The dealer seemed to be related to Dick Turpin,so my old man sent the car back,and he was gutted as he loved it,and it was a cracking motor.It had a FSH,but unfortunately,the n/s/r quarter panel,behind the door,had been modified,shall we say,and needed repairing,during the lease.
So not all that glitters is gold,if you buy ex motorbility.
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There seem to be lots of ex-Motability Nissans. When I was buying my current car, I looked at a 3 year old ex-Motability Primera. It had only done 9k miles and did look in good condition, but the dealer wanted £1k over normal retail price. I thought this was too steep, especially as experts like HJ always say that low mileage cars can cause trouble. I reckoned the car had probably done lots of very short trips and so kept well clear.
I'm glad I didn't go for it, as I then went and bought my current Primera (with average miles) with a much higher spec and for £1k less than the ex-Motability car.
I'm sure there are good and bad ex-Motability cars - one of my neighbour's sons qualifies and drives like a lunatic. I would never want his car.
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I dont think you will get much of any sort of car for £1000 !
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Well it was this site where I seen reports of cars at auction going for that price and lower.
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