OT: any experiences of flippingcars.co.uk?

I looked into using them when buying my last couple of cars. It depends where you are in the market, but often the price at auction once you've added on fees isn't a million miles away from a private sale price - and at a private sale you get to drive the car before buying. At auction you take most of the risk buying sold as seen.

Look at CAP and Glass prices - you can get some of those for free online. I was on BCA's website late one evening and for some reason the site decided I was some kind of platinum cardholder and showed me CAP Clean/Average and Glass Retail/Trade against the listings. The 'trade' prices weren't a million miles away from Autotrader private or low-end dealer prices, and of course the bidding could go higher, and you have fees and delivery to worry about.

Basically it works if you're a trader buying dozens of cars where you can handle the odd lemon and have the volume to make it work, but even with a buying service it barely seemed to make sense as a private buyer.

That said, if you're after an ex-fleet car and you can deal with any issues, then maybe auction is the way to go. As it happens with a bit of haggling I ended up with an ex fleet car from a backstreet dealer for roughly auction prices, which was the best of both worlds.

The other thing to say is it's worth seeing if there are local car auction places, not just BCA/Manheim/etc. For instance:

Theo

Trade buyers from auctions can return any lemons for refund, private buyers can't. You also can't assess them properly before buying.

"Real Benefits Saves You Money. Buy At Dealer Prices"

does buying lemons save you money?

" Only Traders Can Buy Online. "

hardly

" Access to CAP & Glass's Guide Valuations"

they're cheap

" Independent , Expert Advice"

often your regular mechanic can be pretty helpful if you need that

" Pre & (More Importantly) After Sales Support"

what support exactly?

" Significantly Lowers your Risk"

buying from auction does not :) Why do you think cars end up in auctions.

" Option to Fund your car with MotoNovo Finance"

rather than cheaper offerings

etc. the usual.

NT

I think BCA and Manheim won't let private buyers bid online - you have to turn up in person.

In practice that helps less than you'd think - unless you're willing to buy a car sight unseen, you'd have to turn up and view it on auction day anyway.

Although for relatively new cars (under 3 years old, still under warranty), the condition reports may be sufficient.

Free via things like:

Probably not on the praticalities of auctions, only if you're asking about technical issues.

(Although maybe you could persuade your friendly backstreet dealer to bid on a car for you if you're after something specific.)

Yep - rather a lot of sales patter laid on with a trowel. Although I could see times where it might make sense.

Theo

Ebay is a big online car auction. Anyone can bid online there.

yes, but viewing alone is not enough, nor is moving it 12". It'll do if you're a trader buying lots & able to return anything you don't want. It'll also do in some cases for private buys, but generally not.

I got free book values for mine, didn't remember where

I looked at one for someone that needed work in '14. Asked her regular mechanic, a quick chat was very helpful. It all depends how much people know about cars, and whether they have a reliable mechanic. Not sure there's any one size fits all really.

NT

ebay is a shadow of its former self - very few auctions now:

"nissan micra": 1006 listings, of which 30 auctions. Autotrader lists 2389 "ford focus": 5365 listings, 147 auctions. Autotrader 12571 "vw golf": 5138 listings, 199 auctions. Autotrader 12985

There are of course other auction houses than the national chains and some of those take online bids. But BCA and Manheim have much higher volume.

It just depends how much risk you're willing to take - and whether you can handle any issues. Traders, who average out their risk over many cars and have their tame mechanics who can do jobs as and when they have free time, do better at mitigating that risk than the average private buyer.

Traders have a bit more comeback (since they have an ongoing relationship), but generally it sounds like it's hard work to get auctions to take cars back after purchase.

Theo

Only real way was if the vehicle was miss-described at the auction. Stating the mileage or whatever was genuine, and proved to be false.

But do remember decent used cars get sold at a profit by a dealer. As most people who buy new cars trade them in while they are still valuable. And only get to auction when there isn't a decent profit to be made from them.

High miles ex lease cars with a FSH used to be good buys. If you knew what you were doing.

At auction, it's always worth looking at who the seller is:

Leasing company: probably a good bet, assuming they aren't trashed internally Dealer network: either trade-ins, or lemons they couldn't flog. Some care needed. We Buy Any Car and similar (WBAC is owned by BCA, although they get listed under a few other names): who knows? Take extreme care.

Theo