Car auctions and buying cars

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andya700

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For the past year, we have been looking to replace our faithful Skoda Octavia, which is 20years old and has 225K miles on it. It has been a really frustrating process, looking through Autotrader (which is not as user friendly as before), sorting out the wheat from chaff etc. Yesterday, I put in the following search criteria - Auto gearbox, within 20 miles, 2016 - 2020, £6K to 9K, any make of car. I reckon 70% of the results, were for small engine cars with "wet cambelts", a relatively new invention, which are like pulling the pin out of a grenade, then hoping it wont go off in your hand. Then, there were a lot of Vauxhall cars with the 1.4 turbo engine, which seems to have an equally bad review. I ended up with just four cars out of around 150 which sort of fitted the bill.
So, I thought I would try a rather large, fairly local car auction site, as I have bought cars from auctions in the past. I went on the site and found that as a non trade person, they wanted £99 + VAT for me to register. They are basically discouraging private buyers from buying at auction.
Why is life so frustrating nowadays?
 
andya700 said:
For the past year, we have been looking to replace our faithful Skoda Octavia, which is 20years old and has 225K miles on it. It has been a really frustrating process, looking through Autotrader (which is not as user friendly as before), sorting out the wheat from chaff etc. Yesterday, I put in the following search criteria - Auto gearbox, within 20 miles, 2016 - 2020, £6K to 9K, any make of car. I reckon 70% of the results, were for small engine cars with "wet cambelts", a relatively new invention, which are like pulling the pin out of a grenade, then hoping it wont go off in your hand. Then, there were a lot of Vauxhall cars with the 1.4 turbo engine, which seems to have an equally bad review. I ended up with just four cars out of around 150 which sort of fitted the bill.
So, I thought I would try a rather large, fairly local car auction site, as I have bought cars from auctions in the past. I went on the site and found that as a non trade person, they wanted £99 + VAT for me to register. They are basically discouraging private buyers from buying at auction.
Why is life so frustrating nowadays?
Click to expand...

I would guess because Joe Public would just get in the way. Not know procedure, slow things down and probably expect a warranty and it being clean. Having a fee gets rid of timewasters
 
andya700 said:
For the past year, we have been looking to replace our faithful Skoda Octavia, which is 20years old and has 225K miles on it. It has been a really frustrating process, looking through Autotrader (which is not as user friendly as before), sorting out the wheat from chaff etc. Yesterday, I put in the following search criteria - Auto gearbox, within 20 miles, 2016 - 2020, £6K to 9K, any make of car. I reckon 70% of the results, were for small engine cars with "wet cambelts", a relatively new invention, which are like pulling the pin out of a grenade, then hoping it wont go off in your hand. Then, there were a lot of Vauxhall cars with the 1.4 turbo engine, which seems to have an equally bad review. I ended up with just four cars out of around 150 which sort of fitted the bill.
So, I thought I would try a rather large, fairly local car auction site, as I have bought cars from auctions in the past. I went on the site and found that as a non trade person, they wanted £99 + VAT for me to register. They are basically discouraging private buyers from buying at auction.
Why is life so frustrating nowadays?
Click to expand...


If you know what you're after, it might be worth talking to the local dealers to see if they'll sell trade ins to Joe Public "as seen" with no warranty.
 
andya700 said:
70% of the results, were for small engine cars with "wet cambelts", a relatively new invention, which are like pulling the pin out of a grenade, then hoping it wont go off in your hand.
Click to expand...
You can just imagine the scene at the first company to come up with this: "Hey guys! I've got a great idea to increase the turnover of the workshop..." :thinking:
 
cambsno said:
I would guess because Joe Public would just get in the way. Not know procedure, slow things down and probably expect a warranty and it being clean. Having a fee gets rid of timewasters
Click to expand...

It always worked in the past. Have you ever been to a car auction, because you look over the car before hand, hear it start up and put in a bid when it comes up for sale. Everyone knows you don't get a warranty. I have never witnessed any time wasters at auction, just punters bidding against each other.
 
andya700 said:
For the past year, we have been looking to replace our faithful Skoda Octavia, which is 20years old and has 225K miles on it. It has been a really frustrating process, looking through Autotrader (which is not as user friendly as before), sorting out the wheat from chaff etc. Yesterday, I put in the following search criteria - Auto gearbox, within 20 miles, 2016 - 2020, £6K to 9K, any make of car. I reckon 70% of the results, were for small engine cars with "wet cambelts", a relatively new invention, which are like pulling the pin out of a grenade, then hoping it wont go off in your hand. Then, there were a lot of Vauxhall cars with the 1.4 turbo engine, which seems to have an equally bad review. I ended up with just four cars out of around 150 which sort of fitted the bill.
So, I thought I would try a rather large, fairly local car auction site, as I have bought cars from auctions in the past. I went on the site and found that as a non trade person, they wanted £99 + VAT for me to register. They are basically discouraging private buyers from buying at auction.
Why is life so frustrating nowadays?
Click to expand...

Wetbelts get a bad name and for the most part for good reason.

However if you can find a used car that has just had the wetbelt changed, its not an issue as long as you are using the correct spec oil.

What tends to happen is that Joe Bloggs goes and buys a new car and has no real knowledge and trusts either his mate or his local garage when it comes to servicing etc. They then use their preferred oil choice and the because it's not exactly the right spec it basically eats the belt over time and thats then were you get the issues. If you use the correct spec oil and do regular oil changes within the correct intervals a wet belt is fine.

Modern chain driven cars aren't the best either these days especially with smaller engine cars. Vauxhall, BMW, Suzuki, VAG Group and a few others have all had issues with their's. Also in the most part for the same reasons, not using the correct spec oil.

Buying a used car is a total minefield these days and prices are through the roof thanks in no small part to the many people who want to avoid having an electric car and those because of the cost of living crisis don't want to be spending the guts of £400-500 a month for a basic car for the school run. I feel your pain having just changed my eldests car to something a bit newer.

Might be different here in Northern Ireland, but as long as i can remember there has always been a registration fee if you wanted to be able to buy a car through an auction. I have a few relatives in the car trade and we always used their auction accounts if we wanted something to avoid paying the registration fee.
 
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andya700 said:
It always worked in the past. Have you ever been to a car auction, because you look over the car before hand, hear it start up and put in a bid when it comes up for sale. Everyone knows you don't get a warranty. I have never witnessed any time wasters at auction, just punters bidding against each other.
Click to expand...

No, that is not correct. All the auctions that I have ever been to, and I used to go to a lot, had a basic warranty as part of their sales agreement. Anything not mentioned in the seller's description that would cause an MOT failure, was dangerous or negatively affected the engine, clutch, gearbox and drive system could be reason to return the vehicle for a full refund. You had to be quick though. Typically it was 48 hours, a week at the most. Some auctions offered an extended warranty that was sold on behalf of another company.

Auctions are not always what they seem to be. The auctioneers will have regular customers; buyers, sellers or both who will receive favourable treatement, sometimes at the expense of the casual one time buyers. In my opinion the best way to buy at auction is to visit well before the start of business or on the day before the sale. Look at the type of cars that you are interested in, make notes and then go to the office and ask what is the reserve price on the one that you want to buy. You will be asked for a deposit and your contact details. They will contact the seller and try to do the deal. It is in their interests to sell as many cars as possible without them going through the ring. If the seller accepts your offer then the contract is assumed complete. You have to pay for it, including the auctioneer's fees. The seller might ask for slightly more. If you agree to that then the contract is done. The car won't be entered in the auction.

My advice would be to look for trade in cars from the bigger dealers. Some dealers only deal in new or nearly new cars. The other trade ins go to auction. Other dealers might only deal in cars up to 4 or 5 years old and chop the older ones out to auction. Typically these cars will have a reserve that if met before or during the sale will be accepted. But first check to see what warranties are offered.
 
Clive K said:
No, that is not correct. All the auctions that I have ever been to, and I used to go to a lot, had a basic warranty as part of their sales agreement. Anything not mentioned in the seller's description that would cause an MOT failure, was dangerous or negatively affected the engine, clutch, gearbox and drive system could be reason to return the vehicle for a full refund. You had to be quick though. Typically it was 48 hours, a week at the most. Some auctions offered an extended warranty that was sold on behalf of another company.

Auctions are not always what they seem to be. The auctioneers will have regular customers; buyers, sellers or both who will receive favourable treatement, sometimes at the expense of the casual one time buyers. In my opinion the best way to buy at auction is to visit well before the start of business or on the day before the sale. Look at the type of cars that you are interested in, make notes and then go to the office and ask what is the reserve price on the one that you want to buy. You will be asked for a deposit and your contact details. They will contact the seller and try to do the deal. It is in their interests to sell as many cars as possible without them going through the ring. If the seller accepts your offer then the contract is assumed complete. You have to pay for it, including the auctioneer's fees. The seller might ask for slightly more. If you agree to that then the contract is done. The car won't be entered in the auction.

My advice would be to look for trade in cars from the bigger dealers. Some dealers only deal in new or nearly new cars. The other trade ins go to auction. Other dealers might only deal in cars up to 4 or 5 years old and chop the older ones out to auction. Typically these cars will have a reserve that if met before or during the sale will be accepted. But first check to see what warranties are offered.
Click to expand...
Auctions where you are must be very different. Have never seen a car auctioned that includes warranty and has been to a few in England and Scotland as well as the ones here.
 
f/2.8 said:
Auctions where you are must be very different. Have never seen a car auctioned that includes warranty and has been to a few in England and Scotland as well as the ones here.
Click to expand...

Check the t&c of the auction house. Those I used to go to stipulated that the seller was able to declare any faults or declare no faults or opt for sold as seen. In the first two cases there would be a short warranty for the things I listed earlier.
 
All auctions I attended from 1985 to 2005, , in London and Kent were sold as seen (including the BCA which I was looking at online) and had no warranty whatsoever.
 
andya700 said:
For the past year, we have been looking to replace our faithful Skoda Octavia, which is 20years old and has 225K miles on it. It has been a really frustrating process, looking through Autotrader (which is not as user friendly as before), sorting out the wheat from chaff etc. Yesterday, I put in the following search criteria - Auto gearbox, within 20 miles, 2016 - 2020, £6K to 9K, any make of car. I reckon 70% of the results, were for small engine cars with "wet cambelts", a relatively new invention, which are like pulling the pin out of a grenade, then hoping it wont go off in your hand. Then, there were a lot of Vauxhall cars with the 1.4 turbo engine, which seems to have an equally bad review. I ended up with just four cars out of around 150 which sort of fitted the bill.
So, I thought I would try a rather large, fairly local car auction site, as I have bought cars from auctions in the past. I went on the site and found that as a non trade person, they wanted £99 + VAT for me to register. They are basically discouraging private buyers from buying at auction.
Why is life so frustrating nowadays?
Click to expand...

I don't like the new Autotrader either, bring back the old.

I feel your pain, the prices are still far too high and they seem especially so up in Scotland. I feel forced into expanding the search area, but if it's not a franchise with a local branch, then it can be a pain to get any problems sorted.
 
BCA are online only so you can't just rock up and have a look round. You do not get to view a car before purchase, you buy on the online report.
 
gman said:
I don't like the new Autotrader either, bring back the old.

I feel your pain, the prices are still far too high and they seem especially so up in Scotland. I feel forced into expanding the search area, but if it's not a franchise with a local branch, then it can be a pain to get any problems sorted.
Click to expand...


I'm glad it isn't just me who thinks the AT format is really bad. The search results are also showing all vehicles which do not show a location underneath the picture, plus they seem to be ignoring low to high filter with regard to price.
 
f/2.8 said:
Wetbelts get a bad name and for the most part for good reason.

However if you can find a used car that has just had the wetbelt changed, its not an issue as long as you are using the correct spec oil.

What tends to happen is that Joe Bloggs goes and buys a new car and has no real knowledge and trusts either his mate or his local garage when it comes to servicing etc. They then use their preferred oil choice and the because it's not exactly the right spec it basically eats the belt over time and thats then were you get the issues. If you use the correct spec oil and do regular oil changes within the correct intervals a wet belt is fine.

Modern chain driven cars aren't the best either these days especially with smaller engine cars. Vauxhall, BMW, Suzuki, VAG Group and a few others have all had issues with their's. Also in the most part for the same reasons, not using the correct spec oil.

Buying a used car is a total minefield these days and prices are through the roof thanks in no small part to the many people who want to avoid having an electric car and those because of the cost of living crisis don't want to be spending the guts of £400-500 a month for a basic car for the school run. I feel your pain having just changed my eldests car to something a bit newer.

Might be different here in Northern Ireland, but as long as i can remember there has always been a registration fee if you wanted to be able to buy a car through an auction. I have a few relatives in the car trade and we always used their auction accounts if we wanted something to avoid paying the registration fee.
Click to expand...

I'm sure I mind reading that it was most likely these "extended" oil change intervals that was causing the problems with chains. I'm guessing the oil was losing its lubricating and cooling abilities after such extended periods.

My current car has four timing chains :oops: :$ and a lot of those composite guides etc, so I change the oil myself with the correct VW504 spec every six months / 5000 miles. It's a small price to pay to keep the engine sweet. I also technically get fresh oil every month thanks to the low friction pistons rings...lol
 
AT changed it so it keeps defaulting to relevance so you have to keep ticking low to high. It's annoying. I must remember to complain about that to them again.
 
gman said:
I'm sure I mind reading that it was most likely these "extended" oil change intervals that was causing the problems with chains. I'm guessing the oil was losing its lubricating and cooling abilities after such extended periods.

My current car has four timing chains :oops: :$ and a lot of those composite guides etc, so I change the oil myself with the correct VW504 spec every six months / 5000 miles. It's a small price to pay to keep the engine sweet. I also technically get fresh oil every month thanks to the low friction pistons rings...lol
Click to expand...
Not seen any extendied oil change intervals on cars with wetbelts. Cars with wetbelts are usually recommended to be changed at less mileage than those without.
 
Cars I have bought at auction had 24 hours in which to return. Being a punter amongst the dealers was challenging, but knowing you could outbid them was powerful. I used to go for ex-fleet cars, with bigger engines, which would have had proper FSH and less strain on the engines...

Post COVID all the actions for the auctions house I used to go to were online, so it was no longer you against just those in the room, and also they required bidders to be a VAT registered motor industry business. So no more public...
 
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