Buying cars at auctions Repo Sales?
Buying cars at auctions Repo Sales?
I am presently looking at buying either a BMW Z3 or a MB SLK, does anybody
have any advice on buying either of these cars at auctions, and which type
of auctions i should be looking at, how much i should be paying?
Also,does anybody know of any government auctions where it would be possible
to buy repossed, or seized vehicles?
I am located just outside of Leeds.
The two biggest and best auction groups are www.british-car-auctions.co.uk
and www.manheimeurope.com.
Manheim have a branch in Leeds, BCA's nearest is in Brighouse, there's
another In Manchester; full details on their websites of course.
Both offer online access to their catalogues for the trade but not for the
public. Both offer a premium rate fax-u-back service but this is a rip-off
and for cars as rare as the ones you're looking for will prove a very
expensive search for a needle in a haystack.
However, non-trade can get limited results (up to 5 at a time I think) from
BCA's Auctionview service so have a look at that: www.auctionview.co.uk. If
you narrow down your search for a particular model, age, mileage and auction
location on a motor like a Z3 or SLK there won't be more than 5 results. I
just looked and there were no SLKs and only 4 Z3s listed for the whole UK,
all down south except one in Nottingham. Of course that's today, it changes
daily.
These cars will come up in general fleet sales but not often. Both auction
groups do dedicated Mercedes and BMW sales where they'll be more common, but
you may have to travel. BCA do Top Car auctions once or twice a month at
certain branches and Manchester is one, this kind of stock will come up
there.
How much should you be paying? Well that depends on exact model, age, reg
and mileage doesn't it... Probably around £2k less than retail but this
isn't 100% saving - a dealer will put a warranty on a car, service it and
probably give you a discount so in real terms your saving's likely to be
closer to £1,000 - unless you buy a wrong-un in which case you're in
trouble. Buying well at auction is not as easy as it seems so if you're not
well clued up, best avoid them.
The government don't auction its own vehicles. The MoD etc. do hold sales
at BCA if you want an old Land Rover or worn out base model car... All
auctions see their fair share or repos but you don't get dedicated repo
sales - a fleet company will just throw a repo in with all the other
vehicles it's disposing of at the end of their contracts. Repos are cheap
but not worth much; usually they've been neglected and rarely come with V5s
or service books, best avoided really.