Car auction deals

[davidstone28]

Went wandering around my local BCA auction and was suprised by some of the prices and cars on offer. Went to the "£4000 and under" sale.

Pick of bunch I thought was a BMW 523i auto, 1996P, 160k, fully loaded which went for £1300. I know there were some problems with bore linings on these engines and UK petrol but assuming that the car has been well maintained, it seems like a steal. Body work looked immaculate, engine sounded fine and no strange smoke coming out the exhaust.The only downer was that the car was maroon colour!

Loads of current shape Mondys on 01/02 going under the hammer for £2k. Seemed like good value, although disappointingly they all seemed to be base models, with no 'interesting' versions such as GhiaX, ST etc on offer. Strangely, no Focuses that I could see.

Loads of old shape Fiestas being auction. When the auctioneer started saying "two five, two five", I thought he meant £250. But bids were starting at £25. Most sold for less than £100. Loads of Puntos, old shape Clios and 206s. Fiat Bravas seemed to be very cheap - saw a 2001/02 model go for £800. Bodywork looked pretty tidy as well. A 2002 bright yellow Punto Sporting with £50k went for £1300. A 2000 model Yaris VVTI went for £2750. I guess its the reliability and reputation pushed the price upI suppose becaue it seemed it a bit pricey.

Some of the cars seemed overpriced to me. A Peugeot 206 Roland Garros (2001/02 model I think) went for £3.75k which seemed a bit steep. A woman private buyer chased an H plate MX5 up to £1,000. The car looked completely knackered to me with lopsided suspension. I hope she doesn't get too much of shock when it comes to repair time....

On paper there was 98S Mark IV Golf TDi (110bhp) 5dr which would have been decent value at £2.5k if it wasn't for the fact that it had LOADS of dents and parking scrapes everywhere. I counted about 5 pretty major scrapes and loads of dents/dings all over the body. The owner must have been driving through forests.

A Mitsubishi GTO 2005 year, also went through though not sure of the price.

Had a brief glance at the cars in the "£4000 and over" hall. Some nice cars available there, though a bit outside of my budget.

No Alfa 147s anywhere to be seen

[5lab]

auctions are good, but you have to remember...

you *normally* pay vat, plus an auction fee (~5-10% iirc) - and theres no chance for a test. if you're brave its good, but i always feel that all the bargins will just be taken by the proffessionals - you gotta remember they know what to go for. if you're after something that wont sell well - perhaps a big car with a manual box and cloth, or a mondeo (haha) then you'll get something ahead of the dealers who cant be arsed with the hassle..

i still recon the best deals to be had are on ebay..

[Fox]

Actually there is rarely a requirement to pay vat. The only time a car at auction is VAT qualifying is if it was bought by a company (Rather than leased) as a business asset, and VAT claimed back on it.

This invariably means:

a) Almost all vans
b) Virtually none of the cars.

You have to pay buyers premium, though.

[Zak33]

/\ what Fox said.

Only pay VAT on Qualifiers and that's ex rentals direct from rental company, ex lease, direct from lease company, and most vans from VAT registered users.