Buying a car at auction

[fes_786]

if i were u be very very carefull

im in the dash repair game and vehicle diganostics game

if i were u i would take a mechanic and make sure he has a faultcode reader with him to check the car over

sometimes u get people wire the engine managment , abs , airbag lights to fuel warning lights or battery light

so they come on and go of
joe public thinks its ok

but they dont know there is faults there

i have fixed quite alot of dashes which had been wired like that

and about the clocking side of things

just because the needle bounces dont mean its clocked

there are quite alot of cars that u can clock without even toucing the clocks
just plug the cable in and jobdone

but most new cars have a second memory and if u find a guy with good equipment then he can tell u if the clock reading matches the reading in the ecu, bsi, lcm, lkm .etc

most people are just plain lazy and tight were they will only get the dash clocked but cant afford to pay to do the ecu

take a look at the steering wheel, gearshift gator, pedals .etc for wear

triple check the rest of the car inside and out

there are tooooo many people selling dodgey cars at auctions

trust me i go every other week with people checking out auctions were i do my little tricks and get them a straight car

but services like mine are not cheap i charge £100 for the day check out as many cars as customer wants, check for faults and clocking.

6 out of 10 cars i check have been clocked
7 out of 10cars i check have the warning lights wired to look ok

so be very very carefull m8

 

[Munkey]

Scary stuff fes, fortunately the car I am looking at is ex lease with warranted mileage. Quite a few of BCA's cars are from reputable fleet or lease companies which is reassuring. I'll pass up on private sales just to be on the safe side. Thanks for your input.

 

[fes_786]

youd be supprised how many lease companys clock the car back before each service and they do all the memories that way they get to keep car longer and resulting mot will be lower mileage and everything looks ok.
so just because its a ex lease car dont put ur guard down

 

[Munkey]

Some HPI check companies offer a varying degree of information at different costs. mycarcheck offers the last registered mileage

Please note that mileages are supplied by third parties and cannot be guaranteed. Some mileages may be rounded to the nearest thousand.

I hate BS disclaimers.

Anyone know where's the best place to get a HPI check done? I bet it's one of the £20 ones roud:

 

[v14]

youd be supprised how many lease companys clock the car back before each service and they do all the memories that way they get to keep car longer and resulting mot will be lower mileage and everything looks ok.
so just because its a ex lease car dont put ur guard down

thats why when you buy an ex lease you never get a stamped service book with oily fingerprints.

99.9% of the time you'll get a crappy fabricated computer printout with all the mileage/service details.

 

[fes_786]

thats why when you buy an ex lease you never get a stamped service book with oily fingerprints.

99.9% of the time you'll get a crappy fabricated computer printout with all the mileage/service details.

exactly

i give u a emaple:
company A buys a brand new vectra
they drive it 30k in 6 months
they do the service on it like the book
so at 15k and 25k .etc but in their own garage

then when car hits around 40k they clock it to 14987 or just under or over 15k
take it into dealers and get them to do the service
then drive it again .etc and continue the cycle until in the eyes of the dealers cars done 60 or 80k whatever the warrenty mileage is
then they sell the car at auction with stamped service book or print outs

so mr munkey thinks he getting a good deal on the vectra which is 1 or 2yrs old
and done 60k / 80k from lease company and mileage adds up to print outs .etc
but the car has infact done more than double the mileage

hpi comes back as 60/80k

the thing with company / ex lease cars is most of them do motorway mileage so the gear stick, pedals and steering dont get much wear on them.

so thats why i said be carefull as most of these companys hire people and pay the money to get the dash and any other modules done so it makes it nearly impossible to tell its been clocked

just my advice

 

[Munkey]

you can text the reg to carspotter on 86007 and that will tell you if there is any outstanding finance , stolen . of written off it worth doing for £3 :Clap:

I know you edited the post mate but just in case here is some clarification for other members.

TheCheck.co.uk - Car text check - Car data check - DVLA Police check - Car data check texts - Car check text - Car history check - Textcheck - Text 83600 - DriveBuy

text Drivebuy followed by reg number to 83600

I may end up using this service today if I don't get my first choice car.

 

[Starman]

if i were u be very very carefull

im in the dash repair game and vehicle diganostics game

if i were u i would take a mechanic and make sure he has a faultcode reader with him to check the car over

sometimes u get people wire the engine managment , abs , airbag lights to fuel warning lights or battery light

so they come on and go of
joe public thinks its ok

but they dont know there is faults there

i have fixed quite alot of dashes which had been wired like that

and about the clocking side of things

just because the needle bounces dont mean its clocked

there are quite alot of cars that u can clock without even toucing the clocks
just plug the cable in and jobdone

but most new cars have a second memory and if u find a guy with good equipment then he can tell u if the clock reading matches the reading in the ecu, bsi, lcm, lkm .etc

most people are just plain lazy and tight were they will only get the dash clocked but cant afford to pay to do the ecu

take a look at the steering wheel, gearshift gator, pedals .etc for wear

triple check the rest of the car inside and out

there are tooooo many people selling dodgey cars at auctions

trust me i go every other week with people checking out auctions were i do my little tricks and get them a straight car

but services like mine are not cheap i charge £100 for the day check out as many cars as customer wants, check for faults and clocking.

6 out of 10 cars i check have been clocked
7 out of 10cars i check have the warning lights wired to look ok

so be very very carefull m8

Do you think clocking is athing of the past ? every car now has it recorded from 3 years old on the mot and you can check previous mots on the .gov site what do you think ?

 

[DiamondGeezer]

thats why when you buy an ex lease you never get a stamped service book with oily fingerprints.

99.9% of the time you'll get a crappy fabricated computer printout with all the mileage/service details.

Got my motor from car giant and like most of their motors they are ex lease or ex comapny cars

anyway mine was an ex lease and the service book was fully stamp and up to date.

 

[carlos]

I think it's a real gamble when buying a car wether it be at a car garage or the auctions, after all that's where the garages get them from anyway.

@ munkey, I have recently been the auctions and the cars seemed to be alot more than you would expect, no real bargains , not far off the book price.

I ended up buying one privately from auto trader, it came with service history but when I checked it out after buying the car the garage had no record of the first 3 services but did with the last one which was the previous owner had done. Anyway I have had the timing belt changed just incase it has been clocked to be on the safe side.

 

[fes_786]

Do you think clocking is athing of the past ? every car now has it recorded from 3 years old on the mot and you can check previous mots on the .gov site what do you think ?

what im saying is the reading on 3yrs old doesnt all ways be 100%

and the reason im warning most of u is because im in the dash repair / correction game

and dont think cars always get clocked down
i have had a few which i had to clock up

 

[oneman]

always make sure you note down what time you payed for the car /van or have them to write it on receipt as you have 24 hours from then to bring the car back if you find any faults !

Its been a couple of years since I last went but back then AFAIK, you are covered for major faults if reported within 24 hours (e.g. gearbox). The T & C should be on the wesite. I think you are also covered if the car is stolen or subject to a finance agreement as part of the buyers fee. If the car has been written off, then generally it will be indicated at what level write off it was.

As for writing anything on the receipt, you can try but seeing as they have a T & C I can't imagine going for that.

I will say you have more rights buyings from auction then you do buying out of the paper.

Use your common sense, walk away if you gut feeling saying there is anything fishy going on. Depending on the day you go, a lot of the cars will either be ex-fleet, px or repo. You do get people selling privately but less common.

If you buy less then three years old (or more with Kia, etc) then you still have manufactures warranty.

My experiance in the past has been to aim for something around 2 years old with 30k to 40k on the clock. That way it will almost definately be an ex-fleet car (i.e. well maintained) and spent most of its life on the motorways which is less stress then town driving. Expect to pay around 40% to 50% of the new price.

 

[oneman]

I think it's a real gamble when buying a car wether it be at a car garage or the auctions, after all that's where the garages get them from anyway.

@ munkey, I have recently been the auctions and the cars seemed to be alot more than you would expect, no real bargains , not far off the book price.
<snip>

I have to agree with this 100%, with so many public members going to auction it really has driven the prices up for any decent cars and the trade hate it. That is why most auction place do trade only days and if you know a mechanic or trader then go with them on a trade only day if you can and you get a better price.

Glass and CAP are for by trade for estimating used car prices. They contain a price which the dealer would offer to buy the car from you (or pay at auction) based on the condition, milage, etc and they have a second price which is the retail price of the car or what they expect to sell at with warranty etc.

If you have a problem with insurance companies then get a selection of sold prices from e-bay and trader ads in auto-trader if you think the price is way off.

 

[Munkey]

@ munkey, I have recently been the auctions and the cars seemed to be alot more than you would expect, no real bargains , not far off the book price.

I ended up buying one privately from auto trader, it came with service history but when I checked it out after buying the car the garage had no record of the first 3 services but did with the last one which was the previous owner had done. Anyway I have had the timing belt changed just incase it has been clocked to be on the safe side.

I wasted my entire day only for the car to be sold at dealer price, what a complete waste of time I don't think I'll hit any more cat auctions, it takes up far too much time only for prices to be on par with Autotrader.

I'll search in

Autotrader
Exchange & Mart
Loot

anywhere else?

 

[v14]

I wasted my entire day only for the car to be sold at dealer price, what a complete waste of time I don't think I'll hit any more cat auctions, it takes up far too much time only for prices to be on par with Autotrader.

I'll search in

Autotrader
Exchange & Mart
Loot

anywhere else?

fleabay?

what is it your looking for?

 

[oneman]

fleabay?

Picked up my last car from fleabay, One before that was autotrader, trade sale. One before was an ad stuck in the car window that I happen to walk by.

Generally speaking, if a car is well under book value then I do wonder why.

 

[DiamondGeezer]

I'll search in

Autotrader
Exchange & Mart
Loot

anywhere else?

Jobs, Cars, Property, Free Classifieds and More - Gumtree.com

 

[Munkey]

fleabay?

what is it your looking for?

1 series BMW mate, it's gotta be metallic graphite grey or the wife will turn her nose up at it. Budget is around £7k-£9k

Damn ebay was so obvious that I completely disregarded it, I'll have a snoop now.

 

[oneman]

1 series BMW mate, it's gotta be metallic graphite grey or the wife will turn her nose up at it. Budget is around £7k-£9k

Damn ebay was so obvious that I completely disregarded it, I'll have a snoop now.

You are going to be lucky to find something that specific at auction. And as you found out BMW are still sought after so I expect their prices to be high.

 

[Munkey]

You are going to be lucky to find something that specific at auction. And as you found out BMW are still sought after so I expect their prices to be high.

The one today at auction for a snip under 10k, wtf you can buy it cheaper from a dealer and get a warranty. I already have a dealer and don't need the warranty though.