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I think auctions are the way to go. My biggest regret is wasting many hours of my time to go and look at private cars far and wide in my early years. So much stock at auction plus you’ll learn quicker. But go several times, watch what happens, keep your eyes peeled AND make garage contacts so you don’t have to avoid cars with no Mot for example.

Hi bagheera, I'd suggest buying the £10 ebook on "how to be a car dealer" from car dealer magazine, links in one of the pinned threads, worth it's weight in gold and answers most of your questions.

My advice is unless you know what you’re looking for, don’t bother going. I have bought and sold over 120 cars as a relative newbie and i’ve been to one auction in my life. I buy purely online, have only ever had one true lemon (and my loss should have been half what it was but I wasn’t clued up enough to know what to stop spending) Another forumite whom I talk with a couple of times a week sells 30-40 cars a month and despite attending auctions in his early days, buys everything online. Some wouldn’t dream of buying online. I personally haven’t a clue for the most part about what to look for and smell etc so it’s a waste of time going. If you enjoy the cold, standing around for ages, listening to miserable old souls or bullshitters, you might like an auction. I can’t think of a worse way to spend a day. I did, however, get on me bike and bought a fair few private’s in my early days. That helped me along a lot.

As a new trader I think you’d have more luck raking through the private adverts and looking for cars that have been undervalued. You get all the time you need to look at the service history, check everything and ask any questions you might have, plus you can normally tell what kind of owner they are - if you know what I mean. Especially if you’re only doing a few it’s a good source and you’ll learn a lot. Probably less likely to make costly errors too. Just my two pence anyway Good Luck

Just to make you feel better. At least back then there were two mileage tax brackets, lower for high milers as the car was less of a perk and more of a requirement.