First trip to auction & a few other questions.

[Bagheera 2]

Morning all.

Went to my first proper auction this week. It was open to joe public but mostly seemed to be traders there.  Most of the cars sold & sold for trade price or just over although a handful were only 'provisional' and are going back in to auction next week presumably because the vendor wants more!  

Anyway, I plan to go back next week with my 'target' cars, these are cars that I've checked online and have a fairly clean mot history or at least advisories that have been sorted or only minor that I can fix.  I won't be buying them just yet, just seeing whether I'd be in with a chance of getting them at a good price.

Any way my questions are:-

Is it the norm at auctions to have a look at the paperwork/service history if you get there early enough and ask?  (These are sold as seen)

I'll have my max bid price before hand based on what i see online but before I go but what are the basic checks you guys make that might make you adjust your bid or not bid all together?  I'm thinking tyres, dipstick, coolant and oil cap as well as engine lights, discs, pads. Anything else I'm missing?  Difficult to see suspension parts so I 'll rely on MoT history for anything on that.

Am I right in thinking that you only need to Hpi check cars that you take in  p/x or buy privately and not ones at auction as the auction house does this? 

And my last question for this round  is on Insurance.

If you take out a traders policy, are you only covered on the vehicles you add to the MID or are you covered to drive any vehicle?  Is the MID system only there to stop you getting pulled by the Police regularly?  I understand from my reading that I should add my trade plates to the MID system but just not clear on the rest

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

 

[Mikey360 68]

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.

[SouthernTrader 20]

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

[Pip 12]

You must of found a good auction if cars were going for trade money. Where is it? Every auction I attend or any car I bid on always ends up £500 + over trade price.

never have time to sit in them or do any checks. The drivers unlock,get in and drive it through. I look on it as being a professional gambler. Some you win, some you lose. I’ve never looked at paperwork before auction starts. I shouldn’t think my auctions would like that. I’d advise to buy private like the bloke in the DM. He bought an Audi TT for 1100 and had it up for 3850 an hour later. Now that’s the way to do it.

[justina3 518]

4 hours ago, Bagheera said:

Morning all.

Went to my first proper auction this week. It was open to joe public but mostly seemed to be traders there.  Most of the cars sold & sold for trade price or just over although a handful were only 'provisional' and are going back in to auction next week presumably because the vendor wants more!  

Anyway, I plan to go back next week with my 'target' cars, these are cars that I've checked online and have a fairly clean mot history or at least advisories that have been sorted or only minor that I can fix.  I won't be buying them just yet, just seeing whether I'd be in with a chance of getting them at a good price.

Any way my questions are:-

Is it the norm at auctions to have a look at the paperwork/service history if you get there early enough and ask?  (These are sold as seen)

I'll have my max bid price before hand based on what i see online but before I go but what are the basic checks you guys make that might make you adjust your bid or not bid all together?  I'm thinking tyres, dipstick, coolant and oil cap as well as engine lights, discs, pads. Anything else I'm missing?  Difficult to see suspension parts so I 'll rely on MoT history for anything on that.

Am I right in thinking that you only need to Hpi check cars that you take in  p/x or buy privately and not ones at auction as the auction house does this? 

And my last question for this round  is on Insurance.

If you take out a traders policy, are you only covered on the vehicles you add to the MID or are you covered to drive any vehicle?  Is the MID system only there to stop you getting pulled by the Police regularly?  I understand from my reading that I should add my trade plates to the MID system but just not clear on the rest

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

 

In the order you asked, 

firstly nothing wrong with research.

provisional' and are going back in to auction next week presumably because the vendor wants more!  (yes and no normally at the end of the sale the dealer may have made there money up from other cars so sometimes let them go or haggle a little more with the dealer its not a given then will go back through next week) 

As regards looking at paperwork it depends on the auction house, the big ones i would say no unless your a big buyer and a well known face can you imaging how much time would be taken up buy every tom dick and harry wanting to see book packs. 

When attending an auction its experience that will guide you, how the car starts idles smells looks those kind of things. 

Traders policies differ mine covers me to drive anything and everything however i am old and had my policy for over 25 years i am not sure what is on offer to newbies best ring around. 

 

ps the advise about buying local was a good shout auctions are hard work to make margin for newbies, unless your wanting to buy something that needs work and you can add good value to. 1 2 even 3 guided cars fetch good if not very good money.

all of the above is of course depending on what sort of stock your looking to buy if its for example 107 aygos then defo forget it go buy private the pitch guys will give a premium for that kind of stock. 

 

good luck 

 

[andymc1973 199]

with all due respect if you're asking on a forum about auctions you will be skint in a month, look at privates first mate

[Nick M.K. 574]

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. 

[Tony911 79]

Depends where you want to go with the buisness? If you want to sell 10 cars a year go buying private but if you want to expand then yes you may learn the hard way at auction but you need to know how they work.

[MattR 177]

watch the auctioneer, you need to know the signals he gives off for no bids, bidding you up etc, and be strong enough to walk. its harder than you think when you get caught up in it. As Nick says above, watch and learn. And know what the faults are on the sort of cars you are likely to bid on eg noisy timing chains on corsas, and how much such things cost to fix.

finding the private sales is one way of learning the faults and can yield good results. but can be very time consuming.

I cant think of an auction which would consider letting you look at any documents. And remember the buyers fees. Can be punitive at first.

And buy the guide for a tenner!

Good Luck

 

[Bagheera 2]

Thanks for all the replies, plenty of sound advice there!  

[DPF 18]

5 hours ago, Pip said:

You must of found a good auction if cars were going for trade money. Where is it? Every auction I attend or any car I bid on always ends up £500 + over trade price.

never have time to sit in them or do any checks. The drivers unlock,get in and drive it through. I look on it as being a professional gambler. Some you win, some you lose. I’ve never looked at paperwork before auction starts. I shouldn’t think my auctions would like that. I’d advise to buy private like the bloke in the DM. He bought an Audi TT for 1100 and had it up for 3850 an hour later. Now that’s the way to do it.

That’s how they do it £2750 in few hours. 

[EPV 631]

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. 

[Bagheera 2]

52 minutes ago, EPV said:

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. 

Thanks for that, much appreciated.  I'm hoping to finalise my trade insurance next week. Until then I can't go too in depth on manheim's site but I do like what I see and can see the benefits of online auctions.  I'm thinking I'll stick to petrol for now and smaller cars to begin with.  I've also been offered a few cars privately recently through my work (they had no idea I was interested in trading), so may follow up and see if I can get a bargain.  One is an auto mini with 28k miles, could be a good earner at the right price form what I've seen on hpi valuations.  Thanks again for your reply, really appreciate it.

Edited May 11, 2019 by Bagheera

[tradegirl 112]

You don't get to see as much these days, but listen out for a noisy flywheel or chain at start up. The drivers are pretty decent enough to go through the gears for you.

You don't get to see the paperwork, although Manheim usually post details of service history online, and their inspection reports give you a pretty decent idea of what to expect with the car. However, I still like to see the car in person, as sometimes it presents better or worse than in photos.

There are deals to be found both at auction, and privately. Just more vehicles at hand at auction, but expect to spend a large part of your day there, and maybe even walk away with nothing.

Regarding insurance, we're covered to drive any car, as long as it's up on the MID within 2 weeks of purchase.

[It's me 611]

On 11/05/2019 at 9:19 AM, Bagheera said:

 

And my last question for this round  is on Insurance.

If you take out a traders policy, are you only covered on the vehicles you add to the MID or are you covered to drive any vehicle?  Is the MID system only there to stop you getting pulled by the Police regularly?  I understand from my reading that I should add my trade plates to the MID system but just not clear on the rest

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

 

if vehicle is in trade and you are moving it from a place of sale or test drive or taking it for repairs then put trade plates on

i use trade plates to go for mot too so law enforcement dont niggle me

most trade insurers request vehicle in your name before adding to mid but doing this according to lawgistics means you cant use trade plates on it .........................................it must be taxed

 

your other questions need yourself to put in input to find answers

epv will explain

[Ripbrake 0]

On 11/05/2019 at 9:19 AM, Bagheera said:

Morning all.

Went to my first proper auction this week. It was open to joe public but mostly seemed to be traders there.  Most of the cars sold & sold for trade price or just over although a handful were only 'provisional' and are going back in to auction next week presumably because the vendor wants more!  

Anyway, I plan to go back next week with my 'target' cars, these are cars that I've checked online and have a fairly clean mot history or at least advisories that have been sorted or only minor that I can fix.  I won't be buying them just yet, just seeing whether I'd be in with a chance of getting them at a good price.

Any way my questions are:-

Is it the norm at auctions to have a look at the paperwork/service history if you get there early enough and ask?  (These are sold as seen)

I'll have my max bid price before hand based on what i see online but before I go but what are the basic checks you guys make that might make you adjust your bid or not bid all together?  I'm thinking tyres, dipstick, coolant and oil cap as well as engine lights, discs, pads. Anything else I'm missing?  Difficult to see suspension parts so I 'll rely on MoT history for anything on that.

Am I right in thinking that you only need to Hpi check cars that you take in  p/x or buy privately and not ones at auction as the auction house does this? 

And my last question for this round  is on Insurance.

If you take out a traders policy, are you only covered on the vehicles you add to the MID or are you covered to drive any vehicle?  Is the MID system only there to stop you getting pulled by the Police regularly?  I understand from my reading that I should add my trade plates to the MID system but just not clear on the rest

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

 

Before I go to the auction I usually look at the auction list online. You can then run a history check on the cars historical MOT and can see historical advisories they may or may not be a current problem on the cars before you purchase them. 

Edited June 26, 2019 by Ripbrake

[AverageJoe 0]

I agree Ripbrake, I always check the stock online before wasting my time going down to the auction house. Anything you see thats interesting you can do some quick online checks to gauge it's condition and if it's worth bidding on.

[David Horgan 564]

If You go to auction and  cant fix cars professionally don't buy em 

Simple .