My self and my father have bought 100+ of cars between us over 25 year from BCA and Central car auctions. as most these places are Dealers looking to buy cars for there forecourts and if you are a private buying yes you pay higher auctions fees but you will always have the upper hand agents a dealer as they will stop under trade in book price).
We have not had any issues with the car we have bought. but we mainly look at the company cars or dealership cars or something with a good service history and no issues that can been seen on the car.
You just need to do your research 1st and look over the car good. yes you will save alot over dealers prices. E.G about 2 years ago a bought a Mitsubishi ASX4 black edition. got the car for 6.5k inc auction fees. the dealer i out-bided came over and said that is a great deal and he would of put it on his forecourt for 9-9.5k (this is what i knew the car was selling for) So saved me 2-3k. also had 1-2 year warranty left on the car as Mitsubishi changed from 3 year to 5 years. but no issues to the car i could see and alloys where in perfect conditioned (you see some cars where they alloys starts to bubble or change colour. if they not damaged they should be replaced under warranty and a common issue on some types of cars)
Took the car to the local Mitsubishi Dealership the same day (for a plastic cover for one of the passenger feet for a seat that was missing) and they said they just put a car like that to the auction today. i was like Yes you did and that is it there. this dealership was the same one that sold it new and done all the servicing on it.
Was looking at KIA Sportage 4x4 top of the range at the time. dealers where selling for 14-15k. in the auctions they where 10k in the auction i was close to buying one but one of the suspension coil was broken and the one was top of the range all the extra 3 years old so had 2 years warranty left on it so may of been able to get the coil replaced under warranty. but the car came from a KIA dealership so i was like why did they not fix it before shipping it to the auction. but this my ageist my number 1 rule. if you cannot drive it away dont buy it.
my dad also bought a lovely Volvo and got it delivered for £80 (we live 2.5h away from the auction house). so when he got the car he found a tax disk with 4 months left on it and the car also had a 1/4 tank of petrol. it was delivered by a guy driving it from the auction. god knows how get got home. if you dont already know if you buy a car at an auction all cars are in the red. (most the time we would drive the car home the same day but they change the frees on paying for it.. Used to be money had no fee but changed it to something like 5% on money and card but bank transfer was free.
EDIT: in our area BCA used to be the place to go around 10 years ago but Central car auction has taken over in my area and is way bigger than the BCA in my area but they only around 10-20mins drive between them.
Also remember BAC also owns webuyanycar.com and most the cars sold to them end up in there autions (edited)
Although more than 2 years old, your response was helpful in providing more information.
Have been considering to buy from auction as the used car prices at dealers high but need patience and lot of research before choosing the auction purchase route!
I put up a similer request for info last month when I was thinking about buying back my BMW which went to BCA after the lease ended. I located the car at the BCA Nottingham auction. Then spoke to some auction pro's who told me the BCA/CAP guide price was 11600 and was likely to be reached or exceeded. By the time you have added all the expnses involved to a private buyer I expect the car would have cost me c 12k. About 1k less than the cost to buy it directly from the lease company. It is currently for sale with an independent dealer for 12850, so I reckon if the dealer does nothing to it at all he will make 1k. As it happens the car is mint so he should make the money, but will still have to warranty it for a bit and take that risk. I asked around and that sort of low margin seems common, so not much to be saved if you buy a lemon.
BCA cars tend to be over priced. My advice would be if you are interested in buying from auction go a few times. there are a few cars that will be keep coming in over a few auctions they don't all sell and probably something is up with them. You don't realise if you go once too a auction what's going on it's also good fun even if you don't buy anything. Also different places have different styles. Some are really poor auction houses in my opinion. Looks like loads of cars have sold but if you go again they haven't sold and if you buy probably best go for something with at least a warranty on the major parts. But remember they usually give you 2-4 hours too check for these faults. And calculate all your extra fees as BCA have quite high fees for buyers and sellers.
Not worth it.
google reviews and look at the trade comments/complaints.
Anonymous User
Its low margin not a magic money tree. Times are hard. I've bought numerous cars both warrantied, sold as seen etc & all have needed some work (costed into bids). All have been excellent.
The BCA vehicle detailing service (wash & brush up is utterly garbage though).
6 Comments
sorted byas most these places are Dealers looking to buy cars for there forecourts and if you are a private buying yes you pay higher auctions fees but you will always have the upper hand agents a dealer as they will stop under trade in book price).
We have not had any issues with the car we have bought. but we mainly look at the company cars or dealership cars or something with a good service history and no issues that can been seen on the car.
You just need to do your research 1st and look over the car good. yes you will save alot over dealers prices.
E.G about 2 years ago a bought a Mitsubishi ASX4 black edition. got the car for 6.5k inc auction fees. the dealer i out-bided came over and said that is a great deal and he would of put it on his forecourt for 9-9.5k (this is what i knew the car was selling for) So saved me 2-3k. also had 1-2 year warranty left on the car as Mitsubishi changed from 3 year to 5 years. but no issues to the car i could see and alloys where in perfect conditioned (you see some cars where they alloys starts to bubble or change colour. if they not damaged they should be replaced under warranty and a common issue on some types of cars)
Took the car to the local Mitsubishi Dealership the same day (for a plastic cover for one of the passenger feet for a seat that was missing) and they said they just put a car like that to the auction today. i was like Yes you did and that is it there. this dealership was the same one that sold it new and done all the servicing on it.
Was looking at KIA Sportage 4x4 top of the range at the time. dealers where selling for 14-15k. in the auctions they where 10k in the auction i was close to buying one but one of the suspension coil was broken and the one was top of the range all the extra 3 years old so had 2 years warranty left on it so may of been able to get the coil replaced under warranty. but the car came from a KIA dealership so i was like why did they not fix it before shipping it to the auction. but this my ageist my number 1 rule. if you cannot drive it away dont buy it.
my dad also bought a lovely Volvo and got it delivered for £80 (we live 2.5h away from the auction house). so when he got the car he found a tax disk with 4 months left on it and the car also had a 1/4 tank of petrol. it was delivered by a guy driving it from the auction. god knows how get got home. if you dont already know if you buy a car at an auction all cars are in the red. (most the time we would drive the car home the same day but they change the frees on paying for it.. Used to be money had no fee but changed it to something like 5% on money and card but bank transfer was free.
EDIT: in our area BCA used to be the place to go around 10 years ago but Central car auction has taken over in my area and is way bigger than the BCA in my area but they only around 10-20mins drive between them.
Also remember BAC also owns webuyanycar.com and most the cars sold to them end up in there autions (edited)
Have been considering to buy from auction as the used car prices at dealers high but need patience and lot of research before choosing the auction purchase route!
google reviews and look at the trade comments/complaints.
Times are hard.
I've bought numerous cars both warrantied, sold as seen etc & all have needed some work (costed into bids).
All have been excellent.
The BCA vehicle detailing service (wash & brush up is utterly garbage though).