Buying and selling at Car Auctions?

Used cars aren't subject to VAT (VAT registered dealers will pay margin VAT upon sale, but that's a different story altogether).

VAT Qualifying commercials are subject to VAT, but they're the only ones.

Every auction will have a different fee structure, but one of my preferred auctions for classics etc has a simple 10%+VAT fees on hammer price for buyers. So a car going under the hammer at £10,000 will have fees of £1000+VAT (£1200 to a public buyer), so it'll cost you £11,200 to drive it home.

I’ve been to a normal (as opposed to classic) car auction twice - as there is one near me which is on two evening a week. I went with my brother in law purely out of curiosity rather than looking to buy. I was tempted by a couple of cars that went across the block but kept my eyes down.

One of the cars I was tempted was a mk1 focus ST, but some digging and I found it on a completed eBay action with a detailed description including the knackered clutch (which wasn’t mentioned in the auction details). The just give you the basics - ref, mileage, trim and maybe a 1 line description.

What I didn’t realise how much stuff gets re-auctioned at the next one! I suspect because the person who bought it decided it was worse than originally appeared. At that auction the fees are handed depending on the hammer price. Seller pays and buyer pays, so having cars going across the block week after week is a nice little earner for the auction....hmmm.. In terms of warranty - I think anything over 1k was 1 day for something like engine/gearbox packing up...under 1k...absolutely none.

There seemed to be 3 types of buyer:
Dealers (usually a couple of people from the same family) buying stock - probably 3+ cars per eve,
People waiting for one specific car they saw advertised (older couple who clearly were going to buy the S type!) ,
People buying up anything going super cheap (sub 250), either to strip or sell on as cheap driveway sales

It was an interesting experience, but I’d never buy something from one...unless I was playing to strip it for spares personally.

Depends on which ones you use.

I've bought and sold a fair score of cars, mostly bought at auction but sold one once. Some of them have been modest fees (£80-150 on top of hammer price) but the big ones, like Manheim, seem to try and screw the public away by asking for £500 minimum as a fee (or in that area), so a £100 car would cost you £600 all in, and a £1000 car nearer £1800.

Insane.

Small private ones are probably better. They used to be anyway, but then again you'd get all sorts of dodgy stuff going through (I once 'won' a car that turned out to be a Cat A (yes, A) write-off and it was a nightmare to get my money back from them)

Have family in the trade so am often taken along to auctions to either drive stuff there or bring stuff back.

They used to sell more in the car park than through the shed!

Only advice I can give is know what you are bidding on - A story that still raises a laugh at family gatherings is the super cheap M3 that was purchased from the back of the room. Absolute bargain until uncle jumped into the driving seat to find that there was no steering wheel - it was LHD...

P.

The 'chandelier' bidding still goes on in all major auctions both new and classics. The advice to use a spotter is very worthwhile or if you cant get a buddy and your on your own find a spot where you can see what the auctioneer is seeing...

My personal experience aren't classics but all of my last 4 daily's have come from auctions with significant reduction over forecourt prices - Mrs JP's Smart particularly being several grand under list as it came from a bankrupt stock when Car Giant went to the wall so came to sale with no paper work.. A quick call to merc as it was previously a merc lease car (still had the merc leasing no.plates on it)and all the service history was known...

Like normal car buying, do your homework, stick to a price in your head (including calculating for fees etc) and you should be fine, just don't get caught up in bidding fever which is very easily done

It helps now that most if not all auctions have the stock on line prior to the sale, so you can do your homework from the comfort of your sofa.

I actually took part in my very first proper auction last Saturday that Mathewsons was running.

If I remember right it was the hammer cost + 7.5%.

I used the autobid function so once it got to my maximum I wasn’t tempted to go anymore. It was Lot.2 1979 Mini Clubman Estate I was bidding on. Estimate was £1,950. Ended up going for £3,900. Was well over what I was willing to pay because it did need some work but was in good looking, original condition.

Going to have a look at the next catalog and see what’s available 😀

Yes, yes and yes!