Hey Friends,
Anybody got much experience with buying cars at auctions?
What's the general price savings vs. the average market price you'd be looking at through a private sale? Anything I should be thinking about with auctions that might not apply with private sales?
Any good or bad experiences to share? Love to hear from you guys.
Cheers.
What's the general price savings vs. the average market price you'd be looking at through a private sale?
If you are patient, and on the ball with your research and being ready to jump onto a deal and head there and buy at a moments notice… Then private sale would be where the savings at IMO.
With private sales you have people that don't know the exact value of vehicle they are selling, people that don't care so much, just want it gone ASAP even if they aren't getting the best price, people that will sell cheap for a quick, easy and friendly transaction (ie. If they like you and your kind a nice to deal with, can get better deal) .
With an auction, you have no where near the opportunity (if ever) to grab something for half it's average market price because you have a bunch of people there to bid, and someone else would grab it for higher price. Only way you could get something 50% of value at auction, would be if it is some niche rare vehicle that nobody else at all among the other bidders, knows about.
In private sales, I have gotten a few vehicles for about half average market price or even less. You're not in a bidding war, you just need to come to an arrangement both buyer and seller are hapoy with. Some sellers are happy to give a great deal, last car I bought the guy had a brand new car, old vehicle was just sitting round, a bunch of other people had just stuffed him round, wasted his time, said they would come then no-shows, then I called and said "will you take xxx $ if I come buy and take it away today" . Kept my word, came and had inspected then purchased. I was happy cos I got an awesome deal, he was happy cos I was genuine, and he didn't have to deal with the time wasters any more, and got rid of vehicle unused and which he didn't even have anywhere to park (was parked down road, around the corner).
on the 4th car now I bought from auctions.
Need to know what you're doing, be patient and stick to your budget. There is a lot of trash, but same can be said with private sales.
Experience, last car I bought was a WRX STI premium, ex demo, 2017. Ex demo at dealers are around $50k+, new $63K, bought it $39k, sold my old WRX for $14K, so effectively a new STI for $25k (+$3K onroads). This was rare and very narrow window to buy so no time to see in the metal, was a risk to buy but pics and specs looked good. Worse case it still has 2 years warranty. Car came in dirty but after a wash come up a new car, new car smell still.
I wanted a white automatic wagon but got a black manual sedan, that's auctions but this is a better car than I was looking for. This is the exception not the rule here, I've seen 1000s of junkers go for stupid prices.
That's a steal for an ex-demo STi! Congrats!
Thanks happy with it thats for sure!
Originally bought it to flip, figured easy 10k but loved it after I drove it. Much better than the Subaru Levorg GTS or Levorg STI I was looking for. Thought STI was out of my budget but was wrong lol
The Levorg is just too big in my opinion. It's got the HP to get going quickly, but its weight, length and high centre of gravity make it much less enjoyable for spirited driving around regional mountain roads, which is where the STi would shine. I drove a WRX and loved it.
@p1 ama: Agree 100% but is my second WRX, first one was highly modified with 300kw, so I kinda over the whole spirited driving thing in a way. So I was looking for a daily, thats why I was looking for a Levorg.
I was actually surprised how nice the STI is to daily. All reviews say not good for daily but thats BS, old ones yes. Auto wiper, auto lights, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, awesome visibility, huge boot, agile, responsive and stops on a dime. Its quiet, smooth, refined, plenty of power (retuned with 300kw now) and torque (up to 660nm now). Effortless overtaking and drive mode is really good, put it "intelligent" granny mode and its docile to drive in traffic.
Rediscovered joy of driving in the STI!
All reviews say not good for daily but thats BS
It's just people who don't know any better trotting out the same lines again and again. I'm always surprised that they say the STi is impractical as a daily when nobody says that about the Golf R, Audi S3, Focus RS…etc. which are all about the same as the STi in terms of daily driveability. It's just the perception and the fact that it has a wing on the back.
For me, the suspension would probably be a little too stiff and the old EJ275 guzzles way too much petrol, especially compared with the much more modern engine in the new WRX's.
@p1 ama: Yeah true, totally crap, been in those and they are stiff and less room inside overall even though outside of the car is about the same. The old ones were less compromising but this time Subaru really made these cars much nicer to live with.
WRX is better a daily no doubt. FA motor is great for lower end torque and fuel economy. Was surprised how nice and smooth it is. Just a shame it doesn't respond to mods as well as the old EJ but still can mod for good increase in power. Also sound, love the STI engine note this time, its subtle but a nice note but missing in the WRX.
Yeah EJ chews petrol in standard form that's why I had it retuned, now 9L average with 30% more power. average before was 13L, thats HSV territory!
No warranty, no ability to test drive the car, often little or no service history.
Having said that I have purchased twice at auction and did great each time
1. A Falcon BA ute circa 2008 for a little over half price of similar in car yards.
2. A B6 VW Passat at roughly 1/3 of trading prices.
I have owned 12 or so vehicles (2 brand new, 2 used at auction, 3 used at a car/motorcycle dealer, the rest bought privately) and personally have no qualms at auction buying, but I know vehicles and I am quite adept at doing my own mechanical and electrical work.
personally have no qualms at auction buying, but I know vehicles and I am quite adept at doing my own mechanical and electrical work.
I think that is the key for auction buying. You need to know cars - well.
Buying a car at auction is a bit like an arranged marriage. You really don't know what you're getting in to until it's too late. Some turn out great and it's a great bargain. But others are a total misery from day 1.
Id say you run the risk even with a new car. Like anything do your research…
Yes but the risks of a lemon are higher at auction.
Not if you know what you're doing and have set rules.
I buy cars that still have residual warranty on them, brands I trust and low kays. By then most problems have been resolved.
I buy cars that still have residual warranty
That is a great idea (if one can afford a car fairly new and still under warranty) …. really need to be careful that all the servicing etc requirements by manufacturer have been met also though ie. I believe that if one of the services or logbook requirements is not done right, manufacturer warranty would likely be 100% void, and if it is a costly repair and you didn't buy from the manufacturer yourself, even more incentive for them to deny warranty claim. And would all be perfectly legal for them to do so, if any of the warranty terms were not met by original buyer.
@Flanders: This is true, hence need to look at logbook and inspect the car.
That said I've had minor issues repaired under warranty. If it was an engine failure id I'm imagine companies like Ford, Benz, Jeep, VW trying to pull this crap, but owners who bought it new have issues with them anyway. Brands I avoid like the plague anyway, so not concerned.
I am quite familiar with buying cars at auction. But my only interest lies with government auctions/vehicles and buy well under market price.
I only buy cars with full service history, under 5 years old, under 150k km and am quite picky with the previous government department owner and their location.
After a while you get to pick the dealers in the crowd (they aren't hard to pick!) and when they cease bidding on the vehicle I usually do the same shortly after.
I have a spreadsheet which takes into account numbers such as redbook price, lowest prices found on the net, fees and stamp duty to give me a final figure to buy at allowing a $2k profit if I wanted to sell. It's a handy tool which can be also be used when buying privately or from a dealer. On the latter, I've recently been enjoying buying used cars from dealers by using the same stategy.
Best auction buys for me included a ford ranger. Sold that 3 years later for a profit. Still got a 08 astra wagon (2nd one from an auction) and despite its poor rating with Australian drivers, it's been one of the best cars I've owned.
Never had a problem with a vehicle or the auction process. Definitely not limited to it but prefer the auction and dealer option rather than the gumtree private avenue these days.
Can you share your spreadsheet?
I'm the same, buy newish cars from auction which are still within warranty (still do checks for mechanical issues and crash history) and there are some bargains to be had. But there are also plenty of lemons.
Like any major purchase, do your homework to know you're not getting ripped off. I paid $10k less for my old car than market value from a repossessed vehicle sale. That same sale also had people pay top dollar for some pretty average/crappy cars. I think a lot of people get caught up in the hype.
Saw a 3 - 4 years old Kia Cerato with normal amount of km's and full service history get passed on when they asked for $6k but a Corolla with 300k km sell for $8k.
Have a read over at this thread. Lots of people putting their experience with buying at auctions over there…