Buying car in auction

Hi, Has anyone bought a car in auction just wondering what type of saving can be made as in how much cheaper would you buy a car at auction v's car dealer. Thanks LL

no no no no no avoid like the plague you have no warranty when you buy from an auction it's pure junk stay away.

Even if it is a liquidation sale, should I still avoid.

I would not touch them your getting cars in an 'as seen sold' state, that means if the tyres are bald it's still sold, I would not waste my money. Go to small independent second hand car seller instead. What is your price range and what are you looking for?

Thanks guys. Only looking for a run around as we need to get second car, and just wanted to get some feedback. Haven't decided on limit yet, but will take your advice. :-)

I have just sent you a pm

My FBIL had really bad experience recently - bought a BMW in an auction in Cavan and three days later, it was fecked and will cost more than double what they paid for it to be fixed! As jem said - avoid them like the plague!

I wouldn't be so dead set against them - are you talking about the one in a couple of weeks in Athlone? There's a liquidation sale with about 200 cars coming up. These cars would have been on the lot ready to sell before your man went out of business, so they can't all have deteriorated a huge amount since then. I'd go along myself but I have my ante-natal class that day. If I had my eye on something I would check the price in Carzone and not go above half of that in the auction. Bear in mind they add 21.5% VAT and auctioneer fees on to the price, these are significant when you're spending a few thousand. Yeah, you buy them as seen, but loads of people buy from individuals and you're buying as seen there too - no sale of goods and supply of services act to protect you there! If you know a decent mechanic that doesn't overcharge then it's well worth taking a gamble, in my opinion.

Hi Naide, Yeah that is the auction i'm referring too, it's in Roscommon though but the cars from the garage in Athlone will be there too.

I've bought cars at auction before (in the UK) and there are significant savings to be made. I don't know about the auction you're talking about, but the one I went to will sell cars either a 'warranted mileage' or unwarranted and the unwarranted ones are the ones to be more careful of. They'll tell you if they have a full service history and if it's been an insurance write off. Years ago my Dad bought a car at auction (seeing a trend here? We have always bought at auction pretty much!) and it turned out to have been an insurance write off. He found out because the auction house contacted him to tell him. They offered to take the car back from him, or to give him a significant discount on the price of the car (as they should have made him aware of the write off at the time - he'd not have bought it if he'd known). Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that alot of auction houses are very reputable, BUT you still have to have your head on your shoulders. You can't test drive the cars and you have only a couple of minutes to listen to the engine and see how it drives, so you want to take someone with you who knows about cars and read the info - unwarranted is not great... but if you're after a cheap run around that is a bit older, that might be what you're in line for anyway. Good luck and as I say, don't discount an auction straight away. They can be a great place to buy a car - me and my family have never had a problem yet (yet I say lol...!!)