Spot on Vogue, i to did 25yrs in the trade, all at car auctions, to do any good you need the auctioneer on your side.

Vogue wrote:

socialrover wrote:

Yes I see your point Vogue , but they do try their best to manipulate the market for as long as or as best as they can ...isnt that business after all ?

I have done hundreds of auctions, plant, livestock, property and vehicles and this is fact, it is usually the auctioneer who runs up naive inexperienced bidders - these are very easily spotted and are taken advantage off. On the very rare occasion the auctioneer gets left with the vehicle he just dumps it in the next sale.

2nd, trade bidders will also do their best to run up the newby to teach them a lesson and then pull out when it looks like his interest is waning or the bidding slows - they are having a giggle with their friends and the auctioneer.

I have never seen trade bidders pay over the odds to try to control the market - the market is simply to big to do this and they would end up making a loss.

Reading an auction is great fun for those experienced in them - but for many inexperienced bidders it can be costly and you can end up paying almost retail without the protection or a warranty when buyers premium, VAT and any other costs are factored into the equation.

Plus many dealers dump the mediocre trade in vehicles in auctions. They may look fantastic - but many are covered in smart paint repairs which don't last or have had poor resprays with panels slightly different colours or evidence of paintwork, poor panel prep, slightly wavy panels or thick paint.

Plenty of wisdom shown in that post Vogue and I agree with everything you say .I stand corrected by your reasoning of
"I have never seen trade bidders pay over the odds to try to control the market - the market is simply to big to do this and they would end up making a loss. " .
Brian - I can see what you mean by having the auctioneer on your side ,but would you say with the introduction of on line bidding the auctioneers influence is diminished ? Ie the bid is flashed up on the screen for all to see .

Yes Socialrover i see your point, but dont believe every thing that flashes up on the screen I did retire just as the online bidding started thank god.

Be extremely careful of email bids, online bidding, telephone bids or any max bid situation. You may believe your bid is the max bid and expect bidding to start far lower - so whilst your max bid may be £60k, you expect the bidding to start at for example £20k and hopefully get a bargain at £45k.

However, with some auctioneers your max bid of £60k is taken as the opening bid or fake bids used to run the figure up to your max bid - and then you are totally stitched up. How can you prove in an open auction what the other REAL bids were. The above are example figures and examples of what some auction houses do - it occurs far more than you would believe.

I know of a friend who is a very large plant hire contractor who sells his used plant through a well known auction house - he gets extremely good prices and has said he personally "looks after" the auctioneer very well!! 2021 L405 Vogue SE 4.4 V8 DIESEL ~ #17

Why is there no charm in doing business anymore ? - Was there ever any in the first place or has it always been a place of loose talk and loose morals ?

For me one of the main reasons I got out of business was the atmosphere of making a quick buck anyway possible rather than building long trusting mutually benefiting commercial relationships - hoping for repeat business not just one of hits .

Apologies for shocking grammer !

SocialRover, that's why I now avoid auctions unless I personally know them. I would far rather buy from a dealer and screw them down on price - I know everyone's favourite isn't a main agent - but at least you get a warranty and the backup of the manufacturer and in the case of LR you can always reject it in the time limit and unscramble the deal.

Realistically on a £50k motor you need to be paying around a minimum of £6k to £10k below retail to make it worthwhile that's to allow for a warranty, buyers premium, vat and any other nasties which usually lurk with an auction vehicle. 2021 L405 Vogue SE 4.4 V8 DIESEL ~ #17

I've bought at auction a number of times and I've had some good cars at fair prices. However, over the years as the auction houses attempted to screw the private buyer to the wall I stopped buying there as they were simply too expensive to make the purchase a sensible option, especially once you consider that lots are traded this way because of an underlying issue or they are an unpopular spec or colour choice.

I've been there many times when cars have neared, made and even exceeded retail price as private buyers get carried away with the situation.

Nowadays, I much prefer to buy from Main Dealers but only when they have something at the right price. If you are prepared to travel these do come up from time to time and even retailed cars in great condition can get fairly close to trade money once you've factored in the MD preparation costs of the car that you are buying. 2016 SDV8 Autobiography
And several others previously.

I completely agree with that and I am firmly of the opinion that the cream of cars don’t make it to auction .

I bought a two year old E70 X5 from auction a few years ago. Big mistake. By the time you factor in the buyers costs, the "saving" over an approved used car. The niggles and imperfections added to the cost such that i may as well have bought an AUC with warrranty. I used to buy my cars at auction all the time, then from the likes of cargiant - but one can often find keenly priced cars with MDs now for marginally more.

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