Standing in Wymndham auction on a warm summer’s evening a few months back, I was seduced at the low, low prices perfectly sound family transport were ‘knocked-out’ for. Clean looking Vauxhall Astra’s and Ford Focus’, big old Volvos that go on forever and even the odd BMW were all put under the hammer for half the ‘best’ price you see quoted in our guide book.
That’s because our guide is to retail prices. Time and time again our mystery shopping program confirms that range of “best” - “top” prices are an accurate reflection of the price range for cars you might buy from reputable seller (be that a private seller or trader of any level).
Those prices, I know, from edit and test after edit and test, reflect the price of cars that are in excellent condition for age; cars that come with warranty, long M.O.T. and have been either well maintained by a private seller or rigorously prepared by a quality dealer.
And even though I know auction cars offer none of that, it was hard, not to be seduced by those skimpy prices. Safe and reliable cars for a fair price just didn’t seem that pleasing anymore.
Then, standing under a heater on a chilly Winter’s day watching 20-odd cars go through the sausage factory that is BCA’s Blackbushe auction, my romantic fling with Auctions came to an abrupt end.
You see, these 20 lots were different to every other auction car I have ever seen: I knew how well each car had coped with the last 1,500 miles of driving, who owned them and how they drove them. They had all been entered into a charity event that saw us all drive to John O’Groats and back. A least most of us got back...
What became apparent to me as the bids flowed is that people who buy at auctions – dealers included – may play the odds, but ultimately they haven’t got a clue if they are buying a good car at a fantastic price or bad car at an outrageous price.
There were two Toyota Avensis’ in the sale. The first went for £1,250. The second for under £1,000, probably because of higher mileage. That’s not as bad as it sounds, most lots reached less than £500, but these people were bidding on the Toyota reputation for reliability.
The double irony though, is the cheaper Avensis like lots of ‘less reliable brands’ had no problems on its last 1,500 miles, whereas the one that made all the money had brake problems.
Then a Rover 220 went through followed by a Honda Civic 1.4. These cars were part of the Rover – Honda collaboration period so have the same chassis, suspensions, electrics and interiors. The Rover was in a great shiny red and had that nice big 2.0 engine, which hardly has to turn over to move the little Rover. The Civic however, is under powered and the paint work looked drab. Yet, it was the Civic that received the attention of the bidders.
A Peugeot 406 achieved £600 on the basis that Peugeot had spent £1,200 fixing it up to a condition that would pass its M.O.T. ahead of the 1,500 mile John O’Groats trip. A 12 month M.O.T. and all those shiny Peugeot parts sounds great, but what no one knows is the clutch is very heavy and on its way out. Which is an engine-out £600+ job.
Meanwhile, cars that never missed a beat, from our Rover 800 to two Mondeos, all closed at less than £200.
Auctions, what a mad idea.
By: Matthew Tumbridge