Vehicle auctions are a great place to get quality used (and sometimes new) cars or trucks but before you get started here a few tips so make sure you get the most out of your auction experience.
I’m not going to waste too much time going into detail about the obvious things to remember at vehicle auctions so here is a quick summary. Don’t get carried away and overspend (set a budget), only use a trusted auction website and research the vehicle before you buy.
Now that we’ve taken care of that let’s move on to the not so frequently mentioned tips for online auction success.
Pick the right car – I’m not talking about find the right model for you (that’s important too, obviously) but instead I mean the actual car. Many auction sites have several vehicles of the same model/spec on auction at the same time. This is because some large companies will often choose to unload their entire fleet of practically identical vehicles on the same auction site at the same time. The only thing that differentiates them is the condition they have been left in. Make sure you check the mileage, the bodywork and the interior to find the vehicle that has been left in the best condition.
It is inevitable that the nicest one will end up being the most expensive so look at the difference in quality and see if it might be cheaper to buy the rougher version and get it fixed up. If you save £500 at the auction, then that’s £500 that you can put towards fixing the odd scratch.
This might sound like a stupid tip but make sure you are the only person in your company or family that is bidding on the vehicle – a friend of mine almost got into a bidding war with his own wife without realising!
Do a search for the vehicle’s registration to find out if it has been in any accidents or had any other issues. Having said that, the auction house should inform you of any major issues like this.
Finally all I can say is good luck at your next online truck auction.