Manheim

[The_Abyss]

Anyone bought a car via Manheim? I'd be interested in your experiences, as well as the procedure for purchasing on the day. There are a few cars I'd be interested in coming up, but some of them are a fair distance away - I'm keen to learn a little more before travelling 200 miles.

 

[Clown]

Is this Manheim Auctions? I went to my first auction yesterday in Wimbledon.

Apparently you need to pay a refundable £300 deposit in order to register to bid. Everything is sold as seen with the regular disclaimers that cars should not be driven on the road unless fully legal blah blah.

There seemed to be quite a few cars going for really cheap and one man kept buying them all! I saw a W reg Golf V6 go for £1500. I guess you can never tell what's wrong with these cars but the cars but they are there to be viewed days before they go up. There were cars of varying conditions, with and without paperwork and documentation.

The auctioneer used a microphone that was a bit too loud and he kept talking really fast.

I guess if you aren't talking about the auction house then none of this helps

 

[Kitchster_uk]

If you're new to the auctions, go visit you local auction a few times to see how it all works, watch what people do etc.

Turn up early - many cars are left unlocked when parked in their lines so have a mooch around. Cars going through the block are a total lottery so do your research on common faults that are mileage related. Before the car goes through, be there when they fire it up and ask for it to be rev'd by the bloke driving through, otherwise a smoker can go through un-noticed as it'll never pass 1k revs. Anything complicated is worth avoiding - particularly semi-auto/auto boxes on cheapies as some can be in failsafe mode and you simply don't know. Most will be fine but why risk it? Also check where it was for leaking fluids etc.

Find out the additional costs to bidding and factor these in - it might have gone for £1500 but you will pay quite a bit more than the hammer price,

Driving 200 miles home might not be a billiant idea. Most cars are un-taxed but the odd few have a couple of weeks. MOT will vary wildly as will mechanical condition.

Good luck!

 

[mejinks]

Its a lottery buying a car from the auctions. I had a cracking bargain on an E39 because it had a rattly cat. I knew this however as my brother is a driver for them, so gets to test them out People thought it was the big end bearings.

Go to a local one and don't be afraid to chat to the drivers, most of the time, they are happy to chat to anyone.

What you have to remember is that the hammer price isn't the price you end up paying. Normally, you have to pay buyers premium, which could be anything depending on the auction, but factor in 10% as a good rule of thumb, then add on VAT onto that. If you pay by credit card, then its another 2.5%

I've been through auctions with cars at over 350K miles (Nissans) which drove flawlessly and 58 plate Corsa that had been ragged to within an inch of its life. What you have to remember is that auction stock comes from a number of places such as:

Cars too old for dealer stock (maybe a full service history, but age prevents it being on a forecourt)
Private - People who can't be bothered advertising it
Private - People wanting to get rid of a lemon
Trade - People wanting to get rid of a Lemon
DVLA - They don't care as long as it makes a little bit of money

People also very at these places. Some auctions are pretty good, others I have seen take bids off the wall or have people who join in on bidding without the intention of buying (Shills) These people are only there to get the price you pay up and are sometimes employed unofficially by the less scrupulous auctions.

Get there early and have a good poke/prod and always take a magnet/print out of what price the car you want/definite ceiling you are willing to spend.

 

[Joshy]

Is this Manheim Auctions? I went to my first auction yesterday in Wimbledon.

Did you have to pay to get in, or prove that you were a trader?

What sort of stock did they have?

I'm getting sick and tired of visiting my local ***** auction house to watch people bid on shopping trolleys. Even when something interesting pops up, people are usually too cheap to bid against me to get the price anywhere near the reserve - I had the highest provisional bid on a tidy S14 200SX (a £2000 - £2500 car) for £750, and the highest provisonal bid on a E39 528i for £450. Needless to say, the bids weren't accepted .

I'd like too look into Manheim, but I was worried that they'd only stock modern ex-fleet type cars that wouldn't interest me in the slighest.

 

[Clown]

I'm just a nobody from the street. It seemed to be open to all and was free to get in.

It did seem slightly disorganised with some cars rolling through without the correct paperwork to start the bidding, so they had the send the car through and start on another car. Also, the list wasn't ready until 15minutes after the auction had started so we had no idea of what was going to come.

The MC would sometimes stall when there was no car to bid on but I noticed that he said various traders had their cars up for auction there. I caught the names of Carcraft and Richmond Cars if that means anything to you.

I didn't see any ex-fleet there. Most of the cars I saw were your normal run of the mill cars. Things from Almeras, to Golfs, to 318s to CRVs and people carriers. There were some nice looking cars in the garage though. I'm not sure when they were going to go up for auction. I didn't hang around long, maybe 45 minutes, as it was a spur of the moment thing. I would definitely do more research before I go next time though.

 

[The_Abyss]

Thanks chaps. I already have access to Manheim, and so can see their catalogues and lists before the auction starts. I was looking at ex fleet, and several sites have dedicated spots in their auctions for this type of car.

I plan to go to a few over the next couple of months to get a feel for it, and then keep an eye on the catalogues. If I see a few examples of the car I want, I'll attend in person along with someone who can see a little more than I can.

 

[MarkDavis]

I didn't see any ex-fleet there.

Depends which day you go. Most of their disposals are ex-fleet cars. Then have other auctions for cars below a certain pricepoint (£5k or thereabouts from memory) though it probably varies by region.

 

[The_Abyss]

The on elocal to me - Colchester - deals only ex fleet cars on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The lists look pretty decent. Next Thursday there is a BMW only run - 175 cars.