[Bonkors]

Hi,

A question for those who have purchased an ex lease/company van at auction.

How did find the whole process? Did you purchase a well maintained reliable vehicle at a good price? How much do you think you saved? What was the mileage and general condition of it?

[Mike_G]

How long is a piece of string question that one?

There are loads of good and bad vans at every auction with all sorts of mileage and in all sorts of conditions, some will be well maintained and some wont. 

Best advise would be go to a couple of auctions to get a feel of things and see what sort of prices the van type you want are selling for. Only buy the vans that are either ex lease company or main dealer part exchange vehicles that way you will avoid buying a van that is being sold by the Arthur Daleys of the motor trade! Thats not to say that all the main dealer or ex lease ones are any better but they do tend to be a safer bet and dont forget even if the van is sold with warranty at the auction that is normally only good for upto an hour after close of auction.

As for what you might save it depends on how many people are after the van you are bidding on some people get carried away and pay far too much.

[rz]

i,ve been going to auctions for about the last 15 years, when i went a fortnight ago i have never seen prices like it, it was more like a retail centre, it would seem that during the credit crunch everybody thinks their,s a deal to be had at auction and just keep pushing the prices up, plus you have to pay indemnity fees whichs can be as much as £500. so are you really getting a bargain?? i don,t think so.
get yourself a local autotrader see what you like ring up and make them an offer over the phone,(they can only so no) at least doing it this way you can test drive it and let it get warm and take a while to decide if its the one for you.
don,t get suckered in to thinking you,ll be getting abargain at auction.

[Gleaming windows]

You will be able to see if the vehicle you wish to purchase is a private sale, a lease, hire, fleet or something else.

Try to go for something that is either part of a fleet (unfortunately with these vehicles they are likely to have had any number of drivers, as part of the fleets employees, like postemn) but they will have been serviced regularly.

I bought a vauxhall combi 18 months ago, it had simply outgrown its lease period of 3 years and the owner was due a replacement. But it therefore had been serviced well, as it was the means through which some guy had made his living; so he looked after it.

There was a fleet of ex Post Office vans going when I was at the auctions, 1300 vauxhall combis with 30,000 on the clock on average; all went for about 1200-1300 quid. Bargain! Bit tatty inside though, as probably been driven by 20 different posties and no vehicle was the sole responsibility of any one man.

[Proclean ne]

Best look privately i know van dealers and they saying to dear at the moment and they are vat reg!.So you may have to blow the vat if you not vat reg, and the indemity for private buyers is absolutely shocking.You could prob beg a one company owned van as plenty of them about.But auctions are def not cheap in this current climate.But you never know you have to go to auctions to see what making.Good luck in finding one

[jonnyald]

i second that -best to buy private and you have a chance to really look at the van and its driver . a 20 mile test drive is worth a million dollars

at auctions the auctioneer knows the dealers very well as theyre buying each week and  theres a lot of insider dealing  .imnot saying a bargains impossible but  if you go along a few weeks running you will see the ARTHUR DALEYS  and maybe get one over on them

[geefree]

bought an 06 transit £3000 less than its value, this time last year.

well maintained, 56,000 miles. not had a problem yet.... you can outbid a dealer and still get a bargain, as you are cutting into his mark up when you bid.

[Mike_G]

bought an 06 transit £3000 less than its value, this time last year.

well maintained, 56,000 miles. not had a problem yet.... you can outbid a dealer and still get a bargain, as you are cutting into his mark up when you bid.

Agreed dealers will not pay ott they want to make money its the private buyers that push up the prices thinking they are getting a bargain. 

[matt]

ebay is good at this time of the year

[mickmills]

what about an ex bt van ?? low mileage, well cared for and built in ladder rack they get removed from fleet after 5 years and have usually done about 10 k per year ,you can buy direct from bt fleet at your nearest bt workshop ,