Buying a car at auction

[Pondy]

I need to buy the wife a new daily car shortly as the last of the leases is due to be returned.
I have been looking at our local auction house in King's Lynn to see what they generally sell. The vast majority is p/ex tat with massive mileage, but it seems in every auction (weekly) are at least one or two low mileage, decent cars.
For example last week a 2016 Nissan Qashqai with 26,000 miles and full service history sold for about £3,000 less than the equivalent on autotrader. The seller was a local Kia main dealership, so I'm presuming it was a p/ex.
As it's a bit of a risk buying at auction, I'm trying to think of a good reason why a 5 year old low mileage decent motor would be sent to auction to achieve a lot less than it could have done elsewhere, especially with the current lack of stock.
Has anyone bought vehicles like this at auction, or has any answers as to why these type of vehicles would go through a public auction?
Ta

 

[Zulu4]

I've bought a number of cars from BCA. I found the best bargains were the 3 year old ex-lease cars. They are just coming out of the manufacturer's warranty and normally have been serviced correctly and looked after.
Unfortunately BCA stopped the live sales to the public when Covid kicked off.

 

[Mr Tidy]

A mate of mine has a BCA account but hasn't bought anything from them for some time because they all seem to be making too much money. Although geography may be a factor because he is looking at ones at Blackbushe.

Earlier this year he was helping a family friend find a Boxster and bought privately because it was cheaper than what was going through BCA!

He also said you don't get to see any Service History until you've bought the car, but luckily he knows someone who works there. :lol:

 

[Pondy]

Although geography may be a factor because he is looking at ones at Blackbushe.

I bought a van at Blackbushe once, as I am a home-counties boy. It's not so much 'where or what' as 'why'? As there is a massive shortage of stock and prices are at a premium across the board, why would a dealership send a good car to auction to achieve a low figure?

 

[Mr Tidy]

It used to be the case dealers would put anything too old or too leggy to sell off their own forecourt into the auctions.

But BCA are probably getting some better stock via their WBAC site, although the best stuff probably goes to their Cinch set-up!

 

[PointedMarlin]

I asked the guy I brought the Zed from about auctions - because I had considered buying an auction car & also wondered if he would send my A3 to auction. I p/x’ed it when I brought the Zed

He said he’d never buy a car from an auction. His logic was that there was always a reason the car was being auctioned & not sold by a dealer, if you get unlucky it costs you a lot to find out why it was auctioned

 

[Rockhopper]

BCA sell WBAC buy ins (same company) plus fleet and PCP returns and so on. They just need to get them shifted quickly. I used to go quite regularly. Many used car dealers buy their stock at BCA. Smaller auctions can be a minefield though.

 

[Pondy]

He said he’d never buy a car from an auction. His logic was that there was always a reason the car was being auctioned & not sold by a dealer, if you get unlucky it costs you a lot to find out why it was auctioned

Yes I agree it is a risk, but the reasons why they go to auction seem to be varied, not just because they are c*ap.
I read somewhere that many perfectly good cars will be put to auction for cashflow reasons. The seller can realise the money almost instantly, so can pay overheads, rather than it sitting on a forecourt for potentially months. This makes logical sense to me but obviously the trick is separating the 'wheat from the chaff'.

I would only be looking at the very best cars, with low mileage and a service history. I doubt a 30k miles Japanese SUV would be too much of a risk. The auctioneers also give a warranty against it being a write-off, outstanding finance etc. They also provide a checklist for each car, albeit pretty basic.