Buying a 4WD at auction

G'day Garbage

Try having a look here

http://www.pickles.com.au/


Cheers......Dave

Hi garbage

We have purchased a number of ex government vehicles at auction. It seems that dealers attend, but usually have to pull out as they have to leave room for their profit margin, whereas it is still cheaper for an individual to go a little higher than that and be a bit below the price in the car yards. If you can get it first bid after the dealers pull out, it is good value. If you have someone determined bidding against you, pull out then. If you can choose a number of vehicles to bid on, you stand a chance of getting one of them at a fair price. I can't say how this compares to private sales which are really an ask, offer and negotiate situation.

Motherhen

Agree with the replies above.

I bought my 105 series Landcruiser at Auction. Gotit first bid after the dealers opted out. The car had about $10k of accessories on it as it was fitted out for the Dept. Natural Resources (or whatever they're changed their name to recently...). I researched the particular car, checked the service records and followed up as much as I could. I listened to it as it drove up the 'lane' to auction, climbed underneath whilst checking it out and it was virtually new. didn't even have any cigarette smell!

At the time, I reckon I saved about $15k conservatively and it has been a very reliable buy.

If you do your homework, go to a couple of auctions first to see how they run, then pick one to attend where there are a few of the model that you're after, you should do well.

Cheers,

Mark

Hi. Helped a friend purchase a 2008 Turbo Diesel Hilux last Saturday. It was a daulcab 4wd manual with 48000k from Fowles Auctions in Sydney but was a "buy it now" price.(They have a fixed price over the weekend prior to Tues. auction) We went the weekend before and looked. The vehicles that don't sell over the weekend then go to auction on the next Tuesday. They went for up to $2000 more than the "buy it now" price so we went back the next (last) Saturday early, picked the best vehicle and bought it. It had a winch, bullbar, towbar, four new tyres and a canopy and was used by the Rural Fire Service. It only had 1 month rego left. Had a few holes where the emergency lights were fitted but otherwise was immaculate. Paid $35800 and it still has 12 months factory warranty.One very happy buyer as an equivelant vehicle in a yard,(if you can find one) was around $45000. There was a range of 4wd's from 2dr utes to wagons.They have a website and are Australia wide. Regards,Bob.

Garbage,

To answer another part of your question, most auction houses have a service where you can pay a fee to get a list of the prices obtained at previous auctions

See Prices People Pay

Cheers,

Cruiser

When you buy any vehicle at an auction make sure it has been properly serviced. One of the dealers here in Adelaide had the contract to carry out service for a large enterprise, They told me that some country based vehicles were 3+ years old and still running on initial oil fill.

One of my friends was a mechanic with Airport Fire Service, and when their 4WD came up for auction, it had only done 7k and was very shiny. He pointed out the it was regularly used to launch a rescue boats at the beach, it was well on the way to chassis and under belly rust.

Having said that I have seen some great deals via auctions.

Re SA Government auctions - may be of interest.
I bought my 06 L Cruiser there - still happy 3 years later.
SA Gov.T Auctions
Had to wait quite awhile though - lots of very expensive 4WD's on offer are treated abominably by the public servants that they are provided to. Filthy upholstery, dust in everything and dings aplenty on many of the very expensive cars that are used outback.
I was about to give up when mine emerged on the list - excellent overall.
The above site tells prospective buyers what is coming up for sale and what prices they have fetched for the prior 8 weeks.
I inspected mine twice prior, and it ended up being knocked down to me for $3000 less than my considered limit.
As mentioned above, there are dealers a plenty, but they will fade out when their profit margin evaporates. Keep in mind that the cars are all cleanskin re costs - you have to pay stamp duty and all on-road $ again.
Also no warranty of any sort on the vehicles (but there is a cursory RAA mech. report on them). Re risk - the manufacturer's 3 year warranty still prevailed in my case - the car looked good and the service documentation was fine - done !

As an ex sydney boy prior to retirement to trop.qld I was drawn to Mannerheim Fowles , Moorebank, Sydney when we needed an new tug.

You can call up next weeks Tuesday auction list after Thursday prior.

From Friday arvo you can view on line those listed for prior sale.

Re dry runs. You can ring after the auction and learn what price lot xyz went for.

We did alot of dry run observing and then booked a cheap flight from up north BUT not knowing what would be on offer that weekend.

You can inspect the offerings from 8.00am Saturday morning. If a vehicle is listed as a prior sale with a price... rip off the lot number/price sticker and take it to the sales office.... do not simply go there and say you would like to buy Lot xyz... by then someone else could have ripped off the sticker and be first in line (be it behind you) to complete the purchase process. Local people have a big advantage over out of towners by being Johnny on he spot

You can ring and ask previous owners of vehicle. from our visit NSW Police vehicles with relatively low kms appeared to have had considerable (IMHO 24/7) use from lots of bulky cops getting in and out at speed over the vehicles limited life with their large belts of their equipment causing damage so in many cases the seats were RS.

Some vehicles are sold unregistered. Usually cop cars. This is a problem if you are interestate but it can be overcome for a administrative fee. Within NSW M/Fowles can provide a special plate to get you to home to begin the registration process. Watch out with insurance for trying to get a cover note for a hitherto de registered vehicle without plates.

Finally, we saw a beauty for sale pre auction but got greedy and thought we could get it for less at Tuesdays auction. No one else bought it pre auction but at auction an on line bidder wound the price up to $3000 above pre auction prices before we pulled the pin so for us out of towners it was an expensive experience.

Good Luck
Benny

You can bid on line on Saturday if you register leave a deposit beforehand