There are so many options for buying a used car. The entire purchase process is exciting in itself. You start the process by researching the type of vehicle you want, and then you work out your budget.
You could buy your car privately, through a dealership, or if you want a bit more excitement you can go to an auction. Imagine that you’re in the auction room, and the auctioneer announces the starting price. Excitement fills the room and before you know it you’re going head to head with another auction participant.
It can be very, very easy to get carried away and you might find yourself bidding more than you’d planned, however, if you’re lucky you’ll walk away having nabbed yourself a bargain.
Some of the advantages of buying a used car at an auction include:
• Might be cheaper. As the cars on offer are usually ex-government or fleet, this means that they are good value and have been well taken care of in terms of maintenance.
• Guarantee of title. You will own the title to this vehicle once you purchase it.
• Variety of models. There are a variety of makes and models all available in one spot. This means that you are able to check out whether or not that three door hatchback is ideal for you.
• Independent inspections can be carried out. You are potentially able to carry out an independent vehicle inspection in NSW of the car you want the day before the auction. This ensures you know just what you’re spending your money on.
• Depends on competition. By this we mean that if there’s little to no one at the auction or interested in the car that you are, you might be able to purchase the car at a price that is close to the reserve price.
Before you get too excited, some of the disadvantages to auctioning include:
• No warranty on the vehicle. There may not be a warranty on the vehicle that you buy.
• Unable to test drive. You don’t have the option of test driving your vehicle before driving it out of the lot. You don’t get to know if anything is wrong with it until after you’ve paid for it if you are unable to conduct a test drive beforehand.
• You must put down a deposit. Usually you are required to put down a deposit on the car you want to buy. This can be a flat fee of $500 or 10% of the price of the car.
• It’s exciting. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of it all and the competitive nature of bidding can make it easy to easily blow out your budget. Try to set a limit and stick to it.
However, if you have found that you’ve completely blown your budget, look into loans for used cars. They are specifically designed to help people purchase used cars.
