Motability cars are ideal for a private buyer to buy from auction ,they tend not to be clocked etc .
However in recent years motability have set up thier own selling network to sell to registered traders only ,they won't sell to non vat registered private buyers .
The cars they sell through auction now tend to be higher mileage ,slightly damaged ,and less desirable models .
Buying a single car makes less sense now for a private buyer ,typically you would pay about £400 on top of the hammer price ,including £25 for the auction to register the car in your name with the dvla .
Dealers won't bid against you to take you out of the market ,however it's not unusual for auctioneers to take bids (off the wall ) to increase the price you pay .Basically your the only person bidding and the auctioneer is trotting you up .He needs to satisfy the price requirements of his large fleet entries .
Price wise ,well just look at what the car you want to buy is selling for on a dealer forecourt ,IMO you shouldn't take the risk of buying from auction unless you can save £1000 +
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If you are thinking about buying ex mobility is there any way to find out which dealers are in the network ?
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I have to say I don't understand the desire to buy ex Motability.
Low mileage = short journeys, heavily ridden clutches, parking dings etc.
Each to his own I guess.
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The game is up for private buyers at BCA
High premiums, DVLA registration charge, charged extra for a BCA assured check, charged for paying on credit card, etc
BCA have killed off the plucky private buyer willing to take a gamble
They have also increased the price for small-medium size vendors to sell and buy, its often not worth small/medium vendors getting involved unless they ;know' the car is not a lemon (over time, you get to 'know').
I hope BCA like the bookmakers and other get there day of reckoning.
Trying year upon year to better your return to shareholders at the expense of your traditional business model and customers will damage you in the end.
Good riddance BCA.
Mainheim is just as bad.
Edited by daveyK_UK on 10/03/2014 at 18:25
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This is all rather sad. What would I pay in extras on a bid of, say, 6k?
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That's very interesting, thanks. So the off wall bids, that's got to be illegal isn't it? What happens when I stop bidding because such a bid goes tooi high? Isn't the auctioneer left with an unsold car that no dealer will bid in on because the price is up?
If not Notability, are there similar traders with lots of just out of warranty cars?
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BCA often have one of the main selling vendors or someone linked to the main vendor as the auctioneer.
They just put it through the following week or later in the week if they get left with a wall bid or one of their mates spots something afterwards they dont like.
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A diiferent perspective on ex motability. They may be low mileage but not necessarily so. Some of the driving I've seen by reps ( high mileage) would really hammer a clutch - besides I prefer automatic. I don't see why ex mobility should be more prone to parking dings than anyone else. Also they will have been properly maintained. As always it can be somewhat a matter of good chance. As 72dudes rightly says, 'to each his own'.
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I used to have to collect ex motobility stuff as part of my old job, whilst there was the odd well looked after car they were a minority, many were filthy scratched and abused with dubious stains on the seats, whilst some of the load areas must have been used as the extended family bin lorry, course by the time they'd been through the refurb centre's makeover session they looked like one titled lady owner minters.
Think i'd rather have an ex renter.
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That's interesting from your experience which I don't have ( great thing in forums learning from others experience ). If ex renters can be good buys, again is there any way of finding out which dealers sell them ?
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I agree with GB, you may get some good ones, but I've seen some right dogs. The owners have no incentive to take care of them.
I was once tempted by a three-year-old example until I found out it had NEVER been serviced.
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If ex renters can be good buys, again is there any way of finding out which dealers sell them ?
As one with limited experience, I believe most rental cars will be 6 to 12 months old, being fed back into the market when their first warranty service becomes due. My present car is one such, which I got at the trough of the credit crunch, just before Christmas when prices were keen. I've had no cause to regret the purchase.
The salesman told me that Peugeot operate closed auctions for their dealers, so I presume most such dealers will offer newish ex-renters from time to time, probably most of the time in fact. I've no idea about finding older rental cars, if anyone here might be interested in such a thing?
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You can buy Motability cars from Shoreham car auctions as well as a whole bunch of other defleeted vehicles.
I went there on a few dry runs to observe and note the prices before I finally bought something. It was free to enter and was a minimum fee for a guide. I saved about £2500 over buying from a trader.
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Bought an ex Motability car for a mate from a national chain, they had sold it, Apparently the lady customer didn't like it after 879 miles, had changed it and i got it for my mate at £3000 ish of list at a couple of months old. It was also serviced before collection.
Mate happy!
But as always and as many others say
Buyer Beware!
personally have never regretted any of the ex-lease/rental cars i have bought.
You CAN buy at auction, but you are the one taking the risks.
Edited by oldroverboy. on 11/03/2014 at 07:54
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Thanks for the tip, I hadn't heard of Shoreham. They seem a bit less grabby than BCA... There's a cap on the buyers fee, and free 7 days insurance. Their Motability/Citroen/Peugeot sale has a few cars I would bid on (Zafiras, Grand Pic). It's true, they do seem to be more chipped and dented than usual so maybe the better examples are of in private sales, but I don't care about that, the outsides of my cars are subject to considerable erosion anyway!
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Motability cars - I've got a motability lease car (I've had 3) as I qualify through receiving DLA.
The policy for damage is that the customer can request the damage to be repaired but they must pay a £75 excess. Motability don't insist on a repair unless there is a safety concern or it's more extensive. Consequently some customers (who are often on benefit so short of cash) don't want to pay the £75 and their cars collect several untreated battle scars.
The cars are serviced but just note that if a service is due within a few months of the lease ending they don't authorise the service and let the cars run on. They do , however, MOT all the cars just before the end of the 3 year lease period.
I have a diesel VW and Motability have all their VW fleet on longlife (20,000 mile interval) servicing. In practice this means - in my case - my car will get 2 services (at 20 & 40K) and will probably have 55K on the clock when it gets defleeted.
I'm not sure I'd buy a used diesel with 55K up and only 2 oil changes since new.
The ultra low mileage ones will probably have never been driven on a journey of more than 2 miles and never got out of 2nd gear !!!
Of course there will be some good ones in between the extremes but as with any purchase check carefully, The word Motability doesn't itself guarantee quality.
Final point - it's not easy to tell from the V5 it's ex-motability as the cars are registered in the name/address of the customer but with a numeric code after the surname (on the V5) which presumably means something to someone.
Jacks
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Thanks for adding that, it's useful to know and explains a couple that seemed not to have enough services. Yes, a diesel with little use is likely perhaps to be on its way to DPF failure. As I said, I see a few dings as a benefit, will keep the price down a bit. I'm totally unbothered about vehicles looking perfect - the current one hasn't been washed for five years, that layer of mud and diesel seems to be protective.
Silly question... is VAT added to the auction hammer price? Also, what does "margin" mean?
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I've bought several Mota' cars over the years from BCA. Like has been said, there are good and bad. I spent lots of time visiting auction centres before I'd bid on anything. I had no trouble with the ones I bought. I also had ex Avis and Hertz Focuses. Again, spent time looking for the right ones.
As has been said you see auctioneers bumping prices up. Just stand with your back to the rostrum and look out over the crowd. See if you can see anyone biding as the price goes up. It tends to happen if the hall emptys at times.
One thing about Mota' V5s. If you are not disabled yourself, you have to get the V5 amended. Which is a trip to your local DVLA office or off in the post. Which means you can't tax in the meantime. I used to go in person and get the tax as well.
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When I was looking at Ford Focii a few years back the dealer took me into their garage to look at one of the spec I was after. Inside the workshop was a row of 4 ex-motability cars that were being prepped for resale.
What a bunch of sheds they were! One has a chunk out of the alloy wheel that made me wonder how they drove around in it, it looked like it had driven over an IED. The other were covered in fresh filler patches from the numerous dents - one even had a huge dent on the roof!
Along with the associated stains and smells/dog hairs/interior damage it put me off ex-motability cars for life. I'm sure some owners do look after them but I'm not taking the chance!
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I would guess that you would be horrified by the state of most leased vehicles before they are carted off to forecourts or auction. Not just the Mota' lot. My wifes old company used to have one of those mobile dent repair outfits in their car park on a regular basis seeing to scuffs and dents prior to handing them back. More often than not done in many company fleets. The drivers don't have any tie to the vehicle and just treat them like carp.
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I would guess that you would be horrified by the state of most leased vehicles before they are carted off to forecourts or auction. Not just the Mota' lot. My wifes old company used to have one of those mobile dent repair outfits in their car park on a regular basis seeing to scuffs and dents prior to handing them back. More often than not done in many company fleets. The drivers don't have any tie to the vehicle and just treat them like carp.
Hm When I ran company cars, we eneured the drivers knew and signed off to making good any repairs caused by their crarelessness etc.. At first introduction it caused a fuss, but the car fleet soon saw a notable reduction in accidental damage - and insurance claims..
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When I ran company cars, we ensured the drivers knew and signed off to making good any repairs caused by their crarelessness etc
That is the policy at our company. Strange how the MD's car is the most battered.
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When I ran company cars, we ensured the drivers knew and signed off to making good any repairs caused by their crarelessness etc
That is the policy at our company. Strange how the MD's car is the most battered.
Our MD once burnt the tread off the tyres on his company Granada in 2000 miles. Mind you, he had been a Spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain.
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The drivers don't have any tie to the vehicle and just treat them like carp.
In days long past when I travelled occasionally on company business, our pool cars were in almost continuous demand, so I've no idea when (or if) they were regularly serviced. I well remember taking one out and finding that the noise indicated that the brake pads were down to metal. Two hundred miles round trip, driving on gears as much as possible.
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