Change of vehicle, a pleasant surprise.

[medwayjon]

Sold my XJ to my pro last week and have been on the lookout for something nice.

Anyhow, yesterday I bought an old C230 Kompressor (supercharged) Sport at the auction and wow, its so much better than I thought.

I was expecting it to be quickish but blimey, It goes like absolute stink and in these conditions, even with the TC on it wants to spin up.

The best thing was the price, it is a demo + 1 Doctor owner with full history, and I picked it up for £900 which is a bargain.

So if you are after a car, there are bargains out there folks!

 

[vig]

Sold my XJ to my pro last week and have been on the lookout for something nice.

Anyhow, yesterday I bought an old C230 Kompressor (supercharged) Sport at the auction and wow, its so much better than I thought.

I was expecting it to be quickish but blimey, It goes like absolute stink and in these conditions, even with the TC on it wants to spin up.

The best thing was the price, it is a demo + 1 Doctor owner with full history, and I picked it up for £900 which is a bargain.

So if you are after a car, there are bargains out there folks!

That was my last car before the CLK. I loved it. handled well and quick. £900? what year is it?
I'm still hankering for an SLK but the dealers haven't got back to me in the 8 weeks since I asked them to source me one.

 

[medwayjon]

Its a 99 which is still the shape when C-Class' were properly built. Has all the carbon fibre interior and premium sounds so well chuffed!

 

[vig]

You couldn't buy the wheels for that on mine. Christ the credit crunch realy has bitten.
Not seen any cheap Aston's have you?

 

[medwayjon]

Its amazing when you think about it.

If I were to break the car the engine is worth £750, the gearbox £600, the rims & tyres £300, the interior £400, the doors £80 each and the bonnet and bootlid £100 a pop. Scrap the shell at £80 and that works out at nearly £3000.

Thats why you never see a poor car breaker!

Im not retailing this particular car, I fancied grabbing something to smoke for a few months and I dont like spending bucks on what is essentially no more than a tool to me.

 

[vig]

At that price MWJ you can't lose. You could run it for 6 mths and sell it without losing a penny.
Was it bought at auction?
I bumped into an ex colleague last week. He's a tad eccentric and was telling me he had bought an Austin Princess with 20k genuine miles on the clock (my brother had one of these when they were new) He said that someone had written in the frost on his windscreen "I love this car" He was like a kid.

 

[mrmotorbikeman]

Sounds a good buy. Always fancied one myself, but need a good tow car too for the bikes. Still, at that price, would be tempting....

 

[medwayjon]

Yeah was at the auctions mate.

 

[theeaglehunter]

So if you are after a car, there are bargains out there folks!

If you know what you are looking for! Which you obviously do as your livelihood depends on it! I don't however so would be useless at an auction- and am currently finding whilst looking through the net for a 1.4 ford focus that there are no deals that jump out at me. Don't suppose you can help ?

 

[medwayjon]

A 1.4 focus would be an absolute disaster purchase mate.

They are incredibly underpowered for the weight and they blow head-gaskets for fun. They are also known to drop crankshafts and pistons because they are under extreme load lugging the weight around.

The 1.6 is just 1 insurance group higher, is suitably powered and is a very reliable machine. Plus because you dont have to rev the knackers off it to get it to move it is more economical. With emissions ratings as well the difference in tax will be negligable.

Just talking from my experiences.

 

[andycap]

Sounds like an absolute bargain Jon,obviously in your position you are very much at home at the auction . Would you recommend us going to the auctions and any tips on how to go about it?

 

[theeaglehunter]

I forgot to mention actually- that is a nice car you have got yourself- I would love one, but it is a bit impractical for my purposes / situation!

 

[medwayjon]

andycap, auctions are great places to save money however the one drawback is if you buy a car there, and it turns out to be screwed, then its tuff luck. Only a handfull of cars are sold warranted in terms of condition.

The other key is to listen very carefully to everything the auctioneer says in his car description.

 

[USER1999]

Nice to hear you are back in a Merc Jon, proper car again! You know where my loyalties lie.

 

[Cernunnos]

Supercharged... wow, bet that drinks the stuff like water.

Rate Merc's but wouldn't mind the same type of diesel Jag Jezzer drove up to Blackpool... looks like the fuel frugality was brilliant on it.

 

[Spoff]

Hmm, not sure me and my c**ppy Picasso fit on this thread...

 

[vig]

As MWJ states, AUctions are great if you know what you're looking for and listen VERY carefully.

I spent about 3 years (in my late teens) trawling the auctions with a mate who is a top drawer paint sprayer. He used to buy good mechanical motors that were scabby. Spray them up and sell them on. He has made a living doing this for nearly 30 years. They are too cold for me now but he still spends 3-4 nights every week at them.

You can get a Turkey though.

 

[medwayjon]

You would be surprised cerrunos. Its good for 28 or so average if you drive normally. Booting it then of course it does go down.

Vig is spot on about auctions though, I have many a time seen private buyers at the side of the road outside of the auction with a blown engine or knackered gearbox. I know that there will be the odd lemon, I bought a passat earlier this year with a screwed gearbox but thats life, it has to happen at some stage.

There are certain titbits of very good advice to the private buyer looking to buy at auction and these are invaluable.

That *** Mike Brewer off the telly (a long story) did a programme giving people advice on auctions and what a complete and utter load of bull-s#!t it really was.

 

[medwayjon]

The other thing with auctions is to be realistic on the price you expect to pay. We regularly see punters who come in on a £5k car and genuinely believe we bought it for a grand at the auction.

The key is to do plenty of homework before you go, forget parkers/what car price guides, they arent worth the paper they are printed on, there is a reason they are £3.99 and my book is £50 a month, because they are rubbish.

Always do the homework and establish a price you want to pay, I have seen many a private buyer end up paying more for a car than I would sell it for! Remember there will be a buyers fee and cash handling or credit (not debit) car charges if that is how you pay.

 

[viscount17]

used to go to the wareham car auctions in dorset many moons ago but we were only looking for cheapies that we could use for home-made banger racing. did this once a month or so and the left-overs we took to the scappy - occasionally made a profit!

my mate bought a big old american V8 one week, sounded like a tractor until we stopped about 1/4 mile down the road and switched the plug leads round. we reckoned some fly b***** had done it then missed the sale! never did race that one, we rebuilt it instead.

I've never been confident enough to get a decent car from an auction.