You are a braver man than me, that’s all I can say!
According to eBay Motors, buyers are becoming more savvy and increasingly researching resale values on-line before buying a second hand vehicle.
The auction site reported the sales of “hybrid” cars seeing massive growth as people try to save on fuel costs. On the same topic, sales of engine conversion kits were up by almost 300% over the summer months, whilst LPG vehicles were amongst the top 10 most searched for items in July 2008.
They say that alternative methods of transport, such as bikes, rose by 210% in recent weeks.
Ebay Motors reported overall sales up by 12% compared to last year and said they had now sold their three millionth vehicle.
Well I don’t know about you, but I have used E-Bay a lot and its great (indeed fantastic) for stacks of stuff, but I have been in the motor trade for over 30 years and know a fair amount about cars, but I wouldn’t ever recommend to anyone I know, that they buy any used car sight unseen and untested from someone you don’t know, who probably lives miles away, as this is, undeniably a pretty risky thing to do.
Even knowing the job the way I do, I have bought bad cars through normal sources and some nightmare vehicles through auctions; although on the face of it they seemed fine when I laid the cash down.
Cars are complicated things and used cars (lets face it) are not like a new car, they are getting tired, some more than others and whilst I am not saying you cant get a good deal on eBay, I wonder why, if the car is so good, or being offered at a great price, that the seller cant find a buyer for it locally, through the normal channels such as advertising it in the press or taking it to a dealer. After all, buying from an online auction site, you are trying to save money and you are trying to buy it cheaply, and if it is cheap, why hasn’t the owner already sold it and pocketed the cash?
We all know how expensive repair costs can be and it doesn’t take much to suck up £100’s or even £1000’s in getting a car right and if you are unlucky that’s what you could be facing and ask yourself this, if money was no object, would you still be buying the car this way? I would suggest no and on that basis, if you are doing it to save money, could you really afford the repairs if you were hit with a big bill?
Personally, I think you have to know “absolutely” exactly what you are doing, or be mighty brave to go this route and I am sure there are many of you out there that feel confident enough to take the chance, but for me, experience says buy it local and ideally from a dealer where you can buy a fully tested car, buy it with a warranty and with the knowledge that if it all goes pear shaped, someone is going to take care of it. Frankly, the extra ticket price you might pay for a car from a car dealer is worth every penny, simply for the peace of mind it gives you.
