Part 3 - Where should i be looking for a pre-owned car?

Thinking of buying a used car? Here's a series of guides on how should you go about doing it.

OneShift Editorial Team

22 Aug 2018

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This is probably the last place you will want to look for a pre-owned car. However, if you feel lucky and have cash on hand, this is where you might strike gold.

Auction Cars

This is probably the last place you will want to look for a pre-owned car. However, if you feel lucky and have cash on hand, this is where you might strike gold.

Auction cars are generally cars that have been repossessed by finance companies and than auction off to recover the loan that the previous owner had defaulted on. They could also be cars that have been repossessed by the authorities due to its involvement in illegal activities.

The process starts with the bank putting the car up for auction and advertising it online as well as on the papers. An indicative price is also given to the car. This indicative price is a guide to the general price of the vehicle and bidders are encouraged to bid higher than this price. Once the car is open for bidding, there is usually a window of 4 to 5 days for bidders to submit their bids.

The indicative price is usually much lower than the selling price of a similar model in the pre-owned market. If you are lucky, winning the bid means you would have just landed yourself a pre-owned ride at an extraordinary price. As with buying through a direct owner, you will need to do all the paper work as well as sourcing for loan and insurance yourself.

However, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Buying an auction car is like riding a bike blind. First of all, you will not be allowed to test drive an auction car. You will only be allowed to visually inspect the car. However, you may request for the yard representative where the car is being held to turn on the engine for you. This is in turn subjected to the availability of the key. As these are repossessed cars, they are sometimes being towed away without the owner's consent therefore there will be no key available.

It is also good to note that if an auction car is of a popular make, pre-owned car dealers will usually come in and bid at a price that is much higher than what you will be prepared to pay. Therefore, chances of winning the bid are usually quite low. These pre-owned car dealers will usually touch up on the car before putting it up for sale at a much higher marked up price.