Buying at UK Car Auctions

UK car auctions include BCA, which now also runs the former Aston Barclay centres, and Manheim. Send us the lot you are interested in and we will tell you whether we can bid on it.

Sold as seen unless the listing says otherwise

At BCA every car is sold “as is”, also called “as seen”, unless the listing says otherwise. Apart from a few things the seller must declare, such as an insurance write-off, the car is sold with whatever faults it has and without any promise about its quality, fitness or roadworthiness. Not having seen the car yourself does not change that. Manheim’s terms likewise expect the buyer, where practical, to inspect the car and make their own enquiries.

What the grade and photos tell you

Auction listings carry photos and, where the car has been appraised, a condition report with a body condition grade. Manheim grades to the trade’s NAMA standard: grades 1 to 5, plus U for cars that are uneconomical to grade. The grade records cosmetic defects only, as seen from about two metres. It does not cover the underside, the engine bay or whether anything works.

BCA’s terms say its photos are for identification and may not show the car’s true colour or condition. A good grade tells you about the bodywork, not the mechanics.

Mechanical reports

Some BCA cars also have a BCA Assured report. It is a 30-point mechanical check, done at ground level with a drive of about 20 metres and no road test, and it is only offered on cars under 8 years old and 120,000 miles whose sellers have agreed to it. Some higher-value cars have an RAC inspection, and some electric cars a battery health grade, but BCA provides both for information only, not as a guarantee.

Descriptions with a set meaning

• “No major mechanical defects” at BCA covers only the engine, gearbox, clutch, brakes, steering and transmission, judged against the car’s age and mileage.
• The mileage is not warranted unless the listing says it is. Without that, BCA treats the odometer reading as possibly wrong.
• A car listed without its V5C logbook may never come with one: BCA’s terms say neither the seller nor BCA has to produce it. UK government guidance says a buyer taking a car abroad must get the full V5C from the seller. Once its permanent export section has gone to DVLA, the rest of the logbook is what you use to register the car in your country.

So a car with no V5C, no report or no warranted mileage carries more risk than its price may suggest. Check the car’s history before you set a limit.

You pay more than the hammer price. The auction adds a buyer’s fee that rises with the sale price, and adds VAT to that fee. The fee also depends on the buyer’s account and changes from time to time, so we quote it for each car rather than here.

Payment

BCA expects payment within 24 hours of the sale day. Manheim’s terms ask for payment by 5pm the next day. The car stays the seller’s property until the auction has been paid in full in cleared funds, but it is at the buyer’s risk from the moment it is sold.

Collection and storage

Auctions charge for every day a car stays after a short free period. At BCA, a daily parking fee starts if the car has not been removed by close of business on the second day after the auction. At Manheim, storage is charged on a car left more than three days after the sale. If a buyer has not removed a car 14 days after it could be released, BCA’s terms let it sell the car again.

Claims have short time limits

If a BCA car does not match its condition report, BCA must be told at the time of collection, or within 24 hours if BCA delivered it. Most other claims, such as an undeclared insurance write-off or, on a car not sold as is, an undeclared major mechanical fault, have to be made within 48 hours of collection or delivery, and a wrong warranted mileage or age within five days. Manheim allows three days from the sale for most claims.

So the car needs checking against its report as soon as it is collected, not when it reaches the port or your country.

Each lot has a VAT status, shown on the listing. BCA uses three:

• Margin scheme: no VAT is shown on the invoice.
• VAT qualifying: the hammer price includes VAT.
• Commercial: VAT is added to the hammer price.

When we buy a car for you, the auction invoices it to our UK company. HMRC does not let a seller zero-rate a sale to a business established in the UK as an export, even if that business ships the car straight abroad. The exception is a seller that arranges the export itself, and at an auction the buyer, not the seller, takes the car away. We are not VAT registered, so we cannot reclaim the VAT either. On a VAT-qualifying or commercial lot the VAT is part of the price, and the VAT on the buyer’s fee is part of the cost too, so compare lots on their full price.

A VAT-registered motor dealer buying a car as stock can reclaim that VAT; we cannot. If you want a car free of UK VAT, the route is a new or VAT-qualifying car bought from a dealer that will sell it free of VAT for export, which our tax-free car exports page explains.

General guidance drawn from HMRC’s published notices, not tax advice.

Salvage auctions such as Copart sell cars that insurers have written off. UK write-offs fall into four categories:

• Category A: cannot be repaired. The whole vehicle has to be crushed.
• Category B: cannot be repaired. The body shell has to be crushed, but other parts can be salvaged.
• Category S: can be repaired after structural damage, and used again once it is roadworthy.
• Category N: can be repaired after non-structural damage, and used again once it is roadworthy.

The Environment Agency classes a Category A or B car as waste, and exporting waste has its own rules, so it cannot be shipped as an ordinary used car. A Category S or N car is not waste unless it is being scrapped. Before you bid on one, check that your country will register a repaired write-off.