Frequently Asked Questions

We think that, no matter how you look at it, you get a great deal. As well as all the time and hassle you are saving, by buying the car (indirectly) yourself, you save the majority of the money that a dealer would usually make on a sale. Furthermore, if you want to take advantage of our preferred trade rates to get a new MOT, cam belt, new tyres, parking sensors etc. then the potential savings are even greater. 

 

Wherever possible (and budget allowing) we recommend restricting purchases to cars provided with ‘assured’ AA auction-house-provided reports, meaning that many mechanical aspects have been checked for before the car was even offered at auction. Although most cars are provided with mechanical reports, these do not cover all eventualities. We will suggest cars with good service and MOT histories, but you are getting a car at trade price, and traders do sometimes have to sort out issues on the cars they buy - especially on older cars. It is vital that you understand that any repairs would need to be funded by you the buyer and we cannot cover these within our fees.  The good news is that we are here to help by sharing our trade contacts and discounts to get the work done for you if you’d like us to.  

 

Because Quality Car Finder does not sell cars, we cannot part exchange. However, we have a sister company which can sell on your behalf, or if you would prefer a faster sale we can provide you with a guaranteed purchase price from a national auction buyer. Either of these options can also save you delivery costs if you wish to collect your vehicle. Please call us to learn more about these services.

 

If you need a car in a hurry we can make choices that reflect this, although the level of service you have requested (inspection, MOT, servicing etc.) will impact on turnaround times. We are based near BCA Blackbushe - the largest vehicle auction house in the UK - where we can get a car out within 48 (working) hours of the hammer falling and can usually arrange for same or next-day inspection, MOT and servicing. At that point the car is ready for collection. If you’ve asked us to arrange delivery, we can do this once work is completed and this can take up to five days (although usually less). If we’ve purchased the car from any other auction site then collection can take up to five working days and all subsequent timings are affected accordingly.

 

Yes, this is our preferred payment method as it is much more flexible and we aren’t charged for it, in turn keeping your own costs down.

 

Yes. BUT you need to do so at least 2 full working days before the auction in question to ensure that we have the funds to pay for your car as soon as the hammer falls. 

 

There is no charge to pay any of our fees by card. However, we have to pass on the 1% charge that we ourselves have to pay to cover payments to third party service providers (auction house, mechanics etc.) if you choose to pay for these by card. 

 

Unless you’re planning on coming to our offices (where we can process payment), once you've chosen a car that you'd like, we will then send a link enabling you to transfer the money to enable the purchase. Please note that the banks charge us 1% for this facility and we’ll have to pass that cost on to you.

 

Provided you’ve given us your bank details ahead of the auction to allow us to do so, you should have funds returned within 1 minute. If you have not, we will need to set you up as a payee and allow 1 hour before we can make any transfers over £5,000. The only time we do not return funds immediately is if you’ve asked us to hold them pending another bid on a car that you’ve identified and would like us to bid on in the following days. There is no charge made on a failed bid.

 

As soon as we know how much that is, we get it straight back to you. If you only require us to purchase and arrange delivery, this should be immediately. If you’ve asked us to deal with other matters, we usually refund as soon as these are completed and we know that everything is covered. But it’s your money, so you can let us know how you’d like us to do it and we can usually accommodate your preferences.

 

No. We will not bid on a car until we have cleared funds in our account to enable payment immediately after the hammer falls. We need to abide by the terms of the auction houses we use and to do so we must be 100% certain of cleared funds to make payment on a successful bid. However, if you’ve asked us to have the car prepared on your behalf you are welcome to wait to make payment for that until work is completed.

 

Yes. We invite you to check our reviews on TrustPilot as well as our own reviews page to see what our customers’ experiences have been like. If you make payment via bank transfer you will see that we bank with Lloyds and that your money is being held in an account protected with all of the appropriate banking safeguards that you would expect from an institution of its stature. You can also check our company details online at Companies House so that you can feel confident that we are a legitimate business.

 

It's always a good idea to give us a call so that we can discuss what you're looking for. You can fill in a search form either before, after or instead of doing that, but they help us a lot. Once we know what you're after, we get started finding you some great options to consider. We can send you these by email, but it's much more time efficient to share them with you via zoom so that we can discuss their merits and adjust your search if necessary from the feedback you give us.

 

Our advice would be to get a slightly better car, but cheaper, and not push your budget to the limit, but rather keep some money in reserve for a ‘just in case’ fund. Cars being what they are, cost money to run and maintain. You are getting a car at trade price, and traders do expect to have to sort one or two things out. Hopefully you won’t need it, but if any problems do arise you have it covered already. You are of course the boss, so we’ll act on your instructions and will fully understand if you want to push your budget to the limit; we want you to be completely happy with both your car and our service.