Pre-Purchase Auction Inspections

While it is not possible to test cars before buying a car from auction, the majority of cars on sale are offered with a mechanical inspection and we recommend favouring these vehicles where possible. Combined with service history and DVLA (MOT) history, these give us greater insight into the condition of the vehicle, helping us to anticipate any potential work that may be desirable and factor in associated costs.  As the largest provider of auction cars in the UK, BCA offer the ‘BCA Essential’ and ‘BCA Assured’ reports.  Neither is comprehensive, but a BCA Assured report allows you to claim repair costs if you find a fault that wasn’t noted (provided it is in one of the categories included on the report) within 48 hours or 500 miles of collection from a BCA centre (whichever comes sooner) or after taking delivery of the vehicle if you’ve opted to use BCA transport to provide that service. 

It is noteworthy that many providers do charge for mechanical reports, although we typically pay about half of public rate and pass all savings on to our customers.  For example BCA Essential Check costs £9 and we don’t benefit from any discount on that, but for BCA Assured we pay £28.50 standard or £33.50 for electric or hybrid which is £20 cheaper than the public are charged.  These items will be listed on the auction house invoice issued and which you will be copied.

Below you can see an example of each of the reports to help you understand what is covered and what is not.  Other auction providers offer similar reports and we can discuss the merits of each should we identify a car they are selling which appeals to you.