How to Bid Wisely at a Classic Car Auction

Do Your Homework Before You Leave the House

Auction day is exciting. That is precisely the problem. The atmosphere of a packed saleroom, the rapid patter of the auctioneer and the sight of a gleaming chrome bumper can loosen the grip on your wallet faster than you would believe. The single most effective thing you can do to protect yourself is to decide, in the calm of your own kitchen, exactly what you are prepared to pay — and then write it down.

Set your limit before you have seen the car in the metal, and treat that figure as fixed. Not a target, not a starting point, but a ceiling. If you find yourself negotiating with yourself in the room, you have already lost. A useful trick is to write the number on a card and keep it in your pocket, then check it before your hand goes up. It sounds fussy. It has saved many an enthusiast from a very expensive Tuesday morning.

Your homework should include the catalogue description, any online listing, photographs from several angles and, where available, the previous Mot history. Read the description twice. Auction houses are generally honest but they are also skilled at describing a car in its best light, and phrases such as "older restoration" or "requiring light recommissioning" are doing a great deal of quiet work.

Inspect in Person Whenever You Can

Photographs hide a multitude of sins. Bright light and a good camera can make tired paint look deep and glossy, and rust in the lower wings or around the screen surrounds rarely announces itself in a thumbnail. Go and see the car in person if at all possible, and go early in the viewing period when you are not competing for space with a crowd.

Take a torch, a magnet in a soft cloth, and a notebook. Work methodically around the car rather than being distracted by the shiny bits. Look for:

• Bubbling under the paint along sills, wheel arches, door bottoms and the base of the windscreen — rust almost always starts where water collects.
• Panel gaps that are uneven, which can indicate accident damage or a poorly fitted replacement wing.
• Overspray on rubber seals, chrome trim or in the engine bay, a strong hint of a quick cosmetic blow-over.
• Interior wear that contradicts the mileage: a shiny, sagging driver's seat in a car claiming 40,000 miles deserves a question or two.
• Fluid leaks beneath the car, and the colour of the oil on the dipstick.
• Uneven tyre wear, which can point to suspension or alignment problems.

Ask to see the car started if the sale permits it. Listen for rattles, watch for smoke, and note how readily it fires from cold. If you cannot attend in person, commission an independent inspection. The cost of a few hundred pounds is trivial against the cost of rebuilding an engine.

Read the Condition Report Carefully

Most auction houses publish a condition report, often prepared by a member of their own staff. These are valuable documents, but they are written with care. Read them line by line and pay closest attention to the wording that seems to hedge.

"Commensurate with age" usually means there is wear. "Structurally sound for its age" does not mean rust-free. "Starts and runs" tells you nothing about how well it runs, or for how long. Where a report notes that a car has not been road tested, or that the vendor makes no representation as to roadworthiness, take that seriously — you are buying on your own judgement.

Compare the report against what you see on the day. If the report mentions a small scab on the rear arch and you find a hole you can post a letter through, the discrepancy tells you something important about the rest of the description. Keep a record of the chassis and engine numbers if originality matters to you, because matching numbers affect value considerably on many models.

Understand the True Cost of Buying

The hammer price is not the price you pay. On top of it comes the buyer's premium, which at many classic car auctions runs somewhere between 10 and 15 per cent plus VAT. On a £20,000 car that can add well over £3,000 before you have even thought about getting it home.

Then there is transport. Unless you are collecting a roadworthy car yourself, budget for a covered transporter, particularly for anything you have bought unseen or that has not been driven in years. Add the cost of a pre-purchase inspection if you commissioned one, any storage between the sale and collection, and the immediate work you already know the car needs. A modest recommissioning — fluids, hoses, belts, brakes, a fresh battery and a proper service — can easily run into four figures.

Add all of that up and subtract it from your overall budget. What remains is your true bidding ceiling. If that figure feels uncomfortable, the car is not for you.

Keep a Cool Head in the Room

Decide in advance how you will bid: in person, by telephone, online or by leaving a commission bid with the auction house. Commission bidding is the most disciplined route, because your maximum is fixed before the auctioneer picks up the gavel. It removes the temptation entirely.

If you bid in person, stand near the back where you can see the room without being swept along by the momentum. Bid in clear, measured increments. Never enter a bidding war out of pride or because you have convinced yourself the car is "the one". There is always another example, often a better one, and the market has a long memory.

If you are outbid, let it go. The money you did not spend is still yours, and the car you missed this month will be replaced by something equally tempting next month. Patience, in this hobby, is worth more than any restoration.