davidjpowell
MB Enthusiast
Well we sold the Merc over the weekend, so it was time to go car shopping.
The original plan was, well there was not one. I'd just had enough of the big bills that the Mercedes was generating.
The other half and daughter are both getting into horses (in the case of the other half this was after owning them as a girl)... She seems to live on Horsetrader, while I am on Autotrader. It seems to be a matter of time only.
So a Discovery I though. Not wanting to put more cash in, this limited me just to a facelift TD5. However in the meantime as the weather gets colder those prices have risen.
So any car I buy now is likely to be for a short while only. As this is the case I decided to visit an Auction.
I originally planned to buy a new shape S80, as they depreciate quickly and it is possible just to get one for the same as we sold the Merc for.
Arrived this morning fresh faced at BCA Derby, and was surprised to see that the auction did not run in the same order as the catalogue. This meant that I had about 6 cars to see the process before the Volvo that I was interested in went through.
This car was an 08 S80 D5 SE with Nav, 91k FSH. It was looking good, someone bid £6,500, I made my sign, bid £6,600 to be upped at £6,700. With buyers fee's this was one step too far so had to step back. It sold at £6,700.
Reverting to Plan B, various Korean boxes went through at a £3.5K ish. Audi's were fetching what felt like strong money. I considered a Prius, briefly, and a Fiat 500.
A 2007 BMW 520D SE then caught my eye. 115,000 miles, Ex Lex, last service at 113k, all new tyres and in good condition. A few bids later and for £6,050 its mine. Scary. Had to pay £1,200 deposit in the hall, and the buyers fee added a chunk of cost. Still for less than £6,500 I think I'm in a car work about £8k.
Journey home was interesting. I'd arranged the insurance immediately, and rang my local MOT chap to arrange a MOT later in the day (it came with 6 months, but in this way I could drive it to the MOT without Tax).
Car drives very nicely, is surprisingly quick for a large 2.0d and averaged 51 MPG on the way home. Only cost £91.50 to tax for 6 months also.
I'm rather pleased with my day out...
The original plan was, well there was not one. I'd just had enough of the big bills that the Mercedes was generating.
The other half and daughter are both getting into horses (in the case of the other half this was after owning them as a girl)... She seems to live on Horsetrader, while I am on Autotrader. It seems to be a matter of time only.
So a Discovery I though. Not wanting to put more cash in, this limited me just to a facelift TD5. However in the meantime as the weather gets colder those prices have risen.
So any car I buy now is likely to be for a short while only. As this is the case I decided to visit an Auction.
I originally planned to buy a new shape S80, as they depreciate quickly and it is possible just to get one for the same as we sold the Merc for.
Arrived this morning fresh faced at BCA Derby, and was surprised to see that the auction did not run in the same order as the catalogue. This meant that I had about 6 cars to see the process before the Volvo that I was interested in went through.
This car was an 08 S80 D5 SE with Nav, 91k FSH. It was looking good, someone bid £6,500, I made my sign, bid £6,600 to be upped at £6,700. With buyers fee's this was one step too far so had to step back. It sold at £6,700.
Reverting to Plan B, various Korean boxes went through at a £3.5K ish. Audi's were fetching what felt like strong money. I considered a Prius, briefly, and a Fiat 500.
A 2007 BMW 520D SE then caught my eye. 115,000 miles, Ex Lex, last service at 113k, all new tyres and in good condition. A few bids later and for £6,050 its mine. Scary. Had to pay £1,200 deposit in the hall, and the buyers fee added a chunk of cost. Still for less than £6,500 I think I'm in a car work about £8k.
Journey home was interesting. I'd arranged the insurance immediately, and rang my local MOT chap to arrange a MOT later in the day (it came with 6 months, but in this way I could drive it to the MOT without Tax).
Car drives very nicely, is surprisingly quick for a large 2.0d and averaged 51 MPG on the way home. Only cost £91.50 to tax for 6 months also.
I'm rather pleased with my day out...
