Auctions

[ECOJET]

hey guys.
Ive settled on buying a BA, just gotta make the move soon.
For the money im spending my best option is an auction car so thats how im gonna do it. Has anyone had any horror stories? most the cars are govt or corporate pass downs with most having low kays and seeming clean and looked after.... most have service books e.t.c, though its a bit of a worry about ppl possibly thrashing a company car, but then again not everyone is like that :togo:
What's a typical price you can pick up a standard XT BA falc from there? am i greedy expecting around 8-9k ?

[msman]

do some simple checks.
oil level, half the cars you like ont he net will be at the low point and i would steer clear.
under car damage, youd be suprised how many look like they were used as 4wds.
radiator alot will be country/rural cars and the fins will be bent from gravel, this may cause issues.
on auction day ask the person driving to go from P to D slowly and listen for any clunks etc. also ask them to give it a squirt in N or P and see if the engine revs smooth etc.

we went through this process about 1 year back for my sister, found alot of cars with less than a 1lt of oil. alot have been sitting around for a while so we also found some with sludge buildup on the dipstick and oil filler. i saw one the was 8000km over its service interval (sticker on windscreen). just do all the checks be extra careful and you will be alright.

and i would also recomend you getting at least a 2005mk2, the earlier models had a few niggling issues, do a search plenty of material there.

[ECOJET]

Originally Posted by msman

do some simple checks.
oil level, half the cars you like ont he net will be at the low point and i would steer clear.
under car damage, youd be suprised how many look like they were used as 4wds.
radiator alot will be country/rural cars and the fins will be bent from gravel, this may cause issues.
on auction day ask the person driving to go from P to D slowly and listen for any clunks etc. also ask them to give it a squirt in N or P and see if the engine revs smooth etc.

we went through this process about 1 year back for my sister, found alot of cars with less than a 1lt of oil. alot have been sitting around for a while so we also found some with sludge buildup on the dipstick and oil filler. i saw one the was 8000km over its service interval (sticker on windscreen). just do all the checks be extra careful and you will be alright.

and i would also recomend you getting at least a 2005mk2, the earlier models had a few niggling issues, do a search plenty of material there.

thanks mate great info.
You think its possible to nab a mk2 for that price tho :o

[King Nothing]

$8-9k is too optimistic I'd say. For a bit of perspective, I got my 04 Futura in mid 06 and paid $13,600, which was a good buy at the time. Last year my dad got a damaged 04 BA wagon for $11,500. Ditto to msman above. You can go and view the cars yourself, change it from P to D, some places you can get away with starting the car but I don't imagine revving its nuts off will go down well.

Go to a couple of auctions and try to pick the car dealers. They won't pay a cent more than required as there is no emotion in the purchase, and they will try to avoid lemons. If you manage to beat one of them chances are you have got a good buy.

Check the radiator fluid. If it has pink frothy stuff in it walk away, the radiator has had it and mixed tranny fluid. This will kill the gearbox. I had seen a couple of these cars at auction. Again banging/thumping sounds in gearbox/diff walk away.

As a price estimate, I found that the cars went for about 10-15% less than the sticker buy it now price. I did a fair amount of research over a couple of months, but things may be different now. Again try to get a mk11, much less niggly issues.

[msman]

not too sure mate, we picked up ours for $14500 paid a premium though as its ford badge blue and popular. prices ahve dipped sharply and if you go at a quiet auction i.e. rainy day you may get lucky.
we saw a ba mk2 futura with all the goodies apart from leather go for $15000 but i didn't check that car out thinking its out of our price range so din't bid, went and had a look after and it was mint just no buyers that day.

[ECOJET]

yeah i cant get too greedy, just a normal XT will do me, ideally id be getting a BF monty with a ZF but thats not gonna happen yet

I actually saw a ex fleet XT go for $8200 a few weeks ago, with 120ks, not 100% if they actually sold it for that price though.

[msman]

if you don't mind colour look for the x-fleet white roof blue botom cars they go cheap as chips, no buyers for em.

[Professor Farnsworth]

there are BA XT's going privately and at dealers from $8500 upwards, the prices have dropped a lot lately so it might be worth investigating that area first.

[Sam_Boss260]

Originally Posted by crackersINC

there are BA XT's going privately and at dealers from $8500 upwards, the prices have dropped a lot lately so it might be worth investigating that area first.

Absolutey. The xr6 (which I traded) is still sitting in the car yard for $15k, they had $21k and keep dropping. It is immac, but has 119k kays on it. And that is a Ford dealer.

So I would have thought $10k for a good XT would be acheivable in todays market.

[Ringo]

Winter months present slight better prices than summer months as well.

Used car market gets a bit slower, less browsers in the yards so less sales and prices fall a little ($500-1000) depending.

Ditto the colour comment....if you like white then you will save a little more as well.

Books are a must. In the fleet game, servicing on time is an OH+s requirement (company car is extention of the office you know) but occasionally there a few they get through without much love being given to them.

Thrashing of company cars is also less common. Besides the fact that these cars as tough (cops and taxi's like them for a reason you know) if you thrash em you just go faster for a speed camera. If stuff happens the fleet companies report it and companies DO care about it. If your running 50 falcons and one of them has had 2 sets of brakes and tyres before 50,000 kms and is driven by a youngish male...you ask questions.

With so many XT's around you can be choosey. You know more than average joe about cars already so trust your instinct. When you find it you will know it, and when you find it if you have to pay a little more (like $300-500) who cares, you will sleep better at night know you don't have a car with 'issues' in your driveway....and your missus will think you know you and you can use next time she says 'you don't know what your talking about'

[ECOJET]

haha yeah true.
I definitely could live with white didnt notice the blue though... not on the ones i saw :o


The yards do have some bargains, but for some weiird reason the best buys ive seen on sites like carsales are all interstate! hows that work when they're probably used the most here, let alone created around the corner from me!

[Bobman]

Some BAs at auctions go for more than what you'd buy it for at a dealer, so never get into a bidding war.

I couldn't move a hail damage repaired BA Futura for 5k.

Don't settle on the first car you see. That said, I wouldn't pay more than 7k for a 2004+ BA XT. They're worth nothing these days.

[Jastel]

White cheaper?????????

Not at any auction I have ever been to in Qld, taxis buy them, most cabs are white here, except for Yellow Cabs in Brisbane that are a puke orange colour

But if you are not in a rush to buy, let a few go, learn how the auctions work you will get a decent deal. Any BA over 100000km will be needing diff and suspension work soon as well. Might be better to pay 2k more for MkII or BF with 60000km.

[jaydee]

Check the log books and try and find a govt owned car and if its a Futura or better then it's usually gone to an executive type and not likely to have had a caning.

My car is an egas BA Futura that used to be owned by the Ed Dept and the driver was an Ed Dept exec.

If you go for an XR then who ever ordered their car wanted a sporty number and probably worked it a bit.

[ECOJET]

Originally Posted by Jastel

White cheaper?????????

Not at any auction I have ever been to in Qld, taxis buy them, most cabs are white here, except for Yellow Cabs in Brisbane that are a puke orange colour

But if you are not in a rush to buy, let a few go, learn how the auctions work you will get a decent deal. Any BA over 100000km will be needing diff and suspension work soon as well. Might be better to pay 2k more for MkII or BF with 60000km.

thats pretty general isn't it??? our vn has done 278,000ks not a single rebuild on any component no-one would of said that was gonna happen

[JAZSXY]

Ive heard of some pretty good auction tricks to get the prices lower. So others out there would be doing them to benefit themselves.