Buying a car is usually not a quick decision. In fact, for many of us not in the automotive industry, it ranks up there as amongst the biggest purchases we’ll ever have to make - even if the vehicle in question is a used or salvage model.
That means there’s a whole range of factors to consider, some of them more pressing than others. Now, if you’re a professional buying a car from one of our online car auctions to fix up and sell on, you might prioritise some of these concerns differently to a first-time buyer looking for a second-hand city runaround. However, whatever your background or intentions, it’s a good point that at some point - in no particular order - you’ll consider…
Reliability
While it’s not a concern if you’re planning to strip your new purchase for parts to use in other vehicles, if you’re buying your new car to drive it yourself (or to sell on to someone who will), reliability will be one of the first things you take into account. After all, whether it’s you or another buyer, there’s no point owning a car if you can’t get it anywhere without breaking down, and all those savings you’d make from buying it cheaply can quickly be eaten up by the repair and maintenance costs. That’s to say nothing of the other less obvious (but equally expensive) supplemental costs, such as having to get replacement train or bus tickets to get to work instead.
Fuel efficiency
This is another key consideration, as fuel is one of the most pivotal costs associated with owning and running a car. If your new motor goes through petrol or diesel like no tomorrow, it’s going to be objectively expensive to run, no matter how cheap it was to buy. Once again, this can make a short-term saving go up in smoke (literally this time).
Safety
Surprisingly enough, this is often not the top concern for many buyers, especially of those looking for brand new cars. This is not necessarily because people don’t care about safety, but probably more because they (understandably) expect there to be a baseline level of safety in all cars they’re considering, regardless of provenance or manufacturer. This is somewhat less of a solid guarantee on used cars, however, given that many of them may have been involved in accidents - some of which may have even been serious enough to take the cars off the road in the first place.
Price
Let’s be honest, there will never come a time when price isn’t a factor in buying a new car. Apart from salvage categories for used cars, it’s a reliable general indicator of how valuable the car is, and how much confidence the seller has in it. When people decide to start looking for a new car - whatever they have planned for it - one of the first things they’ll do is typically set their budgets. Even here, when buying a salvage car from one of our online car auctions right here at RAW2K, setting a budget will be one of the first things our buyers do. And rightly so - in fact, we think it’s one of the key skills you need for success in online car auctions.
Design
For buyers looking for a new personal vehicle, it’s likely that once you’ve narrowed down your list of potential purchases to just a few final options, aesthetics may be one of the factors that swing your favour between two close-run choices. There’s a lot to be said for a look, whether it’s the streamlined luxury of a BMW, or the fun-loving look of the Mini, to the aptly-named Ford Fiesta. However, it’s not one of the things most people find themselves considering first. When it’s a purchase as big as this one, practicalities always trump aesthetics!
Warranty and service
This item is surprisingly not quite as high up on many people’s lists as you’d expect when buying new cars. It’s sometimes even irrelevant on older pre-owned cars, as the warranty will have expired long ago before they’re sold as pre-owned vehicles. With brand new cars, it’s sometimes more of a box ticking exercise for new buyers, checking to see what legal protection they might have if their brand new motor develops a fault.
As we touched on above, you might not necessarily prioritise these in the same order as other buyers - and sometimes, that can make all the difference to you coming out on top in one of our online vehicle auctions! We hold new auctions on a daily and weekly basis here at RAW2K - feel free to browse our inventory for ever-popular favourites from leading manufacturers like Mercedes, Volkswagen and Citroen Who knows what you might find?
