Our online vehicle auctions are a great haven for experienced mechanics and other automotive professionals, as they’re a great place to find salvage and auction cars to fix up and sell on for a profit. If you’re browsing our vehicles with exactly that purpose in mind, then you’ll probably be prioritising the cars that are easiest to fix, helping you to minimise the time, money and energy you spend so that you can maximise the profit involved. So, which ones is it best to look at first?
What are the easiest and cheapest salvage cars to fix?
MoneySupermarket teamed up with Warranty Direct recently to answer this question for themselves. According to their research, here are the top 10 cheapest cars to repair:
- Ford - average repair costs of £223.92
- Suzuki - average repair costs of £234.96
- Peugeot - average repair costs of £251.57
- Fiat - average repair costs of £260.25
- Skoda - average repair costs of £261.02
- Smart - average repair costs of £268.27
- Hyundai - average repair costs of £269.90
- Vauxhall - average repair costs of £270.42
- Citroen - average repair costs of £270.72
- Seat - average repair costs of £273.35
The vehicles on that list probably come as no surprise, as the top models by far are those which have been designed and manufactured to be as economical and affordable as possible. On the whole, the most economical consumer cars are also the easiest and fastest to fix. Ford and Peugeot cars, for example, are aimed at the fleet market, which means they’re a mainstay of any new or used car dealership. Their parts are widely available and easily accessible, and they don’t include the high-end electronics that are a staple of luxury cars. This means there’s less to go wrong, making it simpler for mechanics to fix them up and get them out on the road as soon as possible.
The availability of parts
We’ve touched on this in the section above, but this is a major factor in how easy and cheap it is to repair a particular car. Generally, the cheaper the car, the cheaper and more accessible its parts will be. The converse is true too - the more expensive the car, the more expensive and sometimes rare its parts will be. (Although this isn’t always a universal truth - some manufacturers are much better at keeping stocks than others.)
The relative expense of components is part of the reason why many mechanics find online car auctions quite so useful. It can be a wise choice to buy a salvage BMW that might be too expensive to repair in itself, but could be a useful source of undamaged parts. Plus, prestige models like BMW, Mercedes and Bentleys might cost more to repair for mechanics, and cost more to maintain for owners, but as a professional buyer the upside is that it does enable you to sell them on for a higher profit.
Another reason why online car auctions are useful as a source of parts is because manufacturers only have a limited obligation to supply parts for older or obsolete models. This can occasionally make it extremely difficult to obtain parts for a particular model, and from a purely cost-benefit analysis, the man hours you spend tracking down the part might start eating into any profit you ultimately make from repairing the vehicle.
And if you’re currently on the hunt for your next fixer-upper, look no further. Here at RAW2K we’ve got a fantastic range of used, seized and salvage vehicles from a huge range of global manufacturers like Nissan and Renault, so whether you’re looking for a car to fix up wholesale, or one to strip for parts, we’re sure to have what you need. Why not take a look around, and see what you can find?
