Dealer’s Diary
BCA Online Tried & Tested
► I’ve just bought my first car using the ‘new’ BCA online-only system - a system which, with the recent news that the company has made some auctioneers redundant, seems likely to become the norm for buying cars here. And I’ve got to say that it went well…
Essentially, there are several sales running simultaneously but one online auctioneer for each, selling vehicles at a variety of different locations. I took part in ‘Dealer Sale 2’ which was one of three sales of part-ex vehicles that day, and it comprised mainly Bristol Street Motors part-exchanges. The cars were, however, at four different locations - Birmingham Perry Bar, Bedford, Newcastle and Peterborough, with cars at the same location grouped together in the catalogue listing.
There’s no physical viewing of course, and you need to rely on the online descriptions and gradings. These are pretty comprehensive, though a certain amount of trade knowledge and ‘nouse’ is required. That’s fair enough; you’re buying in a trade environment.
You can also set-up alerts for whatever you’re after and specify make, model and even location - so if you want a daily update of what’s coming up at, say, Peterborough, you can have it.
Anyway, I was after a Kia Sorento and once
