‘Ullo John, got a new motor?

Ullo John gotta new motah
Ullo John gotta new motah
They put me in a special hospital
They put me in a special hospital
Is there life on Mars?
Is there life on Mars?
Is there life in Peckham?
Is there life in Peckham?
Wots that sicko there for?
Wots that sicko there for?
Ah ah ah ah ow…ah ah ah ah ow
Lyrics © Alexei Sayle

It’s time to say goodbye to my chariot of fire.

I shall miss the (average) return of 53.07 miles per gallon. Although the car is not that old it has just clicked past 100,000 miles.

And that means that maybe I should consider finding something with less mileage.

I refuse to buy brand new cars, because 20% depreciation in the first week is, in my head, equal to overpaying by 20% just for the newness of the car.

But how to do the purchasing?

Obviously I could get on to Autotrader and pump in my criteria, but I’m going to consider something else as well.

Not too far from here is a well-known car auction.

Yes, they do turn over the kind of cars that have been on the private-sale market for ages, but haven’t sold.

But they also put through a significant number of cars being sold by lease/hire and finance companies.

So I’m going to toddle along, at the next auction on Tuesday evening, just to see what the stocklist actually gets sold for.

Anyone else have experience of buying at auction?

For the sake of clarity, I’m looking for something no older than 3 years with a maximum of 20,000 on the clock.

And I have a budget to match, obv.

Also, if I go down the auction route, I’ll sell my car at some stage, once I’ve bought the new one.