I participated in my first non-ebay auction today... for a car! We had gone the day before to see what cars would be on offer - I do not drive manual so we were on a hunt for an automatic - and there was indeed a very nice looking automatic Renault with little mileage on it - there were actually two automatic cars - out of 600! We looked at it and sat in it and turned it on; the car felt nice and as automatic cars come up so rarely, we decided to go for it.
The estimation of the car's value was at 6500 euros, and PY and I decided that we would bid up to 7600 - since the French equivalent of the Kelley Blue Book had its value at around 8500 and we had to pay 11% in fees.
The auction itself was fascinating! The cars were driven up on this stage one by one, two men with mikes hosting the bidding - and it was all done so fast! I could sense that PY was getting a bit nervous as our car was about to turn up. The bidding started at 5500 and there were, gasp, two people who bid before us. Then PY raised his hand at 6200 - - and the car was ours!!
How cool is that? We now own a fairly decent car! Our first car with air conditioning! Our first car with a CD player! Our first car with collision detection radar! Our first car that is mildly clean that we can see through the windows really well! We've only ever owned junk cars so this is a BIG deal for us! Totally psyched!
Of course we were not allowed a test drive, and we had to leave the car at the auction house until we get our insurance, so here is hoping that it ain't a lemon!
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