Used Cars For Africa

Learn how to buy repossessed cars in South Africa from the various bank repo auctions held around the country and you could quite easily find a bargain or two. As sad as it may be for those losing their cars to repossession due to non-payment, the other side of this is that many cheap vehicles can be purchased from the major banks such as FNB, ABSA, Standard Bank and Nedbank. Companies such as Burchmores hold frequent events on behalf of the banks to sell off these vehicles in an attempt to recover funds lost. Many second hand dealers take advantage of these events and can often be seen bidding on whole fleets of vehicles.

Knowing exactly how to buy repossessed cars at one of the South Africa auctions is easy. Lists and catalogues are available of everything that is due to be auctioned off on the day and most of them allow potential buyers to view from a showroom or warehouse floor the day before. We advise you take someone with some mechanical knowledge if you are going to go and view at the warehouse or the showroom on the day before, or at least someone who knows what things to look out for when buying a second hand car. Very often the fact that the previous driver was struggling financially means that maintenance, regular services and repairs may well have been neglected.

Accident damage is something very important to look out for as well. Make sure you inspect the vehicle from a few metres away and at several different angles looking for doors or any of the bodywork panels that may be out of alignment. Check that the colour of the vehicle is consistent all over and check for any “over-spray” especially around the engine areas under the bonnet. Check the floor underneath for any water or possible oil leaks and if they will let you test drive it (they do not usually), then do that. Do not be fooled into thinking that just because it may come with a full service history that the vehicle must be in good working order, as we said above, the previous driver may well have neglected maintenance and repairs. Use your common sense and ask questions and as long as you are careful about your approach to this process you should have no problem at all with buying a repossessed car in South Africa.