Buying a car at auction
Over the past year, the number of UK residents interested in buying cars at auction has increased. This is in part because of tight economic repercussions and a growing knowledge of how the auction business works. In the past, few cars were sold at auction because a large percentage of the population was ignorant of how the process works and doubtful of getting straight deals. But as more people come to realize that auction websites are actually a great place to find good deals on used cars as well as other types of goods, more and more Britons are placing their bids weekend after weekend.
It is exciting to find a car that falls within your budget or even lower and not have to pay an insurance broker a cut for it. But it is also very easy to part with £500 or more in fines plus 6 penalty points plus £150+ fees to get your car out of a police pound for driving that same car uninsured. Never mind that the auction site is only 5 blocks down the road! The law will catch up with you even if you are driving from your own garage into your neighbour's without insurance. How much more then if you are driving from an auction site?
As you probably do not know whether you will win the bid you cannot possibly purchase car insurance in advance. Even if you had a hint about your bid winning, you still wouldn't have enough details about the car to enable you purchase the right insurance policy for it. What you can do is purchase temporary car insurance to cover your car as you drive it home immediately after the deal is closed.
All you have to do is carry your laptop or tablet computer to the auction. Many car auction sites have complimentary WiFi access, enabling customers to get on the web and purchase insurance as need arises. This is something auction companies anticipate so they make it easy for customers to access the relevant internet services. If you are not sure whether the auction you are attending provides free internet access, call them up and ask. In any case, it would not hurt to carry your laptop, just in case. When the hammer falls, log on to this site (you have bookmarked it, haven't you?) and buy only as much cover as you need.
Bottom line is you should be able to use the temporary car insurance until you have sold the car on or bought long term insurance cover for it, which you should do within a few days.