Grays Car Auction Report Incorrect

Waltervp on 29/06/2022 - 07:52
Last edited 29/06/2022 - 09:45 by 1 other user

I was the first to bid on a Mazda CX-7 on Grays Auctions a week before the auction,… and won it with the starting bid of $5-6K. As it happened I got admitted to hospital in Tasmania and had to get a friend to pick it up in Melbourne. I knew Engine light was reportedly on, but everything else said it was 'good' condition.

Well the roof was completely 100% faded and the bonnet had a bad spray paint job. It looked awful.

Of course it wasn't just the engine warning light, also DPF and another warning lights… but I accept that.

I am pretty unimpressed that the paint condition on a 2010 Mazda can be that bad, its notneven Fair, its plain very Poor!! Is there anything anyone has ever done about this totally wrong condition rGrays Auction reported car conditon?? What can I do? Just live with it? I just won't ever believe their reports again. Was my first ever auction purchase. Was it a mistake or is this just what they do?

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Comments

  • SnowDragon on 29/06/2022 - 08:08
    +9

    Did they not have pictures of the car online, or did you buy it sight unseen?

    At least you could easily resell it for 1.5-2x what you paid given the current used car market.

    • k-rokfm on 29/06/2022 - 08:20
      +4

      +1 if there was no photos you only have yourself to blame. If it had photos then surely you would have seen it?

      • Waltervp on 29/06/2022 - 14:36

        Had photos and didn't show the roof and the bonnet is a bad respray that looked good on photos.

        Roof panel paint oxidized will not polish out. My friend tried a bit of cutting polish, other than shining up the area, had no effect on the damaged paint. Bonnet has been resprayed with a lot of orange peel, paint sag and dirt clumps. Bonnet defects will not show up on a photo….

  • herecomestheoost on 29/06/2022 - 08:08
    +2

    This is just what they do. I auctioned a car through them which had the alternator light on.. No mention of it in the add and while the body was in decent condition there was no mention of the fading paint.

    It's like a roll of the dice, they do encourage you to view the vehicle before hand but I'm pretty sure you cannot drive them.

  • mapax on 29/06/2022 - 08:43
    +2

    Pretty sure it’s just what they do, at least that was my experience. I purchased an “as new” item that was damaged and their response was akin to tough luck. Luckily for me it was only a <$100 item.

  • Bid Sniper on 29/06/2022 - 08:45
    +1

    ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS inspect in person, dont take the report as anything conclusive. You might be able to take a punt on low kilometre repos (I did and was ok but still a serious gamble) but dont take Greys word on it.

    Plenty of times I've saw car looked good in the pics but car was in really poor condition. I remember a Subaru Forester, looks ok for a cheap beater, little old but low kays, looked nice and clean in the pics, even in person. Then went I looked under the car and in engine bay, the car was basically pulled from salt water, a write off.

    $6k aint end of the world and paint isn't a broken engine or gearbox. Live and learn

    "Online used car auction warning | 7NEWS'"
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zghQ54uQOOc&ab_channel=7NEWS…

  • AndyC1 on 29/06/2022 - 08:54

    Allot of info missing. What did the auction item actually say and what were the auction conditions? Did you read both of them fully and understand all of the info in the two as they are written to ensure that the auction house does not get in trouble.

  • Euphemistic on 29/06/2022 - 08:57
    +5

    Love the clickbait title!

    So you bought a car unseen, from an auction, cheap and it wasn’t what you expected?

    • Waltervp on 29/06/2022 - 14:43

      Yes, I was prepared for the mechanical side of things but given they have good, fair and poor gradings for paint and panels I didn't expect it to be this bad. Just felt deceived as it is far from even fair condition on roof and bonnet. Being a large auction house I thought you could rely on the condition. No major drama, but I also felt they should have really reported the DPF light at least as well…. but hey.. the paint I felt deceived about.

  • Muzeeb on 29/06/2022 - 09:07
    +2

    You are not going to get any sympathy here OP.

    • Euphemistic on 29/06/2022 - 09:31
      +1

      In other breaking news real estate agent under quotes house price.

      • tonyjzx on 03/07/2022 - 16:54

        OP is naive in the extreme

        expecting auction reports to be accurate and not inspecting in person lol

        he should get no sympathy and may god have mercy on his soul

  • thatonethere on 29/06/2022 - 09:31
    +1

    Bought a 6k car that is 12 years old. Got a car that matches unfortunately. Even from a dealer there would be no warranty.

  • KaTst3R on 29/06/2022 - 09:42
    +1

    The amount of risk taken by the buyer is off the charts for online auctions. Grays have every motivation to make its easy 10% buyers premium.

  • pegaxs on 29/06/2022 - 09:49
    +7

    The word "grays" in the URL should have told you all you needed to know.

    I like going through their auctions from time to time just to look at the bullshit. Car will have ripped seats, cracked dash, steering wheel falling apart, cigarette ash and mud everywhere with: "Interior condition: GOOD". Or 1 stamp in the service book from 120,000+km ago… "Service history: Full."

    And for anyone else reading this and thinking of buying a car from Grays, just know that Grays usually buys the cars that dealers and the reputable auction places wont touch. If it is being sold on Grays, you can make a safe bet that the car is (fropanity) and that is why it has ended up there.

  • Brian McGee on 29/06/2022 - 10:02

    I think the fact the panels have paint makes it good condition in the eyes of an auction house. If it was in primer or bare metal that would constitute poor condition.
    A tub of cut an polish is about $10, see how it comes up after that.

    • Muzeeb on 29/06/2022 - 10:44

      Polish cannot hide rooted clear coat

      • Brian McGee on 29/06/2022 - 11:08
        +1

        Unless its the white pearl, Mazda white paint is straight acrylic, no clear coat. Plus there are cutting compounds suitable for retoring neglected clear coat
        Maybe a wash with a cap full of kerosene will make it look a bit better, and rustproof the bare metal.
        But truly, a 12-13 year old $5K car with shoddy paint should be the least of their concerns.

      • HelpMeiCantSee on 30/06/2022 - 08:22
        +2

        Shouldn’t be Russian it…

        • Muzeeb on 30/06/2022 - 09:38
          +1

          It's a job you'll never Finnish

    • Waltervp on 29/06/2022 - 14:49

      My friend tried that… he spend 30 years working in the industry… I should've gotten him to check, but I didn't expect to win the bid with the first bid days before the auction… shows I'm inexperienced at this. Ah well, I'll live with it. But can't believe that's how they operate ….

  • YepYeppers on 29/06/2022 - 10:10
    +2

    You bought a 12 yr old car, spent a miserly $5k, didn't inspect it…what did you expect!? LoL

    You get what you pay for.

    • Waltervp on 29/06/2022 - 14:50

      Didn't expect to win with first bid :) But says a lot about other people seeing more than I did with my inexperience. Can't believe they don't even respond to my emails etc… been days. I'll survive:)

  • Jason Genova on 29/06/2022 - 10:57

    Grays Auctions, what could go wrong?

  • randomusername2017 on 29/06/2022 - 11:39
    +2

    How were the tyres?

    • singlemalt72 on 29/06/2022 - 12:21

      +1

      • randomusername2017 on 29/06/2022 - 13:02

        Actually.. did you end up winning the puegeot? How were the tyres?

    • Waltervp on 29/06/2022 - 14:52

      I wasn't too worried about tyres and mechanical, expected that for the price. They are OK.

  • singlemalt72 on 29/06/2022 - 12:20

    Mazdas are the worst Japanese car company for paint - I spent ages looking for an early Mazda 3, not one of them had paint that I would rate higher than "poor"

    • Waltervp on 29/06/2022 - 14:53

      Yet they rated it good. Bit sad. So sad, too bad :) I'm still happy, just can't believe they get away with this kind of practise

  • brendanm on 29/06/2022 - 13:29
    +1

    It's grays, known to be the absolute worst of all the auction houses at reporting condition. If you want to buy from auction sight unseen, pickles or Manheim are the ones to pick.

  • Kelsy on 29/06/2022 - 14:13

    Most Japanese Cars (including Toyotas) only have 30 microns of paint at factory and will fade/peel in 10 years under the Australian Sun.
    Mazda diesels typically have DPF issues and early models SP23 have engine issues.
    I made a mistake buying a Turbo Forrester from Grays (with condition as good) in the past. Looks flawless on the inside and outside, drives great but overheats in 15mins. Should have looked at the car physical rather than simply online. Found the fault to be a blown head gasket, previous owner covered up with the entire radiator filled with Stop Leak.

    • brendanm on 29/06/2022 - 16:52

      Found the fault to be a blown head gasket, previous owner covered up with the entire radiator filled with Stop Leak.

      This is why I can't understand why people pay so much for auction cars these days. They are generally at auction for a reason.

  • spackbace on 29/06/2022 - 16:39
    +1

    Hope you've done a PPSR…

    • brendanm on 29/06/2022 - 16:52

      Grays has to do that

    • Waltervp on 01/07/2022 - 12:18

      I paid for a car report (PPSR included) which was a waste of time but I thought it was the least I could do. I eviscerated to do $5k mechanical or something horrible but assumed the conditon retort would be realistic, and the roof and bonnet paint is really bad, definitely not 'good' which annoys me the most!

      • j0hnd0e on 02/07/2022 - 15:38

        Firstly, your definition of good and others definition of good is different. Secondly, your gripe is with the external condition of the car, which could have been easily avoided if you took the time to get your lazy ass to the yard and viewed the car. So jokes on you. Hope you've learned a lesson.

        • Waltervp on 03/07/2022 - 09:35

          I live in tasmania and assumed a big auction house wouldn't be that bad in describing a condition. If I got a friend to pop in for every car I'm interested in wouldn't be viable. Market in my little rural town is too small, so i buy interstate sight unseen and once I make the effort to go pick up a car it is often not worth squandering the $1k for airfare and ferry ticket to worry about little things. Never bought from an auction before, so this is my lesson. I had really not imagined they could misrepresent the condition like this. Even a second hand car dealer would at least let you know the roof is badly faded unless he could shine it up himself. Maybe I'm too trusty. In Amy case, no more auction houses for me, just like second hand car dealers to me now….

  • j0hnd0e on 02/07/2022 - 15:36

    Serves you right for buying sight unseen

  • Brick Tamland on 03/07/2022 - 09:56
    +1

    Echoing everyone else but its a old cheap car. If it was decent it probably would've sold for more.

    If the panels aren't damaged maybe wrap it?

  • FlexBargain on 16/07/2022 - 10:03

    Wherever you are buying a used car, a small investment that could save you a lot of costs later is organising an independent inspection.

    Some 6-7 years ago I was looking for a cheap used car, one of the options was being auctioned with Gray's, though 200 klms from where I live. I found an independent mechanic local to the auction location who was willing to go and inspect it, grays allow that, but no road tests. Anyway $200 later they were extremely thorough in describing a head gasket problem that would likely mean a $2.5 K bill minimum, not to mention some other issues.

    I cut that car away and got something else suitable for less money that I had for 3 years and only needed a battery change, other than regular maintenance.

    The Grays information listed everything as good to better. An additional comment from the mechanic was another buyer who was inspecting it stated to them "why are you doing all this, it comes with a pink slip!"

    The mechanic thought that was the issue in a nutshell, no idea if that guy bought it but you get that.

    Every single car I have bought since then I get inspected, a small outlay may pay dividends in avoiding the typical post of "I bought X used car and didn't use due diligence, now I'm unhappy with X and that I have no recourse."

    Hopefully you get something useful from this OP moving forward.

    • Euphemistic on 16/07/2022 - 17:59

      Or did the mechanic find the car was in better condition than expected and so collect $200 and buy a bargain for himself to onsell for a profit?

      • FlexBargain on 17/07/2022 - 08:01

        At the end of the day I wouldn't know.

        If it comes down to their reputation as a business and that opportunity, I would believe a reputable business takes their own choices.

  • Waltervp on 14/09/2022 - 10:23
    +2

    Just as a final comment, the car brushed up really well and drives great. Everything is now fixed. Just a bit of a faded roof which is not so important as its a tall standing vehicle. Bonnet looks fine too unless you look really close you might still see some imperfections.

    All up it was still $11k by the time i had all done and registered here in Tasmania, but aircon icy cold and brand new tires and a service from Mazda.

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