Buying

Buying at a Charterhouse auction is a very simple process. You have five options;

1)Bid online. We run two bidding platforms at vehicle auctions – Easy Live Auctions allow you to bid on line through their web site here, and charge you an extra £20 per auction, or 3%, which you chose on registering for the auction. Our other buying platform is the-saleroom.com, you can access our page here. They will charge you an extra 1% per auction. Please note these are in addition to our usual buying charge below.

2)Come along to one of our auctions, view the lots, speak to the helpful and friendly staff, register for the auction with the accounts department, and stay to bid in person. The advantage of this is you will get to see what you are buying! You can look at the vehicle, make sure you are happy, check the documentation, and speak to the staff, who will know other helpful things, such as did the vehicle drive to the auction, was it trailored? If you decide to come along in person please bring two forms of identification – ideally a driving licence, and a debit card that you can also pay with. We need proof of who you are, and where you live, so bear this in mind when you come and see us.

3)Come along to the auction, as above, but don’t stay to bid – tell us how much you want to bid up to, and we will do it for you. The other people at the auction don’t know who is bidding, and you may find it less stressful. Please bring your id, exactly as above.

4)Call us, speak to us about the vehicle, ask our professional opinion, ask for extra photos if you wish, or more information. Please bear in mind that if you decide to bid without coming to see us, we will ask you to pay a deposit to prove that you really are interested. If you are successful, this will go towards your payment for the vehicle. If you are not successful this will be refunded in full, minus any charges your card provider makes, within two working days of the end of the auction.

5)If the vehicle is of sufficient value, and we have enough staff available (they may already be doing other phone bids) you can choose to have a telephone bid. We do ask for a covering bid in this situation, as for vehicle auctions we will be on mobile phones, and although this rarely leads to problems, we do not want to miss your bid. With a telephone bid you can hear some of what is happening in the saleroom, speak to your member of staff, and be sure that you do not miss your lot.

So, what do we charge? If you bid for a vehicle at one of our auctions, full charges are in our terms and conditions. But, to summarise, we will charge you the hammer price of the lot – this is the number the auctioneer calls out before putting down his hammer or gavel. On top of this we charge you buyer’s premium. At vehicle auctions this is 12.5% of the hammer price, worth bearing in mind before you bid. On top of that we have to charge 20% VAT, but this is only on the premium, not the hammer price, so the premium and the VAT together are an extra 15% on top of the hammer price in total. (If you are a VAT registered dealer you will know that you can chose to pay VAT on the total price, and that this is the only way you can claim the VAT back.)

After the sale is over, you will be free to take your vehicle once you have paid in full. Staff will there to help you where necessary. You may not be able to take the vehicle straight away – maybe you can’t arrange immediate payment, or you don’t have transport. In this instance we can move and store the vehicle for you, but there is a charge for these – please check what these are at the time.

We aim to make the whole process of buying transparent and easy. If we can help you in anyway do please ask. We have been doing this for a long time, so we understand that what seems clear and obvious to us may not be so to you , and we are happy to help in any way we can. Please be aware that bidding creates a legally binding contract – make sure you are happy about what you are bidding on, and we will do the rest.