If you are looking to buy a repossessed vehicle, you will have asked yourself the question “which bank is best to buy repossessed cars from?” The answer depends on a combination of the buyer’s needs and several other factors. A working understand of the process of repossession and the sale of repossessed vehicles is essential in deciding which financial service provider is best.
What is a repossessed vehicle?
Because vehicles are generally very expensive, most individuals need to take out loans with financial service providers to afford them. Although reputable financial service providers usually only offer loans to reliable individuals with good credit histories and a steady income, you cannot always predict circumstances that affect an individual’s finances in the future. Many people, through the loss of a job, an unexpected medical bill or some other expense that they were not prepared for, find themselves in a position where they cannot afford to pay all of their bills.
Because food, shelter, medical services and education come first, loan repayments on vehicles are usually the first thing the individual will not pay. Once an individual has missed a few payments or has not paid the full amount, the financial service provider who serviced the loan will repossess the car. After a brief holding period, where the client is given a chance to find the money to repay the outstanding loan and interest, the vehicle will be sold on (usually through an auction) so that the financial service provider can make some of their money back.
Where can you find repossessed vehicles for sale?
Many financial service providers pass the vehicles over to vehicle dealerships, auctioneering houses or other companies that sell on second hand or repossessed vehicles, but some will auction the vehicles off themselves. You can find information about repossessed vehicles for sale from the websites of well-known auctioneering houses like Aucor, from online and print classifieds, from the websites of second hand dealerships and from the websites of financial service providers. Some financial service providers will simply refer you to the company that auctions off or sells off their repossessed vehicles while others will advertise the vehicles themselves.
Which bank is best to buy repo’d cars from?
Banks that sell repossessed vehicles include Standard Bank, First National Bank, Nedbank, ABSA and Wesbank, to name a few. Standard Bank sells their vehicles directly to the public through their My Cars sector. In this way, they are very well equipped to handle vehicle sales. Choosing the best bank also relies on how reputable they are, how much experience they have with vehicle sales and what their prices are.
All of these attributes vary between the different banks making it very difficult to choose the best one to go through. It is advisable to contact the financial service provider that you bank with and see what repossessed cars they have on offer. If that fails, Standard Bank seems to have the most user friendly system for purchasing repossessed cars.
The benefits of buying a bank repo vehicle
There are many benefits in buying a repossessed vehicle over a brand new or second hand vehicle. Firstly, repossessed vehicles are often quite new as the owners had no intention of selling or getting rid of them yet. The mileage will be very low and the car will probably look new on the inside and outside without being as expensive as a brand new vehicle. Often when individuals buy second hand cars they worry that the previous owner is selling because there is something wrong with the vehicle. Because the owner had no intention of selling in this case, there is less chance of their being a hidden fault in some part of the car.
Secondly, repossessed cars, being quite new, might have their warrantees still intact. This will save the potential owner a lot of money, time and effort on maintenance and repairs. Also, the vehicle might still have its service plan intact. This will also save the potential buyer a lot of time and money on repairs and maintenance.
Lastly, because the vehicle is sold at an auction it is unlikely that there is an extortionate set price. In an auction situation, the potential buyers decide what they would like to spend on the vehicle.