we bought a rover 214 from stoodley's car auction in manchester a few years ago
having never been to a car auction before we went along to one before we went to buy, to see how it all runs
it was very busy, its very exciting in a strange way and its amazing how quickly the whole "show" works, what on paper looks like a huge amount of cars etc, all done and dusted in about an hour
a "programme" is helpful, many cars had mot and tax and were guaranteed, if you go to an auction beforehand you can use the prog to write down what cars went for, then compare your findings to ebay and other private sales etc
stoodley is popular in manchester, has been running for years, they have a cafe inside and the food is great!!
anyway, on the day we went to buy it was a saturday morning, we had seen the car in the store at the back and looked it over, at start time we sat then soon it was coming through and the bidding started after the auctioneer read out its details, bidding rose up quickly and my other half bagged it for about £350, based on its condition and with T&T its book price at the time was nearer £1k
We collected it on the monday and paid in full [easier if local, and you have time to arrange insurance etc or collection], it was a great car and lasted us well for about 3 years
Would definatley buy from auction again