The buying process
8 simple steps to online car auction success.
1
Find cars and place your bid
Log in and click on ‘Find cars’ to search for the vehicles you need. Select your filters to find the right type of cars—you can even save your search parameters to use next time. When you find a car you’d like to buy, check all the details in the car description carefully. Then, you’re ready to bid. Remember: every bid is binding.

2
Choose your bidding method:
Bid Agent: You enter the maximum amount you are willing to bid for a vehicle. However, this is not the amount that will appear on the website. The Bid Agent will only bid the lowest amount possible to surpass the previous bid. And it will keep doing this until your maximum amount is reached.
Maximum bid or direct bid: You place a bid, which is immediately displayed on the website. We recommend placing maximum bids directly from the ‘My Bids’ tab, which is visible only after you have logged in.
Submit your bid by clicking the ‘Place bid’ button. You cannot place a bid lower than the starting price or the current highest bid. You will immediately see the total price you will need to pay at that bid level, including fees and taxes.
You can manage all your bids easily in ‘My bids’ or follow up on bids using browser notifications or notifications on your smartphone via our mobile app.

3
Seller accepts or declines
If you are the highest bidder but the vehicle reserve has not been met, the seller has one working day in which to accept or decline your offer. In some cases, they may also make you a counteroffer and kickstart a negotiation.

4
Confirm within 24h
Once the car has been assigned to you, you need to confirm it in ‘My account’ within 24 hours. There, you’ll see the total price and can select whether you’d like to collect the car or have it delivered.

5
Make your payment
OPENLANE will email you the invoice and you have one working day in which to make the payment. Once your payment is received, OPENLANE will prepare the vehicle for collection or delivery.

6
Pick-up/delivery
Once your payment is received, OPENLANE will email you a copy of the Pickup Authorisation. You can also access your PuA online from ‘My Account’. There are a few ways your vehicle can be transported to you and some necessary paperwork:
- Pick up the vehicle yourself – Once you have received your Pickup Authorisation, follow the instructions on the document to arrange a collection time at the local OPENLANE hub. Be sure to bring the Pickup Authorisation code with you when you collect your vehicle.
- Have a transport company pick up the vehicle – The transport company must book a collection time at the local OPENLANE hub prior to collecting the vehicle. Make sure the transport provider also has a copy of the Pickup Authorisation as they will need to present this at the hub to collect the vehicle.
- Delivery arranged by OPENLANE –OPENLANE will confirm all the details via email.

7
Receive the vehicle documents
If the vehicle documents were not stored in the vehicle, OPENLANE will post them to you via Royal Mail recorded delivery. You can see which documents will be available on the car details page prior to purchasing the vehicle. To keep things easy, you don’t need to confirm receipt of vehicle documents.
