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
The seller has two working days 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
You have 48 hours in which to make the payment. Once your payment is received, OPENLANE will prepare the vehicle for collection or delivery. Check the ‘Delivery options’ on the car details page to see the expected date of delivery.
6
Pick-up/delivery
There are a few ways your vehicle can be transported to you, and some necessary paperwork:
Pick up the vehicle yourself
Bring the OPENLANE pick-up authorisation (PuA), the Seller PuA (if provided), the certificate of delivery (CoD) and the damage report to the pick-up location. Use the damage report to make sure the vehicle is in the described condition. Be sure to have the CoD stamped at the pick-up location!
Have a transport company pick up the vehicle
Provide the transport company with the OPENLANE PuA, the Seller PuA (if provided) and the damage report. The transport company will bring these documents and, if applicable, the CMR (international transport document), which must be stamped at the pick-up location.
Delivery arranged by OPENLANE
In this case, OPENLANE delivers the vehicle to you and provides all necessary documents.
7
Upload & receive documents
Once you, or a transport company you engage, have picked up the vehicle, you need to upload the stamped CMR or CoD (with a copy of the driver’s ID) via ‘My account’ for VAT and export regulation reasons.
If your delivery has been handled by OPENLANE, the vehicle documents will be sent to you via courier. You can track this delivery in ‘My account’.
8
Confirm receipt
Once you’ve received the vehicle documents, confirm receipt by going to ‘My account’. For local purchases within Germany, you don’t need to upload documents nor to confirm receipt of vehicle documents.
The invoices and information about your purchases can be referenced any time by going to ‘Orders’ in ‘My account’.
