GraysOnline Questions & Answers

Please answer my question

If you get any reply from Graysonline this is what it will say.......

“Please be advised that the vehicle was sold in an Unreserved online Auction on an “as is’ basis and as stated on the description without the Statutory Warranty and cooling-off period. The booking in of this vehicle is based on an external walk around, engine start up only and the opinion of the booking in officer hence inspection is highly recommended to make sure that you are satisfied with the condition of the vehicle.

Unfortunately, I am unable to assist you further with this matter. “

There is No return policy with anything they sell Sorry to pass on this information.

I contemplated buying a vehicle from Grays for a couple of months and after hours of research, speaking to people that have purchased from them and dealers that use them to sell my opinion is don't touch them, you will set yourself up for disappointment.
I'll list the reasons why.

90% of vehicles sold through Grays are dealer trade-ins that are too costly to repair and register to resell.

They advertise vehicles as "engine turning over" but this only means that the starter will turn the engine, not actually start it. Hey, at least the $100 starter motor works.

No test drives as potential buyers will find too many problems,

They do allow NRMA/RACV/RACQ inspections of the vehicles but this is too costly for most people being around the $400 mark. If the vehicle is a dud which in most cases it is you are still out $400 for one vehicle check. Do this multiple times and you can see where I'm going. They won't allow a random mechanic to check these vehicles out.

There are a lot of false bidders (shill bidders) on this site jacking up the price on behalf of Grays and the seller hence why you see vehicles marked as sold are then listed again the following week. Do a google search on the VIN and you will see how many times it been listed over the previous months. If it hasn't been listed multiple times then it is a recent dealer trade-in not worth reselling on the used car lot.
I did a VIN google search on a Holden Rodeo I was watching and found it had been listed 6 times over 2 months with every listing marked as sold, this was an obvious case of shill bidders jacking up the final price hoping the legitimate bidder would go higher but failed.

Vehicles are photographed wet, under certain light conditions and at certain angles to hide a lot of imperfections.

If you do purchase something you will be waiting for hours at the depot just to pick the item up, even when it is quiet. Put aside a whole day for pick up.

If paying by direct deposit expect to wait weeks for an email with their details, don't expect to pick the vehicle up for at least 2-3 weeks after auction close.
Grays condition reports reflect what they see which is influenced by the fact they want to make as much money off a vehicle as possible. Something that a regular buyer see's as fair condition Grays will list as very good.

Yeah, you could pick up a cheap vehicle that seems like a bargain. After adding on the cost of repairs which all vehicles from Grays need (this is usually thousands) and add the cost of a blue slip and 12 months rego/insurance and you are looking at a cost which equals or exceeds private sale/dealer prices.

You are better off just going to a used car dealer. At the very least you get a vehicle that's roadworthy with rego and 3 months stat warranty. In most cases, you can negotiate a longer warranty (1 to 5 year) within the final price. In saying this there are still dodgy used car dealers out there but you can spot them a mile away.

Stay away from the vehicles sold at Grays Auctions

Thanks mate top answer!! I ended up going with my gut and bought privately have heard mixed reports about grays but mostly bad. Thanks again.

I wish I'd read this review a few days ago. I have just bought and paid for a vehicle and I am having a LOT of trouble trying to pick it up!! Getting the run around big time!

Yes it's legal unfortunately, however i would doubt they would chase legally for an amount below 10k as not really worth their chaeges especially with an already poor reputation, dont think they would want to go to court. I may be wrong though. Good luck

Id definitely try, they should have checked before they auctioned the vehicle, thats false advertising, may have had an undisclosed engine change, good luck

Grays usually advertise an engine as turning over which means the starter will turn the engine but not necessarily start it, it is a scammers play on words. These guys are complete scammers when it comes to car sales. You might get the odd diamond in the rough coming through but they are mostly dealer trade-ins that are not worth fixing or registering to resell.
Unfortunately, you will most likely not get your money back as they will use the argument that you didn't do a REVS check before buying. The most that will happen is that they will receive a fine for selling a falsely advertised vehicle. I could be wrong though and you may have a case. The question is will it cost you more for a rebuilt engine or legal representation?

That is illegal and disgusting though i am not suprised these lowlifes will try anything stand your ground report to ACCC if you think you have been unfairly dealt with. Good luck

Thanks mick for your response
I have yet to pay anything I argued that the site says 10 percent cancellation he quickly said to me that they just have changed the policy and would speak to somebody to clear it up What fee is owing
Still 10 percent is huge can you please. Inform me a lil more why it is illegal I really don’t want to pay them anything thanks for your help

Hi Jackson
Same thing Just happened to me. I called them but they wouldn't withdraw my bid and were of no help. Said if payment doesn't get taken out of credit card i can call to cancel it and pay 10% cancellation fee which I said I'm not going to do and i told them I'm going to cancel my credit card and I'm not gong to pay them a cent. They said if i do that they will cancel my account and ban me from registering again.
How did u go with your issue did it get resolved? I suggest u do not pay them anything.

Yes,as long as it is safe and above board to be on the public roads,good tyres,brakes etc with no visible damage that may cause an accident.Advisable to purchase Third Party Property Damage insrance policy before you travel.Hope this helps.

Yes you can drive it home and you have 30 days to provide a RWC and re-register. I recommend you get insurance before you pick up.

You can't sell your personal items on Graysonline. Sell them on Gumtree or Ebay.

I think it depends what it is you wish to sell using Graysonline. I would visit the following link to investigate further. https://www.graysonline.com/content.aspx?block=sellwithgrays-why
Gumtree and Ebay may also be suitable options.

Every one that has been affected by these professional scammers should goto consumers law and report this unfair act, in order to stop this and to save others . the second option will be court hearing via a lawyer, they shouldnt be operating within Australia all their office should be closed under fair trading .

Hear hear. Their rating of 2.9 stars on the ieatwords website gives a false impression of the true position. In the last 3 years, they have 16 five star reviews, 11 four star reviews, 10 three star reviews, 16 two star reviews and an astonishing 260+ one star reviews. That gives graysonline a much more realistic rating of 1.4 stars over the last three years. Of the 765 5 star reviews they have been given, around 560 are more than six years old. If you look at their stats (there's a button in the box at the top of the page) you can see that there was a suspiciously large spike in favourable reviews around 6 or 7 years ago which lifted their rating from around 1.3 stars to 3.5 stars. It's been downhill for graysonline customers ever since.

I would contact consumer affairs & the local roads authorities.

You pay the sum of your bid price, plus the buyers premium, plus delivery ( not on cars as you collect ), plus GST if applicable. That can be hundreds more than your bid price. Be careful. Do Not Bid if unsure. Read the auction lot info very, very carefully.

Hi holly
Out of 4 items I purchased none were as described
4 weeks later still no resolution.
Keep saying customer service team will get back to me. Customer service team is a Phillipines call centre who read off a script who very apologetic but do nothing
Suggest contacting consumer affairs in your state.
I’m currently talking to local mp at the moment.

Yeah I am going to contact my bank and have the purchase reversed first I think. Such a scam!

Once you buy something off them after you pay they don’t want to know about it anymore,they don’t help they have horrible customer service and they don’t assist you in any way.

In my experience, they post misleading pictures of the goods they are selling and describe them as being in good condition when they clearly are not. I've been banned from bidding on their auctions as a result of challenging them about misleading photos and descriptions of a car that I bid on. Do yourself a favour and ban yourself before you're tempted to buy anything from them in future

Absolutely agree
They also place bids themselves if no one bids further the same item re appears again for auction though it shows sold.
I won a car as per photos it’s supposed to have a sunroof.
Upon arrival, the sunroof disappeared suddenly

I agree I watch same cars being sold and then they are back up again next week or so it's dodgy .after all they are car sales men not the most trustworthy people eh what

Volkswagen are renounced for producing unreliable cars. You should have gone for a Toyota.

Jayde W you're funny

You can't legally accept a bid placed by another second person without them having direct authority to act as the first party's agent. If their friend placed the bid without the consent of the owner of the account, its not a legal bid.

Hi, up to this date, I still have not received my order.
Can you please help me with this
regards
Maggie

Yes but you will be rich in cars! Look on the bright side chappy.