Paul Jolly: Want an Aston Martin? Here's how I got mine...

It is not every day you get to go shopping for an Aston Martin but that is precisely what happened to me just recently.

A client from New York requested my vehicle search consultancy service for his dream acquisition when he returned to the UK for the summer. His own attempts were constantly thwarted by time zone differences and vehicles being sold soon after going on the market.

Additionally, not being a UK resident made auction purchases impossible since stringent money laundering rules require the bidder to be pre-registered with the auction house together with ID and bank references plus a UK address with utility bills cross referencing it all.

Furthermore, he needed proper verification that prospective vehicles had service history records and perfect provenance, all of which I cover as part of the process. It is also vital to know who you are buying from and that they are the genuine owner.

The brief was to obtain an Aston Martin Vantage V8 manual with under 50,000 miles, good service history and impeccable provenance all for under £25000, plus being in the right colour options. For good measure there was also a four-week window before his UK arrival date, so no pressure then!

The first candidate was located in Poole but unfortunately the interior colour of Iron Ore Red was unsuitable. Finally, the right car was sourced in Ilford which ticked all the boxes and was offered by a reputable classic car auctioneer using their on-line bidding sale with a timed end.

We secured the car for exactly the target price. With 50% of the target fee safely in my bank, I was able to bid knowing I was not going to get caught with an Aston Martin I didn’t want although I have to say at around £25k, it is great value. 

The Vantage was introduced around 20 years ago as a direct competitor to Porsche’s 911.

The daddy of them all is of course the James Bond featured DB5 from 1963-65, as seen here and worth over half a million pounds. 

Against this, the Vantage looks very reasonable!