Selling your car online..

[Americana]

Anybody ever used the likes of Motorway or Carwow to sell their car and had a good experience with it?

 

Looking to get rid of mine , Arnold Clark are offering about 5k under what they are selling it for and the estimates on these are much higher, under no illusion that will get haggled down but thought id see if anyone had any experience with them first.

[Daktari]

My experience with 'we buy any car' was that they gave a price , and then when I got to their site out came the clipboard and the 'umming' and 'ahhing' started. Any slight thing that took the car away from being showroom condition was used to knock the price down. And the price they offered was already lower than market value. Remember, places like that (like any car dealer really) are in it for the profit. They will sell on to someone else, who also likely has to make a profit on it so you are never going to get top dollar. 

 

Arnold Clark.... well there's plenty of internet evidence of people who wouldn't touch them with a barge pole, but equally plenty of people who've had good experience. The problem with most of the car market now is that a fairly small number of companies control most of the market. There's a sort of 'pile them high and sell them cheap' mentality, but 'cheap' becomes relative because the market is so controlled. If you can find a decent independent car dealer ( and they do still exist) you've more chance of speaking to someone with a stake in the company than a salesman trying to hit a quota.  If you are selling and not buying (even if you are buying actually) and if you can be bothered, it's probably best to get your car cleaned up and sell it on Auto Trader or similar. You're selling direct then and cutting out at least one middle man.

 

There's no absolutely correct answer though because there will be a lot of detail in the circumstances for each of us individually which might dictate a quick and easy fix is the best way to go, even if it's not the most cost effective.

[escobri]

7 minutes ago, Americana said:

Anybody ever used the likes of Motorway or Carwow to sell their car and had a good experience with it?

 

Looking to get rid of mine , Arnold Clark are offering about 5k under what they are selling it for and the estimates on these are much higher, under no illusion that will get haggled down but thought id see if anyone had any experience with them first.

Sold mine via Cazoo, I was happy with the price they offered, although I could have got more selling privately I didn't want any hassle that might come with that. Very easy process, If your description is accurate you get the price offered no problem. Mine went in the truck and straight to auction. Tried webuyanycar for curiosity sakes and they're just at it imo.

[studo]

Sold mine on Carwow a while back. The team were helpful, you get a “consultant” who asks you about the condition of the car, helps you come to a reasonable valuation and talks you through all the pictures you need and reviews them for you. If they feel you need additional pictures to truly reflect the good or bad condition of the car they’ll tell you.
 

Then it goes out to auction and buyers need to take the car for the price they win the auction at. Gives you access to dealers and buyers across the whole country where demand may be higher and you’ll get a better price. Buyer will come collect it as well. 
 

I sold mine for more than I expected in the end. 

Edited February 15 by studo

[Americana]

At what point did you get the money for the car, was it on collection ?

10 minutes ago, studo said:

Sold mine on Carwow a while back. The team were helpful, you get a “consultant” who asks you about the condition of the car, helps you come to a reasonable valuation and talks you through all the pictures you need and reviews them for you. If they feel you need additional pictures to truly reflect the good or bad condition of the car they’ll tell you.
 

Then it goes out to auction and buyers need to take the car for the price they win the auction at. Gives you access to dealers and buyers across the whole country where demand may be higher and you’ll get a better price. Buyer will come collect it as well. 
 

I sold mine for more than I expected in the end. 

 

14 minutes ago, escobri said:

Sold mine via Cazoo, I was happy with the price they offered, although I could have got more selling privately I didn't want any hassle that might come with that. Very easy process, If your description is accurate you get the price offered no problem. Mine went in the truck and straight to auction. Tried webuyanycar for curiosity sakes and they're just at it imo.

 

[studo]

4 minutes ago, Americana said:

At what point did you get the money for the car, was it on collection ?

 

 

Yep, I cant remember if the money went through CarWow or was sent directly to me. I made them show me proof before handing over the keys though. 

[Americana]

1 minute ago, studo said:

Yep, I cant remember if the money went through CarWow or was sent directly to me. I made them show me proof before handing over the keys though. 

 

Thanks lad.

[escobri]

8 minutes ago, Americana said:

At what point did you get the money for the car, was it on collection ?

 

 

Once guy was happy payment was processed and in the bank(not for long 😪) pronto.

[Tommy Brown]

1 hour ago, Americana said:

Anybody ever used the likes of Motorway or Carwow to sell their car and had a good experience with it?

 

Looking to get rid of mine , Arnold Clark are offering about 5k under what they are selling it for and the estimates on these are much higher, under no illusion that will get haggled down but thought id see if anyone had any experience with them first.

 

Mrs B went down the Motorway route for a 12yo Corsa.

 

It was complete ball ache. The initial offer was about £1650, which was what we could get privately, one owner in really good conditional, Aircon heated seats, blah blah.

 

She then went through about 2 hrs worth of fannying about taking videos ans showing any scratches & dings (all superfiscial for the age).

 

Then they offered £1000. pricks.  never again

Edited February 15 by Tommy Brown

[Americana]

Might just go back to AC with the data and see if they can match it , offering 7k for a car theyre punting for 12k is scandalous.

[AndyNic]

If you can  be bothered just stick it on Gumtree. 

 

I've done that with my last 2 cars and always got more than We Buy Any Car, Arnold Clark etc were offering. Private car dealerships are always on the lookout for a bargain.

[Americana]

3 minutes ago, AndyNic said:

If you can  be bothered just stick it on Gumtree. 

 

I've done that with my last 2 cars and always got more than We Buy Any Car, Arnold Clark etc were offering. Private car dealerships are always on the lookout for a bargain.

 

Wasnt sure Gumtree would be the place to sell a 10k+ car . 

 

Love dealing with Arnold Clark, " we absolutely cannot go any lower sir with that amount on your screen" as if I have never dealt with them before.

[Ribble]

1 hour ago, Tommy Brown said:

 

Mrs B went down the Motorway route for a 12yo Corsa.

 

It was complete ball ache. The initial offer was about £1650, which was what we could get privately, one owner in really good conditional, Aircon heated seats, blah blah.

 

She then went through about 2 hrs worth of fannying about taking videos ans showing any scratches & dings (all superfiscial for the age).

 

Then they offered £1000. pricks.  never again

 

The £1650 is just an estimate with them, your car gets auctioned by Motorway and there's no guarantee that you'll get near that number, you can of course get more if it's a desirable model.

 

I sold my 3 series, 10 year old, 130k miles and scratches, dings all over it. Estimate was £2k, best offer £1950. 2 days later 2 guys from the winning bidder (you don't have to accept) arrived, drove it round the block and sent me the money via bank transfer. I could maybe have got £2.5k-£3k if i'd sold it privately but both tax and insurance were due on it so took the stress free option. 

 

I will agree that trying to take all the pics they want is a pain in the hoop (especially of a black car in the low winter sun). 

[Greenbank2]

I sold a car recently using Auto Trader. It had FSH and new MOT. Cost £40 (I think) for the ad. Before posting I took it to we-buy-any-car. Got quite a few enquiries the morning after the ad went live. I did post it at a come-and-get-me price which was well below the on-line evaluation, but it had quite a few dings which a body shop quoted me over a grand to repair. Nearly all the enquiries I got were from dealerships and I made a deal before noon on that day. Guy came up from down south to collect it. I got quite a bit more that the we-buy-any-car offer.

 

My takeaways - there is a dearth of used cars for private sale so its a sellers market. On line dealerships will low ball you. The on-line valuation is unrealistic - look for exact same year/model and see what they're listed at. if you go for a private sale at a com-and-get-me price, you'll have lots of interest. Dealers will contact you and look to drive a hard bargain, but they're ulimately looking to clean it up, give it a service and a warranty and flip it. do be prepared to leave something in it for them.

[heartsfc_fan]

Arnold Clark have been fine for me but then again I was selling them cars that were retail stock.

Cheaper things go to auction and they make very little from them even sometimes a loss.

[RobboM]

I've had a ****ing nightmare on Motorway
Accepted a price from an Evans Halshaw dealer in Middlesbrough. A transport company sent a driver came to check over the car, check it matched description and so on. Payment to be made when it arrived in Middlesbrough, about 3 hours away. Not happy but I'm thinking Motorway/EH couldn't build any reputation on ****ing someone over.
Phoned at night to say where's my money?
They said car broke down after 20 minutes! (serviced and MOT just a week previous) but they still want to take it down
Arrived at Middlesbrough and they can't resolve the fault so want to return it, Motorway say it must be a pre-exisiting fault so won't help.
I sent the returned car to the garage that did the MOT/service to see if they ****ed up.
After a long investigation they found the oil and air saturated. The engine had been flooded. Literally. Likely engine damage replacement engine would cost mega £'000s
The transport company confronted the driver who finally admitted they had ****ed up and drowned the car.
Now down to an insurance claim against them between write off value and the price I had accepted. The car has only racked up 3 miles since it left me in December
It's taken 2 months to get to this stage!

 

[Ribble]

41 minutes ago, RobboM said:

I've had a ****ing nightmare on Motorway
Accepted a price from an Evans Halshaw dealer in Middlesbrough. A transport company sent a driver came to check over the car, check it matched description and so on. Payment to be made when it arrived in Middlesbrough, about 3 hours away. Not happy but I'm thinking Motorway/EH couldn't build any reputation on ****ing someone over.
Phoned at night to say where's my money?
They said car broke down after 20 minutes! (serviced and MOT just a week previous) but they still want to take it down
Arrived at Middlesbrough and they can't resolve the fault so want to return it, Motorway say it must be a pre-exisiting fault so won't help.
I sent the returned car to the garage that did the MOT/service to see if they ****ed up.
After a long investigation they found the oil and air saturated. The engine had been flooded. Literally. Likely engine damage replacement engine would cost mega £'000s
The transport company confronted the driver who finally admitted they had ****ed up and drowned the car.
Now down to an insurance claim against them between write off value and the price I had accepted. The car has only racked up 3 miles since it left me in December
It's taken 2 months to get to this stage!

 

 

That all seems to be on EH rather than Motorway. I'd not let anyone take the car before payment.

[RobboM]

54 minutes ago, Ribble said:

 

That all seems to be on EH rather than Motorway. I'd not let anyone take the car before payment.

Motorway state
"If the vehicle has been misdescribed and some additional faults or defects have not been outlined in your vehicle's profile, the dealer may choose to withdraw their offer or make a revised offer for the vehicle."
as the car only traveled 3 miles before breaking down and EH spent time investigating to see if it was a straightforward fix EH said it must be a fault I hadn't outlined in the profile.
The driver ****ed up. Didn't tell anyone what had happened just reported that it had "broken down and wouldn't restart" and hoped it would all be alright.
The problem for me was Motorway, EH and 3rd party transport company can all pass the buck onto each other

[Americana]

AC earlier for a car listed as £250 dep and and £235 per month "the actual price is £250 a month this is because of £25 of fuel in the tank and a years road tax" £15 over 48, £720 to cover their £205 of extras I didnt ask for.

[Aaron78]

Put my car on Motorway and found the hassle of photos a real pain in the backside, particularly trying to get the right photos of the inside.

 

Estimated price was 45k, got offered 38k in the end so sold it back to the dealer for 42k.

 

Guy from Motorway phoned after to try to explain why the offers were so low. Blamed it on the competitiveness of the second hand car market, which never made much sense to me.

 

Anyway, nothing ventured, nothing gained, but I wouldn't use them again.

[By The Light..]

The first rule of negotiation is do not.

 

Get a price from We Buy Any Car using a realistic description of the condition, if they quote you say £5K and you're happy with 4.8 then go to viewing and let them come up with the £4.4K or whatever they subtract for every tiny scratch (rings on fingers opening doors!) then say thanks very much but my minimum is £4.8K and be prepared to walk away.

 

I think the opportunity to negotiate is stronger on the trade-in when buying where you identify a car you want say £12K and then say the maximum you can spend is £7K so you need £5K trade in, and again walk away.

Edited February 15 by By The Light..

[spirt of 98]

I sold a 16 plate Merc A Class for 12.5 k on Motorway. Decent experience other than the dealer agreeing the price online then come collecting making up reasons to drop the price. Stick to my guns and he paid up. 

[Tommy Brown]

15 hours ago, Ribble said:

 

The £1650 is just an estimate with them, your car gets auctioned by Motorway and there's no guarantee that you'll get near that number, you can of course get more if it's a desirable model.

 

 

The car didn't go to auction though.

Privately we would have got That no problem, but it's ball ache unless you get the first looker buying it.

She got just under that for the trade in.

[Super T]

Sold three cars through motorway and not had a problem. You have to be very honest on any scratches, scrapes, dinks etc.. and make sure you put a picture with a ruler or something next to them.

The top bidding dealer sends someone to collect and if there is something not declared they will look to knock you down on price.

The guy collecting won't look to take your keys, or ask you to put the transfer through on the dvla, until money is in your bank. Most I waited for a payment to go through was 40mins.

 

As most things, the more you put in the making the car presentable, declaring everything up front, and putting up all the pics then the easier the selling process is and hopefully the more you get back.

 

All times I got more than either Arnold Clark, or the biggest shysters of them all in Merc at Newbridge. Twice had a value from them that was significantly lower than even Arnold Clark. Last car I sold on motorway I got more nearly 25% more than Merc offered, for a motor that was still within the merc approved scheme.