Car selling websites - WBAC etc

[beagrizzly]

I'm not vert experienced at selling cars, but my MiL is trying to offload her SLK and for ease is looking at We Buy Any Car and Motorway. As usual, I have been asked to help out.

From the little I have heard I reckon Motorway is probably the best bet. They are offering £300 less than WBAC, but my understanding is that WBAC will always go lower - in some cases much lower - once you are 'hooked' so to speak.

Motorway - I don't know, but the little I have heard suggests the offer you get is the money you'll get.

Any tips / thoughts on the above?

[jv021]

try Cazoo, as long as you are accurate in your description, they can come and collect and payment is instant if there is no outstanding finance.

when I sold to them a few weeks ago, they were offering a good amount more than WBAC and the likes

[beagrizzly]

jv021 said:

try Cazoo, as long as you are accurate in your description, they can come and collect and payment is instant if there is no outstanding finance.

when I sold to them a few weeks ago, they were offering a good amount more than WBAC and the likes

Thanks, will add them to the mix.

[Dohnut]

I believe the Motorway price is the minimum you’d get. If bidders compete you could get more.

I sold via them last year and secured circa £500 more.

[ABMA]

Try Carwow as well.

[griffter]

I’m my experience motorway was an unfathomable nightmare. WBAC was straight forward, and paid more. Deal done, there and then.

[clockworks]

I used Wizzle to sell two cars - set a reserve, and dealers bid for it. Accept the offer, and dealer makes contact and arranges collection and payment. If the description and photos are accurate, the bid price is what you get.

I think Wizzle were taken over by Carwow, so presumably they use the same business model.

I tried Motorway more recently, but it was a proper pain to set up. They also seem to set their "suggested price" a bit high to attract sellers, so much less likely to attract bids (confirmed by the dealer who eventually took the car in part exchange. He had seen our car listed, but the reserve was a few hundred too high for him).

[beagrizzly]

Or..... is this even the best way to go about it. 2009 SLK. 14 years old but immaculate with FSH and only 30,000 on the clock. Might be worth a stab selling privately..... maybe.

[dunc69]

Try selling privately on here. That is the sort of car an enthusiast would pick up.

Just to add, Motorway’s model works well if you describe the car fully.

If the dealer tries to chip away once he arrives, tell him you will call Motorway to tell them and if he then doesn’t play ball, send him away. Dealers are keen to stay registered with M’way.

Carwow tend to offer up a high price initially but then take away more than M’way do for minor blemishes etc, in my experience.

[EastStand]

Used Carwow.

Set the reserve a good few K above their suggestion.

Dealer hit reserve price.

Dealer collected car a few days later making payment before leaving.

Can’t fault them.

[Mark V GTD]

The big difference is that WBAC buy the car from you and their price is an actual offer subject to confirmation of condition. The others such as Carwow and Motorway are sites that run trade auctions and the figure they give you is an estimate of what the car might achieve from their trade buyers rather than an offer from them.

They can all work for different cars at different times but do be aware of the different processes.

[Jamescrs]

I sold a Boxster through motorway a couple of months ago.

So they give you a estimate based on the reg and mileage and service history.

You then take photos through their platform and upload them to motorway.

They then give you an estimate based on the images, mine dropped a couple of hundred from the first estimate based on a couple of marks on the bodywork etc.

If you agree they put your car into a 1 day auction for all the dealers in their network to bid on with your estimate being the reserve essentially.

If it sells they put the winning bidder in touch with you to complete the purchase.

I'm based in Leeds and the dealer came from Cardiff to buy my car, he had a look around it and paid me directly by bank transfer and took the car away.

For my car I tried private sale first and got no interest and WBAC clearly weren't interested based on the quote they gave so it was the best option for me.

[ChrisH72]

If there's no great rush I'd advertise it privately for a few weeks. We're coming into Summer and a convertible is a popular choice. Price it fairly and it should sell. If not then these dealer auctions like Motorway would probably get you more than WBAC for that particular type of car.

[loskie]

There was a metallic light green Lotus Elise parked at the WBAC corner of Morrisons Dumfries yesterday .

Looked very tidy. Reg is SN51LZA

Today it looked as if with others was being picked up by a BCA minibus load of drivers. It had trade plates on/driver inside.

The mot history looks totally clean with low annual mileage but expires early NOV. I was really surprised to see such a car there.

Somehow it made me feel a bit sad!!

[loskie]

what a coincidence. Today I saw this same car on trade plates headed south on the A1 around Wetherby maybe.

[Jamescrs]

loskie said:

There was a metallic light green Lotus Elise parked at the WBAC corner of Morrisons Dumfries yesterday .

Looked very tidy. Reg is SN51LZA

Today it looked as if with others was being picked up by a BCA minibus load of drivers. It had trade plates on/driver inside.

The mot history looks totally clean with low annual mileage but expires early NOV. I was really surprised to see such a car there.

Somehow it made me feel a bit sad!!

Someone selling their toy to free up cash and I suspect the market for a Lotus Elise in the current climate economically and going into November is miniscule