Selling a car through ‘Carwow’
Discussion
I sold one through CarWow last year and it was horrific!
It started well, they gave me a better estimated sale price than the other similar services, told me my car was very much in demand (Touareg R-Line) and that they expected it would sell comfortably over the 'reserve'..... It then sold AT the reserve, which was some way below the estimated price they gave me and the nightmare of the collection began....
The winning dealer got in touch and arranged to collect, sent THREE guys who all descended on the car like locusts, started picking it apart and conversing in a foreign language between them, took me for the most alarming 'test drive' I've ever been on - full bore acceleration, then hard on the brakes repeatedly - before trying to tell me the gearbox was broken and the turbos were noisy (none of which was true - it had a full VW service history!)... When we got back to my drive they sat in the car, repeatedly revving it and started trash talking the car before putting me on the phone to their 'boss' who promptly offered 30% less than the price 'agreed'.... At which point I lost my composure and suggested they might all like to foxtrot oscar..... which they didn't.... insisting they still wanted to buy the car!
It was beyond uncomfortable and I eventually accepted a price more than 10% less than I was expecting just to get them off my drive....
I reported all this to CarWow, 3 times! They made sympathetic noises, said someone would be in touch and nobody ever came back to me. In the end I gave up on customer service, parked it under 'experiences never to be repeated' and moved on..... Horrific...
It started well, they gave me a better estimated sale price than the other similar services, told me my car was very much in demand (Touareg R-Line) and that they expected it would sell comfortably over the 'reserve'..... It then sold AT the reserve, which was some way below the estimated price they gave me and the nightmare of the collection began....
The winning dealer got in touch and arranged to collect, sent THREE guys who all descended on the car like locusts, started picking it apart and conversing in a foreign language between them, took me for the most alarming 'test drive' I've ever been on - full bore acceleration, then hard on the brakes repeatedly - before trying to tell me the gearbox was broken and the turbos were noisy (none of which was true - it had a full VW service history!)... When we got back to my drive they sat in the car, repeatedly revving it and started trash talking the car before putting me on the phone to their 'boss' who promptly offered 30% less than the price 'agreed'.... At which point I lost my composure and suggested they might all like to foxtrot oscar..... which they didn't.... insisting they still wanted to buy the car!
It was beyond uncomfortable and I eventually accepted a price more than 10% less than I was expecting just to get them off my drive....
I reported all this to CarWow, 3 times! They made sympathetic noises, said someone would be in touch and nobody ever came back to me. In the end I gave up on customer service, parked it under 'experiences never to be repeated' and moved on..... Horrific...
Horrific. I would have told them to get lost within a few minutes and would not have entrained any test drive. I sold a car via Carwow last year. The best price was less than I wanted and Carwow then pro-actively negotiated a better deal for me with the buyer. The buyer sent a driver who simply checked I had both keys and then drove off once the money was transferred. All simple and relatively painless.
larrylamb11 said:
I sold one through CarWow last year and it was horrific!
It started well, they gave me a better estimated sale price than the other similar services, told me my car was very much in demand (Touareg R-Line) and that they expected it would sell comfortably over the 'reserve'..... It then sold AT the reserve, which was some way below the estimated price they gave me and the nightmare of the collection began....
The winning dealer got in touch and arranged to collect, sent THREE guys who all descended on the car like locusts, started picking it apart and conversing in a foreign language between them, took me for the most alarming 'test drive' I've ever been on - full bore acceleration, then hard on the brakes repeatedly - before trying to tell me the gearbox was broken and the turbos were noisy (none of which was true - it had a full VW service history!)... When we got back to my drive they sat in the car, repeatedly revving it and started trash talking the car before putting me on the phone to their 'boss' who promptly offered 30% less than the price 'agreed'.... At which point I lost my composure and suggested they might all like to foxtrot oscar..... which they didn't.... insisting they still wanted to buy the car!
It was beyond uncomfortable and I eventually accepted a price more than 10% less than I was expecting just to get them off my drive....
I reported all this to CarWow, 3 times! They made sympathetic noises, said someone would be in touch and nobody ever came back to me. In the end I gave up on customer service, parked it under 'experiences never to be repeated' and moved on..... Horrific...
Similar thing happened to a colleague of mine just last week using Motorway. Selling an Audi S5. It started well, they gave me a better estimated sale price than the other similar services, told me my car was very much in demand (Touareg R-Line) and that they expected it would sell comfortably over the 'reserve'..... It then sold AT the reserve, which was some way below the estimated price they gave me and the nightmare of the collection began....
The winning dealer got in touch and arranged to collect, sent THREE guys who all descended on the car like locusts, started picking it apart and conversing in a foreign language between them, took me for the most alarming 'test drive' I've ever been on - full bore acceleration, then hard on the brakes repeatedly - before trying to tell me the gearbox was broken and the turbos were noisy (none of which was true - it had a full VW service history!)... When we got back to my drive they sat in the car, repeatedly revving it and started trash talking the car before putting me on the phone to their 'boss' who promptly offered 30% less than the price 'agreed'.... At which point I lost my composure and suggested they might all like to foxtrot oscar..... which they didn't.... insisting they still wanted to buy the car!
It was beyond uncomfortable and I eventually accepted a price more than 10% less than I was expecting just to get them off my drive....
I reported all this to CarWow, 3 times! They made sympathetic noises, said someone would be in touch and nobody ever came back to me. In the end I gave up on customer service, parked it under 'experiences never to be repeated' and moved on..... Horrific...
Only accept a simple walk around and confirmation of condition when your car is being collected via a Carwow sale. It’s not an opportunity to renegotiate the price or host test drives. It’s collection and payment. If the buyer wants do any of the shenanigans mentioned above tell them to leave.
I was selling a Golf a couple of years ago and Carwow came up with the best offer (about £12,000). I was happy to sell at the price they quoted.
The dealer rang me up and asked a couple of questions regarding full service history (which it had) and if it had a parcel shelf (which it did). Having got the best possible answers from his questions, he proceeded to say the best he could do was £900 below the quote. I hung up, and ignored the t
t's attempts to call me back.
A matter of minutes later, I received an email from WBAC saying their valuation had increased by almost a grand to approximately £12,850, meaning they were now offering more than Carwow's best offer.
When I got there to the WBAC branch, they picked up on the tiniest of stone chips but their price was so good that I didn't mind them knocking a couple of hundred quid off.
The car was on the Cinch website a few days later for £15,000!
The best experience I've had selling a car to one of these companies was Motorway, even though their photo app didn't work properly. It helped that - on that occasion - the winning bidder was a franchised Hyundai dealer.
I wouldn't have used Carwow again anyway but, having read the experience of the poor chap above selling his Touareg, I'll actively encourage others to avoid using them too from now on.
The dealer rang me up and asked a couple of questions regarding full service history (which it had) and if it had a parcel shelf (which it did). Having got the best possible answers from his questions, he proceeded to say the best he could do was £900 below the quote. I hung up, and ignored the t
t's attempts to call me back. A matter of minutes later, I received an email from WBAC saying their valuation had increased by almost a grand to approximately £12,850, meaning they were now offering more than Carwow's best offer.
When I got there to the WBAC branch, they picked up on the tiniest of stone chips but their price was so good that I didn't mind them knocking a couple of hundred quid off.
The car was on the Cinch website a few days later for £15,000!
The best experience I've had selling a car to one of these companies was Motorway, even though their photo app didn't work properly. It helped that - on that occasion - the winning bidder was a franchised Hyundai dealer.
I wouldn't have used Carwow again anyway but, having read the experience of the poor chap above selling his Touareg, I'll actively encourage others to avoid using them too from now on.
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