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Hopefully the madness continues for a few more months...
Just as COVID was kicking off in March 2020 I was thinking of a new van, and WBAC were offering £10K for my 17 plate Expert with about 45k miles. Dealer trade in was slightly less.
With the uncertainty, I hung on and kept it.
Fast forward to now and they are hassling me twice a week, with the latest offer at £15.5K with the van at 65K miles. Bonkers.
New van ordered this week, but won't be here till February or March next year.
Motorway website says my car is worth 13k. I paid 11k for it in April
Obviously, they’ll eventually offer less, then any other car bought will also be inflated a similar amount, negating any profit I make
Depends, I sold an admittedly new car (2.5k on the clock) with only minor kerb rash, the final price was 500 quid more than their estimate. It paid off the finance owing plus 150 quid.
Hopefully the madness continues for a few more months…
It's an interesting one how this will play out in the longer term.
You buy a car today at an inflated price. Let's say it was worth 20k, you buy at 25k.
In two years time you look to sell, pre inflated prices its devaluation would have dropped to 15k, 5k hit isn't so bad but 10k is a lot. Will second hand cars now hold their value for longer as folk may not be as willing to lose more because they bought at inflated prices.
Hmmm....
My son is in the process of buying through one of these online sites. He wants a particular model/extras and it was the only one currently available he could find.
They are claiming it has 18" wheels (confirmed verbally) when the pictures show 19" so it will be interesting to see what turns up.
Only downside so far is that they want you to be available all day for delivery and he cant do that so not sure what they are going to agree on.
WBAC says our 6 year old Skoda Yeti is now worth £8800. That’s 800 more than a month ago.
I’d snap their hands off if I could think of a better replacement for a fair price.
As someone who has recently returned a company car and spending lots of time looking for a replacement, Yetis are going for crazy money at the moment. £10000 for a 2012, saw a 2016 recently for £16k. Dealer said some of them are coming in at trade at not far off what people would have paid for them new!
Worst time ever to be trying to get a good value used car
New BCA site in Avonmouth on the old Honda Export site is scraping staff from everywhere and driving up wages. Talking to a customer who owns a body shop locally and struggling to keep staff. As mentioned above BCA model is changing to a more down stream offering. All online auctions less dealers involved more care about maximising value ( tarting up) of stock.
So I've just quickly looked at 2 random private sale cars on Autotrader and the WBAC value for them is £700 more on a £19K car. 🤷♂️
How much do WBAC try to knock off the quoted value when you turn up with the car?
So people are making a coin by buying private and flogging to wbac?
How much do WBAC try to knock off the quoted value when you turn up with the car?
In my case none. He couldn't get it done fast enough and there was 2 more appointments queued up behind us.
So people are making a coin by buying private and flogging to wbac?
This time next year Rodney…..!!!!
Yea, I was thinking about the driveway “traders” that were a total pita when we sold the Golf that we had. My god that was tiresome!
£700 difference on a £19k vehicle is not enough for me to risk buying and hopefully selling at a profit!
The demand is coming from people who ‘would have’ bought new, so prices for 3 yr old cars with under 50k miles are going up most imo.
It’s daft really because the uk has suffered chronic oversupply of vehicles for years. There are enough to go around, just don’t be picky about make/model/colour.
WBAC will want to sell stock asap. No way they are intentionally stockpiling.
Short term, i think prices will keep going up.
After reading this thread I went onto Cazoo to get a value of my 21 Mercedes c300, I’ve had nothing but trouble with Mercedes. This was a replacement for a dodgy E63 they sold me. This one broke down on day 1 of ownership. It’s been fine since but tinged with a bad taste…
Cazoo offered me over what was left to pay, so I’ve just “traded” it in for a nice Peugeot 508 SW half engine/half electric thing
So people are making a coin by buying private and flogging to wbac?
You might get away with it, but WBAC won't buy from you if they believe you're a trader. Presumably to stop them having an easy route to dispose of rubbish cars.
So if you turn up having only owned it for a few days/weeks you might end up stuck with it.
Just out of interest sparked by this thread, I checked what WBAC would offer for my car. I bought it in April 2019 at six months old from a VW dealer. Their valuation after two and a half years and 12000 miles…. £250 less than I paid for it then. Now I know it is likely to be less even though it is in excellent condition but even so..
I checked what WBAC would offer for my car. I bought it in April 2019 at six months old from a VW dealer. Their valuation after two and a half years and 12000 miles…. £250 less than I paid for it then.
Similar here, we bought a Ford kuga at Christmas 2018, according to wbac its now worth around 800 quid less than we paid for it back then, even though it now has 15000 more miles.
So Google Earth is being offered up as proof to a claim that they are stock piling cars? I don't know if they are or not...doesn't make sense if they are, but there may be some clever and devious scam going on that is not obvious but come one. Even IF Google Earth is updated regularly - it isn't 1 - 3 years in terms of average refresh rate of individual images even though updates are made every month...the surface of the Earth is quite large and satellites only travel in straight lines so are limited to their orbital routes - but ignoring that very practical fact who's checking to see if all the cars in one image are the same as the cars in the next image??? what's the turn over rate??
Mate got rid of his car via WBAC recently and they offered a very good price for it and held their quote...but it all depends on how accurately and honestly you declare your cars condition on their website...in my experience they check everything including the paperwork and will deduct heavily anything that deviate from what you declare. That was my experience but my mates...becasue his car had less than 6k miles on it and was showroom condition, they didn't deduct anything after their inspection.
What was interesting was that the app for his car was not disconnected form his old car for about three weeks (the ability was not there in the app to disconnect a car from it) and in that three weeks the car was being driven and parked in different places almost every night. After about three weeks the car disappeared from his app, so he assumed that that was the point the car was sold onto someone else. So for three weeks it appears the WBAC employees probably get almost free access to hoon around in the cars they buy so it doesn't appear they are parked somewhere on a big lot and sit there until they are sold on.
This thread also piqued my interest and has caused a first world problem. My diesel Volvo V90 is apparently worth a grand more than it cost to buy 2 years ago. Had I known about the pandemic, lockdowns, etc, I wouldn't have bought it as the wife is WFH long term and I can use hers. Do I capitalise and sell mine, at zero cost for 2 years motoring in the hope that she will continue WFH for the next few years? If she goes back to office and needs her car to commute, I'd be stuffed as I'd then need to buy one at silly prices. OTOH, longer term, diesel cars will devalue heavily towards the end of this decade as punters shy away from ICEs and towards electric. This may be the only time to get rid without taking a hit. Genuinely undecided.
For that Sheerness site referenced above, going back in the google earth time line shows its been rammed with parked up vehicles for several years. Theres's a small extension, but not unreasonable if wbac brings in more stock.
Where does all the wbac stock go? Through BCA auctions or do they cream off the er, cream, for their direct to consumer sales channels? And what are those channels, someone mentioned Cinch?
The madness still seems to continue, I’ve had an alert from WBAC today that their offer has increased again, so £19,500 to £23,000 in a month. Now entering the realms of what I paid for it 18 months ago.
Is this sustainable, as the company car option now looks a no-brainier?
Flip me, on the back of this thread I just checked the value of my wife's Disco Sport on WBAC. £30500 before deductions which is a good 4/5k more than they were offering 6 months ago! Seriously tempted at that.
Another one with my interest piqued by this thread. Checked my Cupra R estate on WBAC. Bought new a little over two years ago, 25,000 miles done since and the offer is slightly higher than what I payed new! Almost tempted if I Knew of an equally good car new for the same sort of price.
Mine has gone up too! They originally offered something like £750 a month ago - now it's £850.
Party time.
Flip me, on the back of this thread I just checked the value of my wife’s Disco Sport on WBAC. £30500 before deductions which is a good 4/5k more than they were offering 6 months ago! Seriously tempted at that.
That will hold for a while. They aren't making any new ones at the moment ( and not for the foreseeable either). Cancelled my order recently and got full refund with no quibbles.
Those who have got offer prices today, see what happens in a month, they might go up further!!!
Wonderw where al the cheap vans have gone, non with low mileage available locally but buy a new one an they offer thousands off for your old van, WBAV offered a large amount for my old van but it wouldnt drive, so they said get it to them and claim the cash.
This one broke down on day 1 of ownership. It’s been fine since but tinged with a bad taste…
My own personal experience with Mercedes cars over the last five years would preclude me ever buying one.
I’m not too fond of BMW’s, for that matter, but for different reasons.
Using online satellite imagery to try to ascertain whether the likes of BCA or Cazoo is doomed to fail, unless you’re prepared to pay for up-to-date images - there is an organisation who can provide images within hours of them being taken. If you pay.
If you were to look at the various parts of the site I work at, on Apple Maps and Google Maps, you’ll see startling differences between them, the Apple images are at least four or five years old, and show our biggest area empty, while the Google images show it crammed full, but those images are still at least a year old, possibly eighteen months, because they still show the old entrance into the site. An up-to-date image of the same area would show it half empty.
You can’t prove anything that’s taking place now by referring to Google or Apple satellite views.
I used to visit a BCA site at Royal Portbury Dock, which only stored a couple of hundred cars, as it shared the area with cars being unloaded from the big transporter ships, but you wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at a satellite view which was which. Cazoo now have a site there, but I’m not sure where, there’s huge areas covered in cars and vans down there.
They’re also moving into commercials as well.
Just sold my car to Mercedes. They offered me £200 less than WBAC
They said that WBAC are owned by BCA, and BCA are going to open their own showroom/online network and are offering over top dollar for cars at the minute to build their stock
Not sure if it was true or not
Where do all the low price cars go that WBAC buy? I'm looking for a £1K small first car for my 17yo daughter and these larger Cazoo, etc. don't seem to go below £5K
Wbac offered me £4000 more then my local dealer for my van a year ago.crazy.
I got a text message saying my offer had increased for the Yeti. It's now 9700.
That's 900 more then when I last posted and about 2 grand more than when I first checked. I'd sell it now 100% but I bought it for the Mrs and she loves it. I also have no idea what we'd replace it with.
Can believe this! Dealer quoted £1.5k part ex, WBAC were similar…2months later WBAC is £2.2k!
Only reason I’ve not done it is finding it hard to find next car (and I’m fussy)
Audi A3 2l TDI 150 around 64 reg and 5dr, Sport under 70k, with cruise, rear park and ideally nav (used to drive the same for work on installs and lovely cars)!
WBAC keep sending me updates on their valuation the latest that I was given compared to a month ago has dropped by £750, so perhaps their buying has peaked? Or perhaps my car is becoming less attractive
Only reason I’ve not done it is finding it hard to find next car (and I’m fussy)
Same here. The Octavia VRS wagons I wanted originally have shot up in price.
Where do all the low price cars go that WBAC buy? I’m looking for a £1K small first car for my 17yo daughter and these larger Cazoo, etc. don’t seem to go below £5K
I imagine straight to auction, where they're picked up by one-man-band type dealers.
I'm tempted to sell my Civic as it has a couple of fairly expensive but cosmetic issues to deal with. £6k is their offer, which isn't bad.
I also looked at Cinch for potential replacement, like a Golf estate. All of them are 2.0 engines or bigger, GTD or R series. Is there a "thing" or people offloading bigger engines potentially facing higher tax or ULEZ charges?
I have no intention of selling my car (only bought it in April or May sort of time) but curious to see what’s occurring.
Jaguar XF Sportbrake cost £18k from Cazoo - 68 plate with just over 20k on the clock. WBAC offer is £20.2k. I grabbed one of the last lower prices portfolio spec ones as I saw prices going north and glad I did now as on autotrader the cheapest identical car (spec / colour / engine)is £26.5k. Crazy!
Keen to see what my own wbac windfall would be I popped the picasso's reg into the website....
...£155
Up yours Schofield, not my fault you dont recognise a classy motor.
they offered £1105 for my Mazda 3. Which is quite a lot more than the last time I checked - but it's worth a lot more than that to me!
<blockquoteThat will hold for a while. They aren’t making any new ones at the moment ( and not for the foreseeable either). Cancelled my order recently and got full refund with no quibbles.
Yeah, our 4 year PCP is up this time next year and just had a letter from them saying if we want to change it for a new one we should think about ordering now.
Won't be though as Covid and a job change has changed our vehicle needs and we don't want to spend so much per month. Trading now would net us a good 5k so it may be possible to cut the monthly car payment altogether for while.
I have no intention of selling my car (only bought it in April or May sort of time) but curious to see what’s occurring.
Jaguar XF Sportbrake cost £18k from Cazoo – 68 plate with just over 20k on the clock. WBAC offer is £20.2k. I grabbed one of the last lower prices portfolio spec ones as I saw prices going north and glad I did now as on autotrader the cheapest identical car (spec / colour / engine)is £26.5k. Crazy!
I'm stunned frankly, I wasn't really aware of how much the market had shifted!
I bought my Car 2.5 years ago, a 2.5 year old nice spec Skoda Superb, with the slightly rare 4x4 190tdi DSG drivetrain. It had 29k miles and from a franchise dealer it cost me £19k.
If I wanted a 2.5 year old Superb in the same spec now, it would cost £5k more, in fact if I wanted to buy the same car I have now, a 5 year old Superb with 50k miles, it would cost me over £20k, technically the thing has appreciated in the time I've had it!
Okay, cars don't work like that, but I've been offered £15k for it from WBAC (prior to their usual games when you actually try to sell it to them), so I've plenty of equity in it, despite the fact I used a PCP to 'buy' it. Of course everything I fancy is so expensive now, I'd have to pay a lot more to buy the equivalent of what I have now.
Well, a scientific assessment saw me put my 2008 Galaxy (Ghia mind) to the test. Bought in March 2018 with 99k otc for £4k (about £1k below market value at the time) it now has 148k. Turns out that not only has it not increased in value, according to them it has actually decreased to a measly £1k. And that's before we get into the massive dent in the bumper (poorly positioned lamppost) and the dents/scratches on the roof/driver-side door (don't try and enter a multistorey with a bike on the roof).
So it's obviously a con
I had a nice chat yesterday with a Guy who is part of a family that run a fairly large car supermarket network here in South Wales.
They're not having a good time at the moment, they were flying through summer, couldn't buy stock fast enough but Business has now fallen off a cliff. For a while the showrooms were busy, but they couldn't sell much. Customers would be keen, happy with the test drive, but once it came to the finance bit it was "how much?!?!?" but now they're not even getting people coming through the doors.
They've cut their margin on existing stock, but if things don't pick up soon, they're be forced to start discounting further, he's worried they're holding a lot of stock they paid too much for and will have to sell at cost or lower to clear.
It's only one seller, they've got 6 sites locally, but I doubt they're alone. I suspect demand is rushing down and will meet supply pretty soon, especially with the cost of living rising so quickly.
Very interesting P-Jay, and that matches my suspicions about a lot of the things which attracted a "covid tax".
Used bike prices have definitely slumped considerably, and they are obviously more responsive to demand than motor vehicles - since there aren't typically middle-men with money tied up in stock attempting to maintain an artificially high price.
I think the house-buying boom has tailed off a lot too.
I think the house-buying boom has tailed off a lot too.
I think that too - we sold our house at the beginning of Sept - loads of interest, viewings and sold for asking price within three days.
Our buyer pulled out last week though, and interest has been very slow since going back on the market (at 5k lower) and only 3 viewings.