Selling a car to one of these motor trader companies

Need rid of my current car. Don’t really fancy private sale and would rather the convenience of selling to the likes of motorway, wbac etc etc

Went to wbac and they were reasonable, but the offer was lower than I’d like. Motorway initial valuation was considerably more but I’m aware that will come down once they start calling out minor scratches etc

My question is..wbac view the car in person. The likes of motorway appear to value based on pics. Then stick it up for auction. So what happens when it sells, then they start arguing about the paintwork etc?

It’s a 10 year old car in average condition, but works as it should. The main issue is It does have blemishes on paintwork that aren’t particularly easy to photograph

Did you mention the blemishes in the listing?

Motorway isn’t a single buyer like WBAC, it will be a dealer who bids on your car and comes to collect.

My mum got a good price for her car, which the dealer paid in full and praised her on the condition. Other dealers may be more fussy, with or without justification.

Bit like selling on eBay I suppose.

To be honest I considered going down this route but in the end I stuck it on Gumtree and it was gone in a day. 12 year old car in good nick for age, got a good price in cash and everyone was happy.

It was painless, I dread this sort of stuff but it was really easy.

Did you mention the blemishes in the listing?

I’ve put ‘scratches in paintwork consistent with age’, which I think is accurate. Whether a dealer agrees is another matter altogether.

I sold a car on Motorway a couple of years ago. Lots of pictures, clear description, and you should be good. I was offered more than I was expecting initially. A guy came with a trailer and went over the car and had a test drive. He knocked me down a few hundred quid for worn discs but that was all. Payment made on the sort and the car was gone. All very easy.

I sold my ford van using Motorway in July – it was really easy and i got a lot more than WeBuyAnyCar.

I would definatly use in again

He knocked me down a few hundred quid for worn discs but that was all. Payment made on the sort and the car was gone. All very easy.

So the price it sells at auction isn’t necessarily the process you’ll get for the car?

I just bunged in the details of our 16 year old Shitbox with less than 3 weeks MOT into the WBAC site, came back with a ~£500 quote (likely to tumble once they actually look at the thing), the quote came back covered in Cinch logos, so it’s reasonably clear which arm of the “used car-tel” you’re dealing with…

My biggest concern at present is that it’s utterly shagged, and would probably cost a fortune to get through it’s MOT, I’m not sure, morally, I can pass it on to a private buyer at the same time most businesses will turn their noses up at it (probably quite rightly). I just want it gone before the end of the month TBH, there is a Scrappy local to my office, I’d just have to take a bike and ride home after dropping it I suppose… could be an option.

This all depends in the the lease I’ve just put in for arriving in time.

So the price it sells at auction isn’t necessarily the process you’ll get for the car?

Only if you accept a reduction.

You are free to say no.

I just want it gone before the end of the month TBH, there is a Scrappy local to my office

You can get a scrappy price online and they come and collect.

Likely £200-300.

My ex used this one with no hitches: https://www.car.co.uk/

£257, and my Moral Quandary would be solved, Ta I shall consider that option…

I used Motorway – twice – and both times BestCarBuyer were the best, so the third time i went straight to them.

https://www.bestcarbuyer.co.uk/

No hassles, went online, put the pictures up they requested. No hassle, no haggle and good price higher than WBAC by a mile and higher than trade in offer…..

Advertised my Dad’s 12 year old Mazda CX5 this year. Advert was honest with tons of pics. Quote from Motorway seemed very generous so I accepted in principle. Only when using Motorway did I realise how it actually works. Once the first trader offers a high bid, the car is reserved for them. This particular trader initially failed to trap and gave numerous excuses as to why. They eventually arrived 10 days after their online offer was made. Cue much tyre kicking and made up nonsense about head gaskets (slight oil spill when filling at last service) and a supposed £800 repair required to a ‘badly’ damage door (actually a tiny dink that didn’t break the paint skin). Lo and behold, they offered bottom book auction price for a low mileage, fully serviced, newly MOT’d, car in excellent condition. Private sales of this model at a similar age, mileage and condition were thousands more on Auto Trader.

In hindsight, this is an excellent model for traders to follow. The high bid, being accepted in principle, stops competitors viewing the vehicle. This lack of competition and endless delay in turning up places pressure on the seller to accept the only offer they’ll get via Motorway and they may by then need the cash quite urgently if trading up.

Duly told the trader to poke it and I sold it locally via Auto Trader for just shy of the original bid.

Motorway contacted me asking why I hadn’t sold through them. I pointed out the trader’s dodgy behaviour and they hung up on me. I’d previously heard good things about Motorway from others selling newer cars but it clearly also attracts chancers set on using high bid / reservation, delaying tactics to pressurise sellers into accepting derisory offers.