Selling your car on Motoway – to good to be true?

Has anyone used the Motorway website to sell your car? I’ve just checked the value of my car there and they offered quite a bit more than the garage I’ve been to.

They’ve offered £700 more than what the dealer offered for my car as a part exchange, it’s making me wonder if there’s a catch I;’m not aware of. If anyone has used them, is it an easy process and did they pay near the valuation they gave you on the website?

I’ve had a few people I know have mixed experiences with them, but it all depends on the dealer/buyer and how honest they are.

Mate tried to sell his car on there. Chap came over from Ireland to view it after making an OK offer. Started saying the power steering was knackered and basically offered him half the money. Mate stuck to his guns and sent him packing.

Motorway wouldn’t let him relist the car until he had an invoice from a garage saying the steering was fixed! He tried to explain that the dealer was basically lying, but they wouldn’t listen. Ended up deleting his account and keeping the car, which is still driving fine nearly 2 years later…

Father in law got a good price for his Focus, but got messed about with the buyer. They just took their time and kept ghosting him until he told them he was going to sell it to someone else, then they got their arse in gear and went through with the sale.

Motorway valued our car at £8200 but eventually scraped £6000.  WBAC offered £7300 after inspection.  Sold privately for £8200 after fees (eBay/AT/Reg transfer).

No more hassle really.  Same photos, same description.  Etc.

Do all of it, motorway, WBAC, EBay, AT and take the best price.

I found the initial price they quote is okay but then the dealers offer nothing even close to it. Motorway then accuse you of expecting too much for your car despite them being the ones that set the price you were hoping for.

Then the dealer that took mine tried it on by opening the bonnet with the engine running (on a plug in hybrid so it put it into servicing mode switching off the electric only option) and tried to say the hybrid system wasn’t working during the test drive, until I “reminded” him of the bonnet being opened.

I think they used to be better but like everything else have turned more to the dealers side than the customers side for more sales.

I sold my last car to Arnold Clark – Same process as WBAC so they buy directly rather than the dealer auction thing that Motorway do but they offered a chunk more than WBAC and actually upped their offer when I took the car in rather than chipping it because they noticed it had an option pack that I’d neglected to mention…

I sold my 3 year old truck on Motorway last August and although I got slightly less than their initial valuation it was only a few hundred ponds less and still more than dealer offered my on a brand new vehicle.

It was immaculate and I had all scratched polished and sprayed out and a whole car valet (including engine bay) so it looked as new.

They were very thorough when they visited to inspect but paid before they took it away. I saw that the dealer had it on their forecourt for 4K more than they paid me (fair enough) but reduced it by 1.5K three weeks later

I was very happy with them, Certainly, in my experience better than We Buy Any Car

I used Motorway to sell my van a few months ago, they knocked a few hundred off the online valuation due to the service history being partial (it was new but pre-registered when I bought it, so I considered the service schedule as starting then, it only had 9 miles on the clock)

Other than that, I got offered the price I was quoted, just took a couple of days for the dealer to collect it, and they paid with no quibbles.

I had Motorway offer me £700 quid for a 14 year old Volvo C30. They wanted me to fix a binding caliper before paying that. I sold it for a grand privately unfixed to the first viewer as a private sale. Moral I guess try and sell a car privately first.

Take the Motorway quote to the dealer, ask them to match/beat it.

Sold my van last year, £12.5k valuation, ended up with £15k from a dealer with no quibbles when they came to pick it up!

Sold a couple of cars with Motorway and had no hassle. It’s different to WBAC etc. Motorway valuation is just an indicative auction price. Dealers then bid for your car. Assuming you accept the highest bid, the sale is then directly between you and the dealer. I didn’t get any issues with haggling from either dealer.

Sold my wife’s Mercedes on Motorway last year. Really easy process, waay more money that I could get anywhere else and I saw it online a few weeks later for only £600 more than I sold it

I tried doing the same with my car a few months ago and I couldn’t even reach the reserve price. So depends on car and market conditions.

If happily use them again though  it’s a slick platform and process

Sold 2 year old EV through Carwow  last October

WBAC were offering crap money  , Motorway guide was very high , but actual offers were a lot lower ( lower than WBAC in the end ).
Tried Carwow who came back with a lowish guide price. Ignored them , got a few phone calls off them , told them the minimum I would take , and a couple of days later it was sold . Buyer sent an independent car transporter guy who confirmed all was in order and as described , the payment was made in the next half hour into my account and he drove it on to his trailer and off he went to drop it off to Wakefield.

This was around the time the arse fell out of the EV market . Week later WBAC was offering £10k less !!

Kept an eye on it , and was only recently sold. The price they were asking was about £3k less than they paid ME  for it .

I sold the wife’s mobility scooter to motorway, she’s absolutely livid and the bloody bingo hall keeps on phoning up to ask if she’s ok ?

i sold my Golf R via Carwow. Which i believe is very similar to Motorway, in that you take pics etc, then dealers bid on the cars to win them.

Carwow gave me a guide price of 23k. They called me to go through some details on the phone. Then they suggested i put the reserve at 22.5k. I said if i didnt get 23k i would keep it. So they put the reserve at 23k and it sold for £23705.

a VW dealer in Derby bought it. Bloke came down, went over it with a fine tooth comb, it was as described, transferred the money and drove away.

The only time i can imagine you dont get what its worth is if its not described correctly or its not in as good as condition as you think it is etc.

I would definitely use them again.

But equally, as others have said, get a few prices and see if the dealer will match it. Less hassle that way.

I sold a 3 year old Audi Q3 via Motorway. £1200 more than WBAC and the dealer didn’t try to haggle when he collected the vehicle. I thought it was a good process, obviously other people have had different experiences. I guess it comes down to the dealer who buys the vehicle in the end.

Mum sold her Scenic on there, got more than expected.

Buyer paid full price and said he wished every car was as nice as hers.

Seems like it depends which buyer you get, much like any other platform.

I used Carwow to sell the Dacia Jogger I had, used them as their guide price was around £1k more than motorway. The car had a broken rear light cluster which I’d clearly included on the photos.

First time it went through the dealer called saying they wanted to knock £850 off the price they’d put in because the light cluster was £350+VAT and it would take 6hrs labour to replace it. This was cobblers, I knew the light clusters was £175+VAT and could be changed in about 10 minutes. Told him to jog on. Relisted it and the dealer I’d originally bought it from paid £300 more than the other guy.

Motorway wouldn’t let him relist the car until he had an invoice from a garage saying the steering was fixed! He tried to explain that the dealer was basically lying, but they wouldn’t listen. Ended up deleting his account and keeping the car, which is still driving fine nearly 2 years later…

I had this with a golf. Chap came to see it and said that the flywheel was knackered and made a stupid low offer.

I told him to jog on and we’ve still got the car and it’s fine.

I believe Motorway is better suited to selling newer cars.