webuyanycar.com

TheRange

I agree they are a con. Webuyanycar gave me a £7500 quote for my 58 plate Astra Sport hatch a couple of years ago even after giving accurate mileage and details of 1 deep scratch on the body. Apart from that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the car, other than it had just 1 key.

I thought £7500 (approx) was a reasonable offer as the car was 2 years old. Got to the North/West London branch where a salesman inspected it and told me I had given the correct details of the car including the scratch. Once they supposedly did a HPI check they told me the mileage had been altered and that there's a big red 'warning' sign (being a 21 year old female I got really upset and believed this). They then offered me a measly £5000 as to which I immediately declined and said I'd rather keep the car than take a ridiculous offer like that. But it doesn't stop there!

A few days later I did a HPI check myself at home, it was CLEAR and nothing was wrong with it. The Salesman lied to me probably because I was a young female with no experience of cars. Not only did they lie to me, they made me think I had bought a car from a con. Offered me £2000 LESS than my valuation (ridiculous). I kept the car and only sold it recently via autotrader for MORE!

I think they have lowered their valuations recently because so many people were not getting what they were quoted (saw it on Watchdog a year or so ago). I will never go to them again because 1 bad experience is enough. I do believe that branch has closed down but not sure. My recommendation? DON'T LET THEM FOOL YOU.

johnnygems

Sunday Mirror investigation finds TV jingle isn't the only annoying thing about webuyanycar.com

We buy any car investigation (Pic:SM) A dealer for booming online car firm webuyanycar.com has blown the whistle on its outrageous tactics... which have fleeced customers out of hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Car-owners, attracted by the company’s irritatingly catchy TV ad boasting it will buy any car, no matter how old or new, go online for an instant quote of how much their vehicle is worth. But little do they know that before driving to one of its 200 centres to make the deal, the purchaser there is under strict ­instructions to offer ­the lowest price they can – up to 30 per cent LESS than the website price.

Our whistleblower, who we are not naming to protect his identity, has handed the Sunday Mirror emails from a company executive showing how they ­demand that customers are offered the lowest price to maximise webuyanycar.com profits.

One message tells staff that an average mark-down of 16 per cent is “not enough!”.
Another reads: “28 per cent. This is the bare minimum! Guys, you need to pull your fingers out.”

The employee came forward because he was racked with guilt over being forced to con often-vulnerable customers ­desperate for cash. He said: “It’s a rip off, plain and simple. Customers think they’re going to get a fair price for their car but they end up being offered ­hundreds of pounds less.
"The pressure on vehicle purchasers to lie to ­customers is immense ­because earnings are based on commission. The whole business is based on ­persuading the ­customer into thinking their car is worth a lot less than it ­actually is. The customer loses out while the company makes massive profits.

“I had a two-day induction course when I joined and was told how to play down a car’s positive features and how to accentuate its ­negatives. I was told to sound as if I knew what I was talking about and ­people would believe me.”

Adding to the pressure on the more than 150 vehicle purchasers to force the price they pay for cars down, they get just £100 a week basic pay plus commission.
They can earn £3,200 a month ­commission if they are in the company’s top 15 performers – but get none if they are in the bottom 10.

The haggling starts when customers enter the registration number of their car into the company’s website. Seconds later, they are offered a cash figure – at the low end of the car ­industry’s ­recognised valuations – based on the vehicle age, condition and mileage.
The ­company is not legally obliged to ­actually pay that until after an ­inspection at one of the firm’s branches.

In many cases at the inspection, the vehicle purchaser finds reasons to reduce the offer to what is called inside the company the “chip value”.
In some cases, tiny stone-chips and slightly worn tyres result in cars ­being ­devalued by hundreds of pounds. ­
Missing service records or handbooks, not having two keys and dents have led to falls of up to £1,500.
Customers are also charged an “admin” fee between £49.99 and £74.99.

Sales records show that in the first week of this month the firm’s top-­performing purchaser, based at one of its branches on the East Coast, paid ­sellers an ­average 47 per cent less for their cars than the online quote.
Even the poorest ­performer got ­reductions averaging 15 per cent, while the average was around 18 per cent.
In one week the firm bought 3,043 cars, paying on ­average £590 less for each than their ­initial offer. If they were ­sold on for the online ­valuation, the profit would be nearly ­£1.8m.

Despite that, another email to staff from an area manager on March 20 raged: “Most of you have gone backwards on chip! The message is ­obviously not ­getting through!”

Our whistleblower added “The sad part is that some customers are ­desperate because they’ve lost their jobs. That kind of vulnerability is music to the firm’s ears because it knows they will take whatever they are ­offered.
"I remember a ­really nice guy who brought in his Toyota. His business was about to go bust, his ­marriage was in trouble and the car was the last thing he had. He was in tears. I think I offered £750 less than the car was worth. When I got home I couldn’t stop thinking about him.”
The firm’s parent company UK Car Group, owned by Rochdale-based multi-millionaires Noel and Darren McKee, posted a £5.56m pre-tax profit in the year to September 30.
The brothers, both in their 30s, bought the business, which incorporates used car giant Carcraft, from their father after starting work as trainees at 16.

Last night a webuyanycar spokeswoman denied there was a culture of undervaluing customers's cars.
She said: “We ­purchase thousands of cars every week from many happy customers. All our staff are fully trained, but you ­appear to have highlighted an ­example of a vehicle purchaser and area ­manager where they are not ­following the process.”

The company insisted that their onsite appraisals were carried out ­correctly and we hadn’t given full details about the condition of our cars on the website.


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To add, my brother took his ford focus to wbac after the usual process. The wbac employee then knocked his valuation down from £1500 to £800 so he walked away.


From an ex car salesman point of view, we use a black book as a guide. Then we walk around the car and appraise its condition. The black book tells us guide prices for excellent, good, fair, trade prices. No two cars are ever the same due to blemishes, scratches etc.
So wbac I feel do entice unsuspecting customers down, based on over inflated prices, to then knock the price down to true market valuations or lower.

disco.stu

It's really simple, folks. It's not a con, there is no conspiracy, there's nothing illegal or unlawful.

It's capitalism. Pure and simple. They offer you money for your car. They can offer you more or less than the next bloke will offer you, but you can choose whether or not you accept it. They sell your car at auction and hope to profit by selling it for more than they pay you for it. If they want to give you more than a dealer will, then great. If they offer you less, then don't sell it to them. What they offer is a quick and easy way to sell your car - if you want to take the time and effort to sell you car elsewhere, you could possibly make more money doing so. It's your choice.

thehappybutterfly

Thats why we went with them to get rid of our old banger - quick and convenient. We got the princely sum of £201 after fees but that paid for the increase in insurance and tax for the "new" car.

If you're not happy with what they offer, walk away.

bigjl

Nothing different to a private buyer asking what "your last price is" or "what is lowest price" or just plain old low balling to see if you get a bite.

I sold a car to them had the money the next day. No tyre kickers. Numpties. Test pilots.

"Offered" just over £3200 online from memory.

Their first offer was something stupid like £2400 i think.

I just laughed.

Told them i was here to sell and it was £2800 or nothing.

Figures were crunched.

Guess what got my £2800 (just)

Car on way to auction within 10 mins of deal being completed.

Straight to BC Enfield.

And the post above is out of date.

They are no longer associated with car dealers in any significant way.

CarCraft sold them to British Car Auctions around October last year.

The tat used to be sold under a trade name but i can't remember it off hand.

Now most if not all goes via BCA

Could i have got £3200 maybe even £3500 for my car?

Yes but it would have taken a lot of hastle and money.

And the company is was getting my next car from did not do trade ins.

So any delay would have killed the deal.

MoneyMate

Top Cash Back Site £52.50 Ends Tomorrow 17/03/14
Must be great especially for an old banger ? :beer:

Kernow666

the tv advert at the moment is well annoying , some bloke saying he saved over £5000

smart3439

I tried webuyanycar but price was way too low - tried a different site that cam up on Google - Bidupauto - offered me a better price but can't find out much info about these guys - are they legit? Anyone tried them?

saw123

We had an online valuation for our W reg BMW 323 CI Coupe which came out at £750 with less than 1 months MOT and a rust patch on the front right wing.

Drove the car to the centre in Crayford, Bexley and they valued it at £105 !
As you can see a massive difference and a complete waste of time, I can get more for it scrap.

If you have an older car I would not bother with we buy any car.

Stoke

Don't even consider it. They prey on the vulnerable who need cash quickly. DO NOT GO NEAR.