We buy any car

dacouch

Strider590 wrote: »

I don't think people are intentionally dishonest (what's the point?), I think people genuinely believe their car is in great condition.... After all it just passed the MOT.

This is something you learn when dealing with people over the value of their written off car

missile

I had a painless transaction and received far more than the dealer offered me as a trade in.

Herzlos

Yellabowley wrote: »

He then recalculated and offered us £200 for it. When I said that was ridiculous and quoted the Autotrader going rate he said that he agreed that a dealership would probably sell it at £1500 but that it would cost £1300 to get it up to showroom condition.

Whilst you can only expect to get the trade value on anything, that's complete rubbish. When I was in last (it was a few years ago) I was told that anything older than 6 years just went straight to auction, as the car supermarket they bought for wanted cars to be no more than 10 years old after the 4 year finance period, so you'll get a better deal on 6 year old cars than 7+.

No dealer working with 12 year old cars spends £1300 to get them up to showroom condition unless it's a prestige brand worth tens of thousands. Dealers do still need to make a profit though, so if it's up at £1500 they probably won't pay more than £750.


WBAC state that if the car is described properly, they'll give you the asking price (minus a purchasing fee). But I found the form too simple to do that and condition being good, poor (is is good for a 12 year old car, or good for a forecourt?) etc is just too vague. I fully expect that even if described pessimistically they'll try and find something to knock the price down on.

By all means get a quote, sit on it for a week and take it in to get it appraised, but don't feel obliged to take whatever figure they quote.

Beancounter

Having had my Dad's car advertised locally for 2 weeks with no sucesss I have made an appointment for the weekend with WBAC.

The car is 22 months old, less than 4K on the clock and as far as I can see, totally spotless. Hopefully the price quoted will come my way.

loskie

Of course they will offer rock bottom prices that bear no comparison to Autotrader ASKING prices. They plan to buy and sell into the trade at a profit so what would one expect?

motorguy

Herzlos wrote: »

Dealers do still need to make a profit though, so if it's up at £1500 they probably won't pay more than £750.

So if it went to auction and made £750, minus auction fees, transportation costs, admin costs, VAT, and WBAC profit margin of say a couple of hundred, they were probably bang on at £300?

motorguy

loskie wrote: »

Of course they will offer rock bottom prices that bear no comparison to Autotrader ASKING prices. They plan to buy and sell into the trade at a profit so what would one expect?

Exactly. They're trade buyers, who are going to resell to a trade buyer who will have to build on a profit margin.

They'll pay a "reasonable" trade price for a car they want, but some old mis-described banger is going to be more hassle to them than its worth so they're going to bid accordingly.

Herzlos

I've no idea, but I believe they own/are owned by/are partnered with an auction house, so I suspect there's minimal costs in the way of auction and transport fees.

Stoke

I would avoid them like the plague. The only thing with WBAC is that you're guaranteed money fairly quickly (that's after they take the ridiculous admin fee).

They offer you a rock bottom price, then will penalize you for almost anything ("oh look, that £7 wheel trim has a scuff, let's knock off £50").

While I've seen this suggestion that people have left it a week, there are other people who have booked their car in, then while driving to the WBAC branch, they've received a text to say "Market fluctuations means your car is now worth x pounds less, !!!! you very much", well minus the last part, but the first is definitely the case.

I would avoid them at all costs.

DKLS

I normally sell my cars via the classifieds but after encountering a total !!!!!! who seemed to expect dealership levels of service from a private sale of a shed and having seen a few threads on here of people moaning they want compensayshun because they have bought a banger for £600 and its needs a new windscreen wiper the week after.

I am not sure its worth the hassle and would probably trade in or use one of the we buy services for the next one.