How much does one loose if they sell a car to intermediary as opposed to advertising it privately?

QQQ

How much on average does one loose if they sell a car to intermediary (webuyanycar, motorway, who else and who is the best?) as opposed to advertising it privately (autotrader, guimtree, FB, where else?)?

Car_54

How long is a piece of string?

The big advantage of selling to WBAC etc. is avoiding any costs and hassle - unknown timescales, time-wasters, test drives, endless examinations, insurance problems, after-sale disputes ....

QQQ

[Deleted User] said:

How long is a piece of string?

The big advantage of selling to WBAC etc. is avoiding any costs and hassle - unknown timescales, time-wasters, test drives, endless examinations, insurance problems, after-sale disputes ....

Indeed. But what percentage of market price do you loose to avoid all these hassles?

justamechanic

I can give you a recent example for a ford Kuga.
Wbac online offer was £3300 best case scenario, never took the car to them for a viewing but they would almost certainly try and knock the price down.
Online private listings for similar cars were going at around £4k - £4.3k.
Traders were selling at £5k+. 

Obviously there's a lot of variation depending on the vehicle and location but this will give you a rough idea

Grumpy_chap

Two threads, hopefully the other one (with no responses) will decease:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6391817/where-is-it-likely-to-achieve-the-best-price-selling-your-car#latest

OP believes the car is worth around £9k.

Look at adverts on Autotrader to see what cars are advertised for in private sale.  Accept they may sell for less than advertised.  There is also a cost to advertise and risk of fraud etc.  Plus time taken up.

Then obtain prices for selling the car WBAC, Arnold Clark, Motorway, try local "we buy cars for cash" Dealers and then try the local main dealer for the car.

With that information, the OP will have an accurate assessment of the variance between a trade sale and private sale and can weigh up the pros- and cons-.

In fact, the estimate of private sale and trade sale can be done very quickly - use the "Value your car" link on Autotrader and get the WBAC price as first estimate for both approaches.

jimjames

I suspect it also depends how popular the vehicle is as well as any issues with it. A perfectly maintained 1 owner car that's in demand will probably achieve a much closer price than something that needs attention.

The_Fat_Controller

You could try losing one letter O from your post title too !

Herzlos

depends very much on the car; if it's going to dealer stock immediately (most of the car buying services are run by dealers) or auction.

they'll probably pay something like £1000 less than you could sell it for privately. If you can get a pricate buyer. 

How much of a hurry are you in to sell the car?

chrisw

Don't rule out anything at this stage. Contact all the buying sites and see what offers you get. Assume they'll knock £500 off that value when they view the car. 

Go on Autotrader and see what people are asking for similar vehicles, and assume a buyer will haggle £500 of those prices.

Consider any faults or issues with your car eg worn tyres, sticky door lock, etc, factor in that the buyer has to make a profit and then you can make a judgement on the best place to sell.

I sold mine through Autotrader/Mannheim we buy your car for £10k and I expect retail was probably about £12k. But the money was in my bank within 10 minutes.

chubsta

recent example - Hyundai i10, dealer selling prices around £5000. webuyanycar quoted £3000, there were a few small scratches on it so went in with my eyes open and knew they would knock me down, get £2650 after the extra charge for immediate payment. Was in there about 15 minutes and all done. Would I do it again? Definitely, given the hassle I have had in the past selling cars this was by far the best option. Once I had someone complaining the car I was selling was blue and he didn't want a blue car. I pointed out the description said blue and the photos showed it was blue, what colour did he think it was? he said he knew it was blue but didn't think it was... Never again.

For the time and hassle you save, no problems with anyone coming back to you 6 months later because they need new brake pads etc, I would definitely take the hit on the money.

grandadgolfer

chubsta said:

recent example - Hyundai i10, dealer selling prices around £5000. webuyanycar quoted £3000, there were a few small scratches on it so went in with my eyes open and knew they would knock me down, get £2650 after the extra charge for immediate payment. Was in there about 15 minutes and all done. Would I do it again? Definitely, given the hassle I have had in the past selling cars this was by far the best option. Once I had someone complaining the car I was selling was blue and he didn't want a blue car. I pointed out the description said blue and the photos showed it was blue, what colour did he think it was? he said he knew it was blue but didn't think it was... Never again.

For the time and hassle you save, no problems with anyone coming back to you 6 months later because they need new brake pads etc, I would definitely take the hit on the money.

That's a fair size hit you took on the price