Best way to sell a car?

[NinaDefoe]

I’ve looked at Autotrader, Motorway, WeBuyAnyCar etc. and I’m not sure what is the best way to go.

I have a car sitting on my drive. 10 years old, ave mileage, drives great BUT, if I was keeping it, I’d have some some minor work done.

It’s a great car and the dealer ads on Auto trader put it at 5-6K.
BUT, as I say, it’s not perfect.
I’d take the Motorway/WeBuyAnyCar valuation (3K) ifI knew it wasn’t going to be slashed further.

WWYD?

Why would autotrader, a specific setup to sell cars, not be good for selling a car?

It depends on what you mean by the "best" way. Do you mean quickest way or to get best price?

For best price, probably listing on Autotrader is best way to go. Quickest way would be to sell to a 'webuyanycar' type place. WBAC is probably the worst for slashing initial quotes though. I sold to a local Evans Halshaw and they only took £100 of initial quote and no admin fee.

@AlisonDonut

Why would autotrader, a specific setup to sell cars, not be good for selling a car?

Out of the 80 cars similar to mine for sale, 1 is a private sale. The rest are dealers.

I’m presuming that their cars have been serviced very recently, any minor issues have been checked and corrected etc.
They also come with a warranty & finance.

I can’t offer any of the above.

@AlisonDonut

Why would autotrader, a specific setup to sell cars, not be good for selling a car?

Because that entails multiple people enquiring about the car and potentially multiple viewings before a sale.

It can be such a faff arranging viewings only for people to come and kick tyres.

For selling on autotrader, there's also the question of how you insure the test drives. What do most people do: put each person on their insurance for the day (expensive!) or just check for 3rd party and take the risk of them damaging the car (possibly very expensive!!)?

We've bought a private sale off auto trader, and they let us test drive. But I don't know how to do it as a seller.

Selling a car through autotrader will give you the best price but is the most hassle. So many people will waste your time and not turn up when they’ve said they will etc and all the messages and phone calls drove us mad. However if you’re in need of every penny from the sale it’s the best way.

We recently sold a car to a local independent garage. They gave us better than part ex price but less than of we’d sold it ourselves. But it was totally hassle free.

Private sale price guide on Autotrader was £6k, garage gave us £5k. Webuyanycar base price was £3700. Of course the garage had it up for sale for over £7k but that’s how it goes.

Best of luck.

@HumunaHey

It depends on what you mean by the "best" way. Do you mean quickest way or to get best price?

For best price, probably listing on Autotrader is best way to go. Quickest way would be to sell to a 'webuyanycar' type place. WBAC is probably the worst for slashing initial quotes though. I sold to a local Evans Halshaw and they only took £100 of initial quote and no admin fee.

I’ll look at Evans Halshaw! Thank you!

The best way for me would be to sell at a low price which I’m happy to do - but I don’t want to deal with anyone standing on my drive sighing & tutting (or whatever it is people do when they want to drive down a price!)

@VladsPants

Selling a car through autotrader will give you the best price but is the most hassle. So many people will waste your time and not turn up when they’ve said they will etc and all the messages and phone calls drove us mad. However if you’re in need of every penny from the sale it’s the best way.

We recently sold a car to a local independent garage. They gave us better than part ex price but less than of we’d sold it ourselves. But it was totally hassle free.

Private sale price guide on Autotrader was £6k, garage gave us £5k. Webuyanycar base price was £3700. Of course the garage had it up for sale for over £7k but that’s how it goes.

Best of luck.

Thank you!

How did you contact local garages? Did you just phone them?

I advertised mine on FB marketplace, I did the same with my dads van and both had loads of enquiries

Out of the blue I mean?!

Because that entails multiple people enquiring about the car and potentially multiple viewings before a sale.

Weirdly, I've sold many cars, completely successfully on Autotrader.

We put one on 2 weeks ago, we aren't even in the UK and got a deposit in the bank within 2 hours, and my OH went over this week and completed the sale.

Perhaps your screeing or advertising isn't up to scratch if it isn't working for you?

The best way for me would be to sell at a low price which I’m happy to do

Why a low price? Surely you want the best price?

Honestly this place at the moment is full of strange threads.

If you want a low price, why are you dithering about the best place to sell? Just sell it to the lowest bidder on ebay who will then also take a huge amount of the sale price. Or give it away?

Perhaps your screeing or advertising isn't up to scratch if it isn't working for you?

How do you screen people calling, do you only let them come if they seem genuine?

We're likewise planning to sell a car - and auto trader does seem the best route, but a bit intimidating. Any advice welcome!

@AlisonDonut

The best way for me would be to sell at a low price which I’m happy to do

Why a low price? Surely you want the best price?

Honestly this place at the moment is full of strange threads.

If you want a low price, why are you dithering about the best place to sell? Just sell it to the lowest bidder on ebay who will then also take a huge amount of the sale price. Or give it away?

AlisonDonut

Selling at low price doesn’t mean £250 for a 5-6K car.
I thought that would be obvious.
Not for you obviously. Why would I give it away?

Perhaps your screeing or advertising isn't up to scratch if it isn't working for you?

The car isn’t listed yet.
This thread is asking for advice from people who have sold privately.

It's easy to sell on autotrader if you have the confidence and know what you are doing. It's sold as seen. No comebacks. I've sold many times. But maybe it's not for the OP, If she doesn't have the confidence. Maybe best we-buy-any-car?

I haven't used it myself but it could be worth looking at the - we buy any car - website.

See you already mentioned that in your original post !

@NinaDefoe - I get what you mean - you want the best price but the least stress

Decide your "price" and your lowest offer you'll go to
Call your local independent dealers first, then do wider

Yes you would likely get more on Auto trader but if you don't want the stress, don't do it

Is we buy any car far from you ? It may be worth taking your car there to see what they offer. If you don't like the price on the day you won't have to sell.

First I got my car mot & serviced and I did a HPI check
Make sure you have the log book
I used gum tree and trade it
I put good photos and a video and in the made a point about service history and 1 year MOT and HPI check
I had a few idiots but I sold it within 2 weeks cash for the asking price
Watch out for scams like asking to pay more and a courier will collect
I had a few who wanted to pay buy bank transfer but I refused as I wanted cash
There are quite a few bank transfer scam apps that look like the payments been made

I’ve sold 3 cars using gumtree and trade it - 2 buyers from trade it and 1 from gum tree
One for 1500
One for 6000
One for 4500
When screening people I tell them to let me know when they want to arrive
Then I ask them to text or call when 20 mins away so that I can be at home
That gets rid of the waiting around
Most people buy and view on weekends so put the add up at the beginning of the week

If you know the garage price Is 6k
And private sale is 5k
Put yours up to 5500 or 5750
People will always try to bargain and for some
So you can drop it a bit and still get 5k

Autotrader, also eBay and FB marketplace just attracts entitled illiterate idiots.

I sold an older car on FB marketplace a few months ago. It had failed it's MOT and I put this very clearly on the advert. I told them to read the reasons for failure on the DVLA website, so they knew what was on offer and for clarity, that the car would need to be taken away on a trailer as it could not be driven on the road.

I had dozens of messages from people who had seen nothing except Car £600 and were offering £400-550 without even seeing the car and would come immediately and drive it away, this was at 10 pm btw.

As well as WBAC and Evans Halshaw, car supermarkets may buy your car. They have workshops to deal with minor mechanical and cosmetic issues. If you google car supermarket and the name of your town/county you should get some ideas. If you're in the north of England, I bought my new car from Available Car and they have a sign outside their site saying they want to buy cars so that's one option.

Motorway is actually an auction site for dealers to buy through.
Friend sold her car through them recently - reserve at £22.5k, highest bid was £19.5k.
It was her choice to accept it not.
And then once bit accepted you deal with the buyer not motorway.
She didn't have any problems but had to provide loads of photos for listing, and then to 2 hrs for actual pick up of vehicle as they wanted loads more photos, then waiting for bank transfer to go through, and finance to be cleared.
It was all straightforward but not quick.

I've sold 2 cars via webutanycar. Took less than an hour both times. I'd checked the valuations elsewhere and thought they were fair.

One car they deducted £500 for issues and the other they paid in full

Totally stress free. I'd use them again.