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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think that if a private seller advertises a car ..........

86 replies

ThisIsStartingToBoreMe · 14/08/2016 19:48

that the sale price should be the same as the price "WEBUYANYCAR.COM" offers????????

Just seen a car for sale on my street for £2500. Put registration into webuyanycar.com and it's saying it will give me £1,080 for it!!!!!!!!

So how come the owner is asking for £2500?

I don't get it.

OP posts:
KitKat1985 · 14/08/2016 20:44

You need to understand that the price for WBAC is their price to buy a car, not their price to sell a car. They buy cars cheap from people looking to get rid of their car quickly and for minimal hassle, and whom are willing to accept that they will get a below market value in exchange for the convenience. WBAC then sell on for a profit.

To have some idea of what similar cars to the one you are looking at sell for you need to look for similar cars on Autotrader.

PinkyPlumet · 14/08/2016 20:46

op why are you linking webuyanycar?

Original poster
ThisIsStartingToBoreMe · 14/08/2016 20:49

Didn't link on purpose it just came up automatically

OP posts:
NeedsAsockamnesty · 14/08/2016 20:52

Is this an elaborate advert for a particularly crappy online car buyer. Why why why would you think that was market value? They offer as low as £50 for some cars that would be worth four times that in scrap. If you want S guide to how much the car is worth use parkers guide or just put make and model and age into auto trader and see what price other similar cars are going for

The price of scrap is incredibly shit at the moment loads of scrap places are only offering £30 for any car providing you can drive it into the yard and that would be the same if it was a mini or a huge people carrier

HawkingsMead · 14/08/2016 20:55

Didn't link on purpose it just came up automatically

You typed in the web address. That makes a linkConfused

Original poster
ThisIsStartingToBoreMe · 14/08/2016 21:02

No. Usually you have to put brackets for it to make a link. I didn't put brackets but it made a link anyway. I don't know why. It did the same for other posters too, but nobody's asking them why they linked.

OP posts:
user1471098628 · 14/08/2016 21:04

Sure you're allowed to drive OP?

KingLooieCatz · 14/08/2016 21:04

If you're not sure what webuyanycar is - the clue is in the name. Not sure how you could miss, even before visiting the website! Which you have also done! And still missed the clues. The whole entire world works like this. Shops buy goods for less than they sell them for. Businesses aren't there to do us all a favour.

As it goes I sold my car to webuyanycar. I could have got more if I could be arsed advertising it, organising for them to see it rinse and repeat. It was in terrible condition and had two weeks MOT left.

DesolateWaist · 14/08/2016 21:05

You typed in the web address. That makes a link

No, the forum software that MN uses recognises a wed address and makes it a link. Not so long ago you had to select that you wanted urls to be clickable.
It is not at all obvious that typing in a web address would result in a clickable link.

RJnomore1 · 14/08/2016 21:12

What you want is to look at glass's guide, as someone said. It will give you the price you can expect to pay for a car of that age and milage, in good average and poor condition, for a part exchange, a private sake or buying from a dealer.

Diglet · 14/08/2016 21:14

Desolute

The op didn't make a clickable link it will have been a third party application that does it for advertising - I think it's called a hyperlink ... I don't think It's anything to do with the OP

Griphook · 14/08/2016 21:31

Try Parkers guide, that's quite accurate

maamalady · 14/08/2016 21:49

I sold my old car through auto trader last year. WBAC offered me £120 for it - no missing zero, that is all they offered due to its age. Other similar cars were going for £1000-£2000 on auto trader, depending on age/mileage/engine/special edition. I advertised mine for £1800 hoping to get at least £1200, someone bought it for £1300.

That's over an order of magnitude more than WBAC's offer! They offer what they want to pay, NOT what they think it's worth. The more unusual the car, the less they offer too. So my special edition aging hot hatch was really not very appealing to them as it is harder to sell on than a more bog standard vehicle.

WyfOfBathe · 14/08/2016 21:57

WBAC buy the car at one price, but sell it for a higher price. They may sell it to a dealer, who then sells it on for a higher price.

For example:
A car owner sells the car to WBAC for £1000
WBAC sell it to a dealer for £1500
The dealer sells it to the consumer for £2000

In a private sale, you're skipping straight from the car owner to the consumer - so you are expected to pay the consumer price.

If you want to know how much to offer, look at the prices similar cars are being sold for in local newspapers or on websites, e.g. Autotrader, Autoweb, CarSite

akkakk · 14/08/2016 21:57

Search on eBay for the same car if not too rare and then filter on sold items which gives an idea of a realistic value, perhaps add slightly more if in good condition...

Auto trader gives a good idea of asking prices, but expect realistic selling prices to be slightly lower...

zoemaguire · 14/08/2016 22:04

I think you still aren't getting it op, as you speak about a 'compromise' between the wbac price and the private seller. The two figures are not in any way related! The wbac price is nothing to do with the market value of the car - it is buying cars from people who can't be bothered to sell them privately and are willing to be given a fraction of the market value just to avoid hassle. The key figure is the price you are able to buy it for on the private market. If it is advertised at 2500 but similar makes/models/ages/conditions are advertised on auto trader or similar for much less, then make a lower offer for sure. But forget about the wbac price, it is a total irrelevance here.

Andrewofgg · 14/08/2016 23:01

karalime

Webuyanycar valued my car at £900 - less than 30% of what my insurance company thinks my cat is worth.

Why is you insurance company valuing your cat and what sort of cat is it ffs?

NewtoCornland · 15/08/2016 08:38

Andrew 😂😂

emilybrontescorset · 15/08/2016 08:51

If a cats worth that much I think I'll sell both my daughters kittens. Lol!!!

maamalady · 15/08/2016 08:58

zoemaguire has it spot on, that WBAC are "buying cars from people who can't be bothered to sell them privately and are willing to be given a fraction of the market value just to avoid hassle".

WBAC are doing you a favour taking the car off your hands. They give you a low price and a lot of convenience. If you'd rather have more money, then you have a bit more of a headache selling it privately.

oaadc · 15/08/2016 09:02

WBAC offered me £60 for my little car (fiat cinquecento, no damage) and then tried to knock most of it off in 'fees'. It worked out that I would have to pay them to take the car.

SendMyLoveToYourNewLUHuvahh · 15/08/2016 09:03

We buy any car is awful.

It offered me £300 for my car. I sold it for £1000

KondosSecretJunkRoom · 15/08/2016 09:08

You are all so cynical.

I'm sure WeBuyAnyCar pay the going rate for cars out of the goodness of their hearts and then sells to others for the exact same price. They pay for the adverts, their staff, admin, office overheads, vehicles, and other running costs out of their own pockets. They are sweet like that.

CreepingDogFart · 15/08/2016 09:22

I'd never use WBAC based on that shit advert that had a while ago with rapping and circus acts. Grin

Cabrinha · 15/08/2016 09:23

Sometimes people take a car to WBAC because it's truly on its last legs, a trusted mechanic has told them so. They don't want to be responsible for duping a private buyer, but they're perfectly happy to see if they can get away with it with WBAC. The people that receive the cars at WBAC are not mechanics, they are sales people (selling a buying arrive) with a computer programme to tell them what to offer.

That's one reason WBAC pitch so low - because sometimes they'll be sold a pup.

But mostly they make their money from the convenience factor and people not knowing how to sell a second hand car.

Reasons I used it once, was:

  • I work away a lot, not at home to deal with viewers
  • I didn't want to deal with strangers taking up my time tyre kicking
  • I wouldn't let someone test drive on their own in case it was stolen
  • but I didn't want to go on a test drive with a stranger, as a woman on my own

That was worth the lower price to me - thoug tbf the lower price wasn't laughably low

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