How thoroughly do Webuyanycar check cars?

[Lilyargin]

Just that, really. Some friends have said the inspection is cursory, people online have said they go over the car with a fine tooth comb. Do they test drive it? Any experience? Thanks.

From my experience they don't test drive it. The guy went around my car, checking the paint depth with something, checking all scratches, everything visual. He also turned the key to check for any warning lights etc.

I know someone who used to work for them, and they price they offered online was always, always knocked down. They called it ‘chipping’, going over the whole car and pointing out every little scratch etc, knocking off hundreds of pounds in the process. I don’t know if this is across the whole organisation of course, just what I know from his stories.

Probably differs per site tbh. We sold my DDs Aygo recently and got to the site very late at night, just before closing, so in the dark. The guy gave it a good look over and spotted a split in the front bumper we had missed but otoh didn’t spot that we’d forgotten to remove the black box (wasn’t an issue just got it cancelled). He didn’t test drive it but he had seen us drive in. It was a good car with no issues but I did think they would look in more detail. They only knocked a tiny bit off for the bumper and their price was more than Toyota were offering for trade in, and exactly what we paid for it two years ago (second hand prices mad) Easy transaction, would definitely consider them again.

DD's car was spotless but they still found apparent scratches and dints- they showed us where but tbh there wasn't really anything visible. They use some device. They do turn the engine on too but don't test drive it usually.

They knocked down the offer price but a lot! We walked away. Took it to the dealership down the road and was offered a fair bit more than the initial offer price from We Buy with a much less detailed inspection. We sold it to them instead for a lot more.

I’ve used them a couple of times and both times the guy was great, just wanted to check there were no warning lights on, and put down a split bumper as a dent instead because it would take less off. I’d definitely use them again.

I sold my vauxhall viva, 3 years old. Checked for bumps & all keys present. Checked for warning light & milage. My milage was lower than I quoted so they increased my payment. Would recommend 😁

I’d use them again.

I sold my old and very well used car to them last year. Car still had valid MOT (6 days left) but was about to fail on several issues - would have cost around £3500 to fix (ball park, could have ended up more).

Webuy gave me £4k for it. Wanted to check it turned on and ran ok with no warning lights, needed to have both keys. Guy did a cursory walk around checking there were no major visual issues. there were several things he either missed or let go, eg a cracked wing mirror light casing, marks on seats/interior - I was sure that there would be loads taken off the quote once they saw the car, but they gave me exactly what was quoted.

We had a good experience too. My MIL has never had a scratch and I drive it to the pick up point. They really scrutinised it and I followed them round with my camera. Got exactly the same as the valuation.

They dropped their offer on DH'S car by 50%.

We Buy Any Car's initial offer was £900 but dropped it to £450. DH walked away. Got £1100 with Motorway.

Thanks everyone. The car's not great mechanically and I just want to get rid of it, so don't want them to take it for a long test drive. I'm not concerned about them taking money off for scratches.

Have you declared it’s not great mechanically?

I sold one through we buy any car and would never do it again. The car was in beautiful condition and they knocked money off for ridiculous, almost made up/extraordinarily minor stuff. I agreed because I just needed the job done but I would never ever go back to them based on that experience. They didn’t test drive. They switch on the ignition. Main time is spent inspecting the outside and making stuff up about it.

I had been absolutely honest about the condition as well. They shouldn’t have knocked off money.

They don't test drive them
But will look at the wheels and bodywork, if you've got damaged wheels or bodywork and haven't already declared that they will knock money off.

Fine tooth comb in my experience. They found a tiny bit of rust under the wheel arch less than half a centimetre, that I obvs didn't even know was there. They left the car running while 2 of them went all around it with a clip board noting everything they found and had a look underneath etc.

The car was 3yrs old and they took £1200 off the price for the tiny bit of rust they found. We just took said no and took it home. He added £200 to the offer but again the car was worth well more. They tried to make out they were doing a gd deal as they had found a few other little chips/scratches that they wld usually take money off for but he said he cancelled them out as the he knew the rust wld be a bit hit to the price offered.

I sold it to another company called wewantanycar.com They came out to the house and we got £1300 more than the final price we buy any car offered. So it was a win win! I had the money within 10mins. They took the keys with them and came back a couple of days later and picked it up. Easy peasy!