What are people’s experiences of this. Worth it or do they try and knock you down to a stupidly low price?
It is easy to use but that's about the only positive (takes about 20 mins), you should expect to receive way less than the quote they give you online though.
Its a decent service if you are just trying to get rid of a car on its last legs but if you have one of any value far better selling privately.
On lower value cars I suspect they are worth a shot. I know of a few people who have taken cars under 5k there and been happy enough with what has been offered. You are of course paying for the convenience a little bit which is reflected in the price.
If your vehicle is of any significant value I imagine they are a lot less competitive, in my experience anyway. A few years ago I took a BMW there just out of interest to see if they would offer me better than I was being offered elsewhere and I think they were 5k short of every other offer. In fairness however they weren’t pushy at all and when I said no let me get on my way without trying to pressure me into anything so no harm done I guess.
I booked an appointment online and I think it took 20 mins from turning up to having the offer. In fairness many I see nowadays are based in supermarket/shopping car parks so nothing to lose really in giving it a go.
We unloaded an old banger on them, they haggled over a few quid here and there but it saved me dealing with it, I wouldn't like to sell a newer car to them though.
As mentioned by @Notts_Addick, for lower value cars, where the differential can be minimal WBAC is very straightforward - used them for an old Peugeot 206 for which we received £1,800. They do have a bit of a margin to improve their initial offer but it is unlikely to be massive. I'm not even sure that too many of the bidders Motorway use would even have been interested in it.
Found Motorway very efficient although you have to work a bit harder so far as "ground work" is concerned - taking and uploading photos etc etc. For our Mazda 6, they took a couple of hundred off for scratches and one minor dent and paid us £12,600 whereas WBAC offered us marginally over £10,000.
Thanks all. I’ve got a price from motorway and it’s less than I wanted. I’ve made an appointment with we buy any cars, if I don’t like what they offer, I’ll accept the motorway offer
We Buy Any Car is owned by British Car Auctions (which itself is owned by a private equity company).
So you can guess what happens to the majority (all?) of the cars they buy and what kind of deal you get. They buy below CAP and make a small margin. It is possible you'd get a reasonable price for a cooking model as they don't seem able to distinguish between poverty spec and top of the range.
Thanks all. I’ve got a price from motorway and it’s less than I wanted. I’ve made an appointment with we buy any cars, if I don’t like what they offer, I’ll accept the motorway offer
Why are you making do with an offer you are not happy with, sell it on Autotrader at a price you want
Thanks all. I’ve got a price from motorway and it’s less than I wanted. I’ve made an appointment with we buy any cars, if I don’t like what they offer, I’ll accept the motorway offer
Why are you making do with an offer you are not happy with, sell it on Autotrader at a price you want
It’s been on autotrader with no serious offers. My new car has been delivered and I’m paying for two lots of insurance etc. It’s time just to get rid. It’s £400 less. If I hold on, I might get more but I might get less.
just left we buy any cars (in the car). It was an experience. I’ll share the story when I’m home
the guy did his usual and expected checks and told me there was a potential exhaust and oil leak and needed to check with his manager. He then made videos and kept me waiting. He then made more videos and kept me waiting even more. He struck up conversation and at this stage I was thinking that this was a tactic.
Eventually, after he was going on about the on line valuation being a tier one and the condition being tier 4, I received a low offer. He then said that if I went into the office with him, we could talk about cash and getting a tier two valuation.
i politely said no thank you, I will take the car to my friend who has a Jaguar garage and get him to look at the bits, get them sorted (not that there is anything to sort) and I’ll come back tomorrow to get a revised valuation.
he followed me to the car trying to get me into the office but I wasn’t having any of it.
sold it through motorway before I left the car park!
They're a triumph of marketing. They know they'll get loads of people who just sell through them because they're too lazy to look at an alternative - that's why they try it on with the pantomime of getting someone who knows as much about cars as they do about quantum mechanics giving you load of old waffle about there being faults on the car.
Just throw enough money at advertising and you'll get trade based solely on that. Bonus being the sort of people who are impressed by the adverts are also the sort of people naive enough to believe the bullshit given to them by the YTS trainees doing the checks.
They have to buy at below auction price, so they can make a profit at auction. They are targeting people who want an easy life, have no idea what their cars worth, selling a car with issues or don't know what alternatives they have.
Motorway are dealers buying cars as an alternative to buying at auctions. Most dealers would prefer to buy from a private seller as the car is more likely to be genuine. A lot of cars at auction are problem vehicles that other dealers just want rid off or may have been bodged/clocked by dodgy dealers just to be put through at auction.
Therefore the cars bought by dealers through Motorway will command a premium over those bought by WBAC because they are a safer bet, and therefore you should receive more as the seller.
I had a good experience with them. They knocked me down by a couple of hundred quid from the quoted price but I couldn’t argue as the back bumper had almost fallen off! Went to Petts wood station and 20 minutes later I’m on the train to elmstead woods. If you don’t want the hassle of unvetted randoms turning up at your gaff, I’d recommend them.
Very happy to have used Motorway, really don't like unvetted peeps turning up for a bit of a gander just in case they fancy coming back ....
I never minded selling private, I was surprised to sell my P reg Red Chevette though, complete with two white fibre glass wings fitted by the amateur bodging team of me and my brother, neither of us knowing what we were doing.
My son has sold through We Buy Any Car and motorway.
He was happy with WBAC, they actually paid more than he thought the car was worth but Motorway was a bad experience. They came to my house and inspected the car. The guy doing the checks told my son that the aircon wasn’t working, which was a surprise as it was 20 minutes previous. Unfortunately for the guy my son saw him pull a fuse/relay, which he denied. My son pushed the fuse back in and all was fine but then the guy started to try to chip my son down by an about a 1000. It got a little heated and I told the bloke to go. My son rang the dealer who was doing the deal and thanked him in nicest possible way for wasting his Saturday afternoon. My son sort of won in the end he dropped his price as much as he expected and the dealer took the car. The aircon did work but there was a coolant leak and the timing belt needed replacing so my boy was happy.
Thanks all. I’ve got a price from motorway and it’s less than I wanted. I’ve made an appointment with we buy any cars, if I don’t like what they offer, I’ll accept the motorway offer
Don't always go by that first valuation with Motorway. Sold a car in June this year via them, ended up getting £2k more in the auction than the initial valuation which was around what I was looking for anyway.
Thanks all. I’ve got a price from motorway and it’s less than I wanted. I’ve made an appointment with we buy any cars, if I don’t like what they offer, I’ll accept the motorway offer
Don't always go by that first valuation with Motorway. Sold a car in June this year via them, ended up getting £2k more in the auction than the initial valuation which was around what I was looking for anyway.
Similar to my experience. I got £1500 more in the auction. Would use them again great experience overall, although pictures took a little while to take.
Comments
Its a decent service if you are just trying to get rid of a car on its last legs but if you have one of any value far better selling privately.
If your vehicle is of any significant value I imagine they are a lot less competitive, in my experience anyway. A few years ago I took a BMW there just out of interest to see if they would offer me better than I was being offered elsewhere and I think they were 5k short of every other offer. In fairness however they weren’t pushy at all and when I said no let me get on my way without trying to pressure me into anything so no harm done I guess.
Found Motorway very efficient although you have to work a bit harder so far as "ground work" is concerned - taking and uploading photos etc etc. For our Mazda 6, they took a couple of hundred off for scratches and one minor dent and paid us £12,600 whereas WBAC offered us marginally over £10,000.
So you can guess what happens to the majority (all?) of the cars they buy and what kind of deal you get. They buy below CAP and make a small margin. It is possible you'd get a reasonable price for a cooking model as they don't seem able to distinguish between poverty spec and top of the range.
Edited to add: this site explains it all better than I could. https://barnfieldcars.co.uk/blog/the-truth-about-webuyanycar
just left we buy any cars (in the car). It was an experience. I’ll share the story when I’m home
the guy did his usual and expected checks and told me there was a potential exhaust and oil leak and needed to check with his manager. He then made videos and kept me waiting. He then made more videos and kept me waiting even more. He struck up conversation and at this stage I was thinking that this was a tactic.
i politely said no thank you, I will take the car to my friend who has a Jaguar garage and get him to look at the bits, get them sorted (not that there is anything to sort) and I’ll come back tomorrow to get a revised valuation.
he followed me to the car trying to get me into the office but I wasn’t having any of it.
sold it through motorway before I left the car park!
Just throw enough money at advertising and you'll get trade based solely on that. Bonus being the sort of people who are impressed by the adverts are also the sort of people naive enough to believe the bullshit given to them by the YTS trainees doing the checks.
Motorway are dealers buying cars as an alternative to buying at auctions. Most dealers would prefer to buy from a private seller as the car is more likely to be genuine. A lot of cars at auction are problem vehicles that other dealers just want rid off or may have been bodged/clocked by dodgy dealers just to be put through at auction.
Therefore the cars bought by dealers through Motorway will command a premium over those bought by WBAC because they are a safer bet, and therefore you should receive more as the seller.
Similar to my experience. I got £1500 more in the auction. Would use them again great experience overall, although pictures took a little while to take.