Selling my car - Online valuations - advice appreciated

[markjay]

Since you indicated that you wish to continue and be entertained.... new email from WBAC received a few minutes ago:

 

[markjay]

... I just instructed my stock broker to sell when it hits £4k

 

[gaz_l]

Maybe if you take it in again they'll offer you £1500 for it this time.. after all the mileage has gone up.

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[AlunRoberts]

motoring.co.uk

 

[ashenfie]

New V5C arrived yesterday in the post.

Car booked for tomorrow (Monday) with webuyanycar.com.

Their quote stands at £2,575. I am aware that there's also a transaction fee of £49.99, plus £29 fee if I want immediate payment (otherwise they pay within 4 days).

If they try to negotiate the price down, I am hoping that COMAND NTG2.5 (~£600 on eBay) and 4 brand new Dunlop BluResponse (£240 from blackcircles.com) will help shift up the price back to the original quote.

At any rate their nearest location is 15 minutes drive from where I leave, so it's worth a shot - if they give me grief I will just leave.... we'll see what they say.

It is an interesting experience for me anyway... will keep you posted.

They do say on the Radio that they don't pick holes. Any issues they raised, I would respond with "Thats what you would expect with this age of car"

So some stone chips and the odd mark are all in my humble opinion to be expected and so old fast with the price.

 

[markjay]

They do say on the Radio that they don't pick holes. Any issues they raised, I would respond with "Thats what you would expect with this age of car"

So some stone chips and the odd mark are all in my humble opinion to be expected and so old fast with the price.

This is precisely what I did. In fact I tried taking photos of the stone chips in order to post them here, but they can't be seen on pictures taken with the phone camera....

What I was told during the inspection is that the car is assumed to be in 'pristine' (his words) condition unless otherwise stated.

There's a submenu on their website where you can declare 'damage', though it's confusing and also very crude - e.g. 'wheel damaged or corroded' seems to apply to everything from the tiniest kerbing mark to a badly corroded wheel.

Same for chips, dents, or scratches etc - the only safe option is to declare every panel as having stone chips and every wheel as damaged - which would probably bring the price down to zero...

I am starting to understand how their operation works, and I also realised that this is more suitable for getting rid of a car with good paintwork but lots of problems under the hood - but it's not a good place to sell a well looked-after car.

It was an interesting experience nevertheless.

 

[John]

If they conceded that a 10 year old car wouldn't be mint - they'd have less reason to beat you down on price.

It's a win win. Knock you down and then know that most people buying cars don't expect a mint typical 10 year old car.

 

[gIzzE]

Not read the thread, but WBAC are buying cars to sell.
If you describe it properly you will get full asking price, I have sold them 3 now and always got full asking.

just because you are happy with curbed alloys, or stone chips on the bonnet when selling your car, it doesn't mean the person buy it at retail price will be happy with the same marks.

How many times do you hear a customer looking at a used car in a showroom say "Oh, seriously, don't worry about all the alloys being curbed, the stone chips on the bonnet or the small scrathces on the wings, it isn't a new car after all."
It doesn't happen.
The car needs to be prepped to retail, if that means it will cost them time and money it will come off you offer price. I get the wheels smart repaired, same with scratches and stone chips, £300 in prep can save you a grand in buy back price.


Just be realistic folks.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

I thought that they went to auction?

 

[gIzzE]

What difference does that make?
Sorry you've lost me?

If it gets sold to dealers through auction, direct or through their own outlets how much it needs prepping before it can be sold is all the same.

 

[markjay]

I thought that they went to auction?

What difference does that make?
Sorry you've lost me?

If it gets sold to dealers through auction, direct or through their own outlets how much it needs prepping before it can be sold is all the same.

You are both right.

WBAC are looking for cars to auction. In an auction, the car gets driven forward, then left with the engine idling while bidders look it over. It is then driven back out.

WBAC's inspection mimics this process. They start the engine, drive the car 6ft forward, leave the engine running while checking for stone chips and kerbed alloys, then drive it 2ft back, switch off the engine and let you know what they are willing to offer you for it.

Nothing else matters. Shot brakes, rusty exhaust, knocking suspension, tranny that won't shift up, oil leaks... nothing matter, as long as the car passes the mock auction test.

Of course the reason they check the paintwork and wheels is because trade buyers are thinking that they will need to sort it before putting the car on the forecourt (or otherwise apply a discount for it).

Now to my mind the issue is quite simple.... WBAC's parent company are B2B trade auctioneers. They mostly buy from trade and sell to trade. The jargon, currency, and eco-system in Trade are very different to those of a private seller advertising on Autotrader.

The idea of increasing the influx of vehicles for auction by buying direct from the public is in essence a sound one.

Bur what WBAC are trying to do is 'consumerise' the influx part of the car auction business. And this is where Trade clashes with Retail.

They need cars for auctions, but what they are looking at is very different to what a consumer expects.

I did not expect that they won't care about the fact that I owned the car for 8 years, that it has COMAND NTG2.5 retrofitted by comandonline, that it had 4 brand new Dunlop BluResponse tyres, etc etc....

The reason customers are disappointed is because they are facing the harsh side of the car 'meat market' trade, thinly veiled as consumer business.

The disappointment is simply the result of having very different expectations.

 

[gIzzE]

What you're saying though is because you know the car, you think it is worth more.

The problem is, a new owner won't know it is a good car until they have owned it for a while.

Did you manage to get the engine management light turned off before you took it in?

Playing devils advocate, but who knows what it is really like? Only you.


All they can do is look at it on the basis of what they can see needs doing to retail it.

 

[markjay]

What you're saying though is because you know the car, you think it is worth more.

The problem is, a new owner won't know it is a good car until they have owned it for a while.

Did you manage to get the engine management light turned off before you took it in?

Playing devils advocate, but who knows what it is really like? Only you.

All they can do is look at it on the basis of what they can see needs doing to retail it.

What I am saying is that as a private buyer, I would go for a proper test drive, listen for any unexpected noises and rattles, check if the car pulling when driving and when braking, see if the transmission shifts smoothly through all gears, check if tyre wear is even, check for possible signs of head gasket leak, check for leaks in the engine bay and is possible also under the car, look for uneven shut lines, check that the central locking, windows, radio and all electric accessories are in working order, etc etc.

I am not suggesting that I would expect a second hand car to be perfect on all fronts, but at least I want to know what I am buying.

So it's a bit of a culture shock to have my car evaluated based on stone chips and kerbed alloys and very little else.

I am more sympathetic towards WBAC now that I understand what they are trying to achieve and how they operate.

But as I pointed out, this is where consumers have to deal with the coal face of the car trade business without the intermediary car dealer, and the result is often friction and disappointment.

 

[Peter103]

WBAC spend £100's of thousands on TV advertising, they have to cover that, whichever way its looked at before any profit might begin, they are IMOP a waste of time and money, unless its an old Banger you have to sell stay away, they are no better than the used car seller working out of a shed, on waste ground, SHARKS! Out to make a quick buck at your expense!

 

[PXW]

BCA used to do something called SureSell which I used to move on a car once. It was fine - you got (less a fee) whatever the car fetched in the auction - clear, transparent and effective. But I think they stopped the public access to this when they bought WBAC.

 

[Scott_F]

BCA used to do something called SureSell which I used to move on a car once. It was fine - you got (less a fee) whatever the car fetched in the auction…..

That’s what everyone gets when they sell a car (or indeed anything else) at auction.

 

[PXW]

That’s what everyone gets when they sell a car (or indeed anything else) at auction.

Well, yes...the point I was making is that they seem to have stopped this now in favour of WBAC. Which is less transparent.

 

[Charles Morgan]

That’s what everyone gets when they sell a car (or indeed anything else) at auction.

Except an auctioneer that rhymes with male children.

 

[markjay]

That’s what everyone gets when they sell a car (or indeed anything else) at auction.

My understanding is that car auctions are normally not available to private buyers or private sellers - i.e. this is usually a trade-to-trade event.

So if SureSell was meant to increase the supply of cars for auction by also getting cars from the public, then it makes sense that this was the precursor of WBAC.

Ultimately an auction house makes money from commission charged on transactions - the more transactions it runs through the business the more profit it makes.

 

[gIzzE]

WBAC spend £100's of thousands on TV advertising, they have to cover that, whichever way its looked at before any profit might begin, they are IMOP a waste of time and money, unless its an old Banger you have to sell stay away, they are no better than the used car seller working out of a shed, on waste ground, SHARKS! Out to make a quick buck at your expense!

Quite the opposite in my experience, if you have a car that still has some warranty, they will often pay top dollar, now that may still be a shock to many price wise, but generally they will pay far more than BMW, Mercedes et al will as a part ex, and often close or above what you could expect to sell as a private sale.

It is the bangers where they pay you pittance, because, to be blunt, they don't really want them.
But when you call yourself "we buy ANY car" you can't really say "we won't buy your car" so they just lowball you rather than say "Waht the **** do we want that for?".