Planning to sell your car?
You could put it on eBay, park it on the side of the road with a ‘for sale’ sticker in the window, advertise it in the classifieds – or sell it to an online car buying company such as webuyanycar.com.
Like its competitors, WBAC, as it’s known, claims to be a hassle-free way to dispose of your car. You go on its website, describe the vehicle and its condition and it generates an offer price. Following a physical inspection of the car by a company representative, this price is agreed or revised. If both sides are happy, WBAC buys your car and you get the bus home, a few quid richer.
Business is booming. In the year ending March 2016, WBAC bought 172,000 cars, up 15% on the previous year. However, back in 2011, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) took action against WBAC after it found that nearly 96% of customers who sold their car to the company received less for their vehicle than the company’s original website valuation, sometimes by hundreds of pounds.
It said consumers had been given the impression they would be paid the online valuation if the company’s on-site inspection of the car matched the condition entered by the seller online. Once at the appointment, though, some customers found that other factors, including ‘market conditions’, forced a reduction in the price.
The OFT also found that vehicle inspectors were set targets regarding the purchase of vehicles, sometimes to reduce the valuation offered by up to 25%. WBAC’s directors promised to address the concerns raised in the OFT’s report.
To test the fairness of the online valuations the company gives today, I offered WBAC my 49,300-mile, 2012/12 Peugeot 107 Allure. First, though, I asked CAP, the used car experts, to value it unseen. Taking into account what I described as mildly kerbed wheels and a light scratch on the body, it suggested a ‘CAP average’ value of £2325. By coincidence, seven days before, I had the Peugeot inspected and valued as a prospective part-exchange by a Hyundai dealer. It valued the car at £2150 without including any part-exchange allowance, having already discounted to the maximum the new Hyundai I was considering buying from them.
Join the debate
Add your comment
Instant buyers
Yeah WBAC and others won't give you the best price but instant buyers will probably be the quickest.
There are lots of options when selling your car privately but it does tend to take up a lot of time which ever way you do it. You’ll get the most for your car this way but it’s also the slowest way of doing so. All the stuff you have to do...
This is a good post for more tips: ‘How To Sell A Car’.
If you’re looking for a quick way to sell your car then then new player Motorway is pretty good, you can compare offers from many of the UK’s trusted instant car buying websites.
You can now do this for Race Cars...
It appears many 'look a likes' have started up over the last couple of years but one that pricked my interested was Webuyanyracecar.com.
Having been stuck with a race car for sale for over 2 years, there aren't many alternatives other than to reduce the price or hold out hope!
I struck a deal with them within 48 hours and had the money in my account the next week. It was all fairly painless, with the only real snag being collection, which delayed things.
Hope it's of help to other members. If you have race cars for sale, it's well worth giving them a try.
What a surprise