anyone ever used webuyanycar.com

carman2011

basically u put in your reg (northern reg'd car) and up pops a picture of the car, u fill out a couple of questions online, and they email u with a valuation, u book it in and they take it off your hands and give u the cash as per quotation.

the above is my understanding of it.
i was expecting 14k ish for ours, they quoted 15.3, happy with that, planning to get boat to england to sell to them on saturday.
just wondered , is it as easy as the above sounds, anyone here any experience of them?

andyseadog

do they decide on a price over the internet based on your description or will there be further negotiation when they view it in person?

daRobot

High'ish quote to reel you in, and when they view the car they'll re-evaluate their offer to a pathetically low level based on "condition/fault".

Do a bit of googling on them, and you should see the above point highlighted. I fear you'd be completely wasting your time and money going over there.

Have a look at the bad reviews. I reckon the 5 star reviews are made up by their staff.

http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews169436.html

Out of interest, what car is it, year and model etc?

carman2011

the car is in near perfect condition, heart breaking to have to sell it.
they give the quote without seeing the car, but website says thats what they pay.
we are spending a bit going over, so upset to hear they may negotiate us down a lot.

andyseadog

if you were buying a second hand car, would you finalize a price over the phone or via email without ever viewing it, based on the previous owners description?

carman2011

well no, obv not, and i read some reviews, quite worrying,
however, i think a lot of these people prob had there cars is somewhat rag order.
ours literally is perfect, not a mark on it, perhaps they will find it hard to bargain our price down from there orig quote.
but, i dunno, seems awful to waste 500 ish going over there etc.

andyseadog

thats the game they play. if they were paying fair, decent, average prices for cars, it would leave no room for profit so their game wouldnt work.

they work on the fact that when they view your car and are offering you cash, and your using a service like this you are most likely desperate for a quick sale, so your unlikely to turn down a slightly rude offer.

is your car on uk plates by the way?

cadaliac

Look at the biger picture here too. They are advetising a service to you the punter. People are employed for various positions. The adversing, staff and overheads have to be paid for by the buisness (webuyanycar.com).
The service they provide to you has to be paid for with profits from the company, which makes a profit from buying/selling your car. If you were to sell your car privately, you would get the best deal. If you were to trade your car against another in a dealership, you would not get as much for your car as a private sale but the dealer provides a service to you by taking your old car and providing you with a newer one.
webuyanycar.com are doing the exact same thing, as in providing you a service, however, the wriggle room on price will shcok you when you travel. Remember they have you where they want you at that stage. (Abroad and anxious to get rid of the car for cash)
edit: Andyseadog beat me to it.

carman2011

damn it, this looks bad, maybe we should not travel.
car is prob worth £16k, i was accepting quote of 15.3k
but wouldnt want to go lower than this.
car is perfect, has every extra imaginable, reason for selling can be seen if u look at the other thread i have in motors. pains us to sell it.

perhaps private sale up north might be better.
thanks for advice anyway.

STForSale

That service is surely a last resort, not a first option?
Would cost £30 to put it on autotrader, is it something that's sellable?
Wouldn't give up on the VRT exemption, dealing with the public sector is often
a lottery depending on who you get on the phone.

Seth Brundle

I did a check for a Porky on sale on Autotrader for almost 38k and I got the following...

Your online valuation is subject to an in-branch inspection and contract. Based on a purchase price of £27,510, a transaction fee of £74.99 including VAT will apply and will be deducted from your online valuation.

PLUS you'll obviously be able to redeem the value of your road fund license, adding more to your new car fund!

Our standard payment terms utilise BACS payment which typically takes 3-4 working days for the payment to arrive at your bank. For an additional fee of £24.75 we can provide you with the option of receiving your payment via next working day payment - please ask our vehicle buyer for this service when you attend your appointment.

We guarantee to buy every car we value. So that we don't waste your time, we also guarantee that if the market price for your car fluctuates resulting in us not being able to offer you the same price quoted, we will contact you within 24 hours prior to your appointment to inform you so that you have the opportunity to cancel your appointment.

Note the use of "subject to an in-branch inspection and contract". They don't guarrantee to pay what it is realistically worth (and I wouldn't have expected them to).