
(Image from wikipedia)
With so many websites online now to help sell your car quickly without the hassle of selling privately its no wonder more and more people are moving away from trading in their cars in part exchange or spending lots of money on advertising privately through the likes of autotrader.
In the UK the without doubt the most popular car buying service is webuyanycar who promise to make selling your car both a lot easier than selling privately but also much quicker.
This first site of its kind as far as we are aware was launched back in 2006 and quickly became the market leader and the largest car buying service in the UK with over three quarters of a million cars being purchased to date.
With over 200 branches across the UK you could enter your details on their website and if you were happy with their offer arrange an appointment at one of their drop off centres for one of their staff to confirm the details you had given for the car and arrange payment into your account.
HOW TO USE THE WEBSITE
The website itself couldn’t really be any easier to use. You simply visit their website at webuyanycar.com where you are presented with a registration plate where you can enter your vehicle registration number.
This should then load up the basic details about your car, make, model, colour etc. The next stage is to enter the final information that the system wont know about, things like the mileage and service history of the car before having to enter your personal information which includes your email address, postcode (so they know your whereabouts in the UK) and a contact number.
Once this information has been completed you will be presented with their offer to buy your car along with your nearest branch (based upon the postcode your entered). If you are happy with the offer they have given you can then arrange an appointment at a local drop off centre for you to take your car for inspection and to complete the sale.
How do they make their offer without discussing your vehicle first?
When you are given your offer from the site this is made with the assumption that your car has at least six months MOT, more than one key and is in top condition with no preparation required (damage).
This is when you need to be totally honest with yourself about the condition of the car and if there is ANYTHING that you think wouldn’t be classed as perfect you need to add to the description using their “change assumptions and add damage link”.
This is probably the most important thing to do when listing your car as if the description is not accurate and honest you will be in for some disappointment when you take your car along to your local centre to be appraised as they will pick up on anything that hasn’t been mentioned and will adjust the price accordingly.
Not only will this be disappointing but it could also be a complete waste of your day should the offer drop massively from what was originally offered and put you on the back foot.
So answer any questions as honestly as possibly and once done you will be presented with a revised offer taking everything you have disclosed into account.
Arranging an Appointment at your local centre
So you’ve entered your car details, been honest with your description and are happy to make an appointment at your local webuyanycar centre to finalise the sale.
The site will present you with a number of available appointments at your local centre on screen. You simply select the one that is most convenient for you and that’s you all booked up to take your car along on the date and time you selected.
At the appointment someone will give your car a thorough inspection inside and out and will either make any adjustments to the price or confirm the price you have already been given and if you’re happy payment will be made directly into your account by bankers transfer.
Bad press
If you are looking at selling your car this route you have more than likely done some homework and checked out reviews online to see how other sellers have experienced the process and will have probably come across many articles criticising the valuation process by saying that manner of the original offers are not honoured.
Being ex-motortrade myself I have to say that I would imagine that the majority of these change in valuations are going to be down to inaccurate descriptions of cars. Time and time again whilst selling cars I would hear customers say how lovely their current vehicle is and its “Immaculate” when it comes to actually appraising the word immaculate is somewhat overused.
This is why a company like this is always going to struggle in keeping the customer happy.
I would have clients wanting to part exchange a car they didn’t have with them and beg and plead for me to give them a “guide price”. On occasion and very reluctantly I would do this and nine times out of ten the description they would give me of their car was nothing like the car in they would bring along a few days later.
This is when people start to get upset. “You told me the car was worth £—- ?” but what the customer failed to tell you was the back door is a completely different shade of red and has clearly been painted, they only have one key and that the “full service history” they have turns out to be partial with their handy next door neighbour carrying out the annual oil change.
So again, this is where it is vital to be as honest with your description as possible up front to avoid any disappointment and wasting anybodies time.
Webuyanycar Alternatives
Its no surprise that since their launch in 2006 that many copycat companies have appeared online all offering a similar type of service. Below are a couple of sites you might also want to visit before accepting any offers for your car

We Want Any Car at wewantanycar.com – This site works pretty much exactly the same as webuyanycar in that you simply enter your registration number to receive a valuation and then arrange an appointment at a local centre to have your car inspected.
UPSIDE
Nice quick comparison to what webuyanycar will offer you with same process.
DOWNSIDE
Still have to visit one of their drop off centres

We buy any car at dealerbid.co.uk – An interesting site that has around 5,000 vehicles listed each month. The system works in an entirely different way to webuyanycar in that it has a big database of motor dealers that subscribe to purchase vehicles for stock.
When you list your vehicle you can add things like photos and a lengthy description and the details are then immediately sent to dealers that have registered to buy cars like yours for cash. Your vehicle details are also live on the dealerbid website for 6 weeks for dealers to browse.
UPSIDE
The great thing about this method of selling is that it does two things. It firstly enables you to put your car in front of lots of different buyers (only motor dealers – not the public) – this clearly increases your chances of receiving a good price as dealers will know they will be competing with each other.
The site has a message and offer system so dealers can message you through the site for further information about your car on a one to one basis, this should eliminate any disappointment should you decide to sell as everything has been discussed by a person rather than a computer.
If you are happy with an offer the dealer can place the final offer via the offer proposal system which includes a section to list what has been agreed as well as how you expect to be paid (usually bank transfer). You simply accept the offer and the site will generate an invoice to the buyer who will arrange collection of your vehicle. (Another nice point… you don’t have to take your car anywhere). Once the car has been collected you can leave feedback about the dealer for other sellers to view, which means they are going to be even less likely to mess you around on price.
The second reason this system is good is that if you are not in a huge hurry to sell you your vehicle will be listed for 6 weeks. This means if a dealer has an enquiry for a particular vehicle they don’t have in stock they could easily browse the site spot your car and make you a very strong offer knowing they have someone lined up for the car.
DOWNSIDE
The only real downside is that you are not guaranteed to get an offer for your car and there is a small fee of £10 to unlock your enquiries board – although in most cases this is neither here or there as if you are offered a better price is most likely going to be a few hundred pounds more at least I would think.

Sellyourjamjar – Similar listing process as webuyanycar etc but seems to be some sort of affiliate site as when I have tried listing a couple of cars the system simply says they recommend money4yourmotors.com so it looks like this site has probably gone from their own car buying business into an affiliate making commissions from successful sales to money4yourmotors.com although I dont know for sure.
UPSIDE – Quick to get a price and they do state they will collect your car
DOWNSIDE – Might as well just visit money4yourmotors.com