Skoda Rapid Spaceback - Selling to a car buying service - my experience

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
View Threaded
Tue 1 Aug 2017 12:08
Skoda Rapid Spaceback - Selling to a car buying service - my experience - pinkpanther_75

I've just noticed my old car is now back for sale on Autotrader.

I sold the Rapid to a car buying service and found the process simple and "relatively" transparent.

The car was a late 2014 1.2 TSi and had covered 20k miles. The online offer was £7150, but £250 was deducted for stone chips and a further £75 went on the admin fee. This represented a downward shift / amendment of 4.5% from the on-line offer.

I'd recently been offered around £6k by a Skoda main dealer and £5.5k (by an online broker) against a new Peugeot 3008.

The deal is done in 10 minutes. I was curious to understand how the business model worked and the chap indicated most cars went to auction and they aimed for £100-200 profit per car. He mentioned they process 25000 cars per annum, so even the "admin fee" scales up to a big number. The chap I dealt with told me they buy around 85% of cars they make an offer on, assuming the sellers turns up for their appointment.

I'd used the on-line valuation aspect of such companies many times, in order to get a feeling for a cars true "market value".

The car is now back up for sale at £8295, which, given the likely auction indemnity fees (payed by the new owner) leaves a relatively thin profit margin - more than likely >£1k. After overheads / tax and over-valuing any potential part exchange it could potentially amount to a few hundred £. Not much of a return for potentially tying up significant capital.

I've read a lot of negativity around such car buying services, but my experience was generally positive. I'd tried to sell the car privately, but a few weeks with no interest (or insurance!) made up my mind to move it on. Once the decision was taken it was all concluded very quickly.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 1 Aug 2017 14:18
Skoda Rapid Spaceback - Selling to a car buying service - my experience - SLO76
I frequently use their website to value cars as it's generally very accurate with retail age stock but they offer buttons for older motors.

If your car is young enough to retail, is in very good condition, is a desirable model, has a full history and a sensible mileage these firms can be a good way to sell rather than trade-in. I got £10,200 for a Fiesta Titanium a few years back from WBAC when the relative who owned it rather strangely decided she didn't like it 6mths after buying it nearly new from Arnold Clark very cheaply at £11,000. What the next dealer was going to flog it for after paying £10,200 plus fees I've no clue but this was more than I could've achieved selling it for her myself.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 1 Aug 2017 17:06
Skoda Rapid Spaceback - Selling to a car buying service - my experience - craig-pd130

SImilar to my experience selling my dad's 15-month-old Fabia 1.2 after he died. My mum can't drive so we just wanted to get her the cash quickly without hassles.

WBAC made a phone offer which was over £1000 more than the original supplying Skoda dealer offered, so we trundled the car up there.

The guy inspecting the car said."It still looks new, doesn't it?" and processed it straight away with no deductions. If we were there for more than 15 minutes I'd have been surprised. Cash was in my mum's account the next working day.

It certainly worked for us.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 2 Aug 2017 13:30
Skoda Rapid Spaceback - Selling to a car buying service - my experience - 72 dudes

As SLO76 said, the experience with older cars is quite different:

In 2014 I was selling my 2007 Volvo S40 2.0D SE which had covered 60k and was in excellent condition. WBAC valued it at £3050 which I thought was scandalous. After a couple of weeks I went to see a local non franchise car dealer who mainly deals with used premium models up to 5 years old, but occasionally has a few mint older models too. We agreed a £1000 fee for them to advertise it, put a 12 month warranty on it and sell it on their forecourt. It did take a couple of months to sell, but I ended up with £4495 cash, meaning they sold it for £5495.

Fast forward to March 2017 and Mrs 72 Dudes was due to pick up her new Audi Q3 motability car. I'd bought her a 2007 Peugeot 206 1.6 Auto the year before and although it looked bright and shiny in metallic red and had only done a genuine 29k with full history, it had numerous dings and scrapes from the previous elderly gent owner. Audi dealer really didn't want it (not surprisingly) and offered £600. WBAC were around the £750 mark without seeing it, and Evans Halshaw buying service were even lower at £700. Took it to a used car dealer about 10 miles away who sells cars like this all day. Got £950 the same day and he then put it up for £1795 where it was snapped up.

I had the time to put in I suppose, but for me, I would probably never use an online car buying service again unless I was desperate.

Edited by 72 dudes on 02/08/2017 at 13:31

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 2 Aug 2017 14:37
Skoda Rapid Spaceback - Selling to a car buying service - my experience - SLO76

As SLO76 said, the experience with older cars is quite different:

In 2014 I was selling my 2007 Volvo S40 2.0D SE which had covered 60k and was in excellent condition. WBAC valued it at £3050 which I thought was scandalous. After a couple of weeks I went to see a local non franchise car dealer who mainly deals with used premium models up to 5 years old, but occasionally has a few mint older models too. We agreed a £1000 fee for them to advertise it, put a 12 month warranty on it and sell it on their forecourt. It did take a couple of months to sell, but I ended up with £4495 cash, meaning they sold it for £5495.

Fast forward to March 2017 and Mrs 72 Dudes was due to pick up her new Audi Q3 motability car. I'd bought her a 2007 Peugeot 206 1.6 Auto the year before and although it looked bright and shiny in metallic red and had only done a genuine 29k with full history, it had numerous dings and scrapes from the previous elderly gent owner. Audi dealer really didn't want it (not surprisingly) and offered £600. WBAC were around the £750 mark without seeing it, and Evans Halshaw buying service were even lower at £700. Took it to a used car dealer about 10 miles away who sells cars like this all day. Got £950 the same day and he then put it up for £1795 where it was snapped up.

I had the time to put in I suppose, but for me, I would probably never use an online car buying service again unless I was desperate.

This is where I get most of my stock from. Friends, family and through word of mouth when someone is looking to upgrade but has an older 7yrs plus car to trade-in which dealers and WBAC typically offer peanuts for. Sadly though too many people are too lazy to spend a bit of time to save money and the bulk accept the offer and do the deal. If I get involved I check over the prospective purchase, advise whether it's suitable for their needs, negotiate the deal and advise on the cheapest source of finance plus I buy their part ex for more than they were offered on which I hopefully turn a buck. Everyone's a winner. I used to buy older stock from a three local dealers but one went bust, one retired and the other was bought by a big chain who refuse to deal with traders. It's a combination of this plus buying services like WBAC that are killing off smaller traders.

Edited by SLO76 on 02/08/2017 at 14:38

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Looking for a garage you can trust? Honest John's Good Garage Guide has thousands of reader recommended garages, plus how-to guides and tips on servicing.

The Good Garage Guide