Anyone seen these people?
I saw the link in a well known on-line motoring magazine. I thought I'd give it a try out of curiosity. Quoted me £10,010 to buy my C4 Picasso 2L hdi egs Exclusive.
Obviously that quote relates to a car they have not seen and relies on honest answers from you when you go through their questions on line.
Not sure what happens when you get to one of their drop off points and how much they may try to carve off the initial price.
One thing that would worry me is that you are expected to give them the car, the keys and all paperwork and then receive payment by BACS some 4 or 5 days later. If you paid extra you could receive a next days BACS payment. In these straightened times, I would worry during the gap between leaving my car and getting my money.
I have read mixed reviews about them. I do wonder whether they quote an initial high price to whet your appetite and capture your interest because when I was looking to p/x the car a couple of months ago, I was offered nowhere near that amount.
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Used them to shift deceased relative's car last autumn. I described the car in what I thought was a realistic fashion and they gave me a price. When I arrived they took a fairly careful look, and pointed out damage repair to me which I didn't know was there (more than one place). They reduced the price somewhat, but still more than we'd valued the car at for probate and without the hassle and time of the process of selling the car ourselves.
The money came through in a few days as promised.
In our circumstances, it worked well for us. We wanted to shift the car quickly and with minimum effort and zero comeback, and weren't obsessive about getting top dollar, and that's what we did. I don't think we'd have got a lot more for it privately anyway, and we didn't have any need to part-ex for anything.
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As they generally give quite low valuations it's a good way of getting a benchmark price should you be looking to change.
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Used them a couple of years ago to sell swimbo's fiesta st. The valuation given at the time was better than trade-in. They did examine the car, and held the quoted valuation inspite of 4 kerbed wheels.
We were a little worried about the pay you later bit, but all was well.
I tried them recently to shift a 4 year old focus, & the quote was lowish though. I think it depends if they want you car or are stocked with a particular modl.
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Obviously that quote relates to a car they have not seen and relies on honest answers from you when you go through their questions on line. Not sure what happens when you get to one of their drop off points and how much they may try to carve off the initial price.
I suspect this is probably true. I put our 53 plate Focus which is in very good nick apart from the most minor of car park dings. I was surprised how much they did quote for it, as my view was that I would be lucky to get more than a couple of hundred£ more privately.
But when it came to the crunch I would suspect that there would be a lot of 'sharp intakes of breath through the teeth' etc etc, and a lower price. Minor edit. Smokie
Edited by smokie on 05/06/2009 at 15:52
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To be fair, they are a business, and are trying to make money on a commodity which can be hard to shift if the price is wrong.
They were quite open about the reasons for revaluing the car I was selling and I didn't feel pressured to accept their offer, nor offended by it. As said above, whether it suits you depends on your circumstances.
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Used them this year to sell my Passat - they offered top book price at a time when dealers seemed reluctant to go anywhere near. I too was sceptical as to what they would actually offer after inspection, but they honoured the on line price. I did pay extra for next day payment though-the vagaries of BACS means payment could actually take a week otherwise, and that was a risk I was not prepared to take! The day I went they were very busy-running an hour late-and of the two customers prior to me; one got the offer price but one was knocked down considerably. From what I could hear he had been less than honest in his online assessment - so be warned!
All in all I would recommend them-far less hassle than private selling. Only thing I would say is that at the moment dealers do seem to want late reg part exchanges so you MAY get a better price now than was the case (for me) earlier in the year.
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Snipped as not sure if it's true or relevant
Smokie, Moderator
Edited by smokie on 05/06/2009 at 15:51
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I've no idea what they do with the cars but lots of people seem to be using them down here, my pizza place is round the corner from them and there directions are rubbish so we keep getting people asking where they are on the weekend day shifts.
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I think they are related to Carcraft - certainly was a large Carcraft showroom where we went, seems true of many locations (see map at www.webuyanycar.com/AboutUs.aspx)
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They are definitely Carcraft - registered office is NixonSt, Castleton, Rochdale where they originated.
Owned by the McKee family - Frank McKee being the founder a long while ago when he started with a small car lot in back-street Rochdale - now run by his two sons. An amazing success based for a long while on selling finance with a cheap car attached - now they seem to sell more mainstream and upmarket vehicles as well.
This seems a good way of moving your car on if you are in a hurry and can give an accurate assessment of it's true condition.
Cheers
jdc
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They've just offered me £50 for my mazda...
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I heard a couple of weeks ago that it was Carcraft. Not that this is either a recommendation or to be held against them. Why are they doing it? Well I guess:
1/ New car sales have been slow all year so the PX's generated are not around
2/ Auction prices for clean used cars have been sky high all year
3/ Carcraft sell a hell of a lot of vehicles & they have to get them from somewhere so this way they get the public coming to them with cars they WANT to sell, thus Carcraft can offer prices at which they can make good money when they retail it on
4/ Plus the customer who is selling a car is also likely to be buying one & thus they need look no further than Carcraft
I also guess that they will be offering very low money for non-ratailable cars which they don't want or which they can pass on to the trade without a loss.
They just offered me £2,500 below retail for my wife's car; think I'll keep it for another couple of years!
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"They just offered me £2,500 below retail for my wife's car; "
Tried asking any other dealers what they'd give you for it? Maybe "retail" isn;t what you think it is...
btw I don't think it's a particularly new operation, as I implied fryour post.
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lmao
2000 X Reg Diesel Seat cordoba estate 103k FSH over 6 months MOT, £440....
1995 N reg Lexus LS400 210k FSH 12 months MOT £400....
I know which i'd guess would go for well over a grand on ebay and which would go for about a grand....Hmmm 55mpg or 23mpg lol? i wonder which people are looking for in this day and age of £1+ a litre?
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Seconded HJ. Sold my Signum through Sure-Sell last month. Painless. Good price achieved, courteous and helpful staff, payment received within three days. Would recommend them and will almost certainly use them again in the future.
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Must have missed that post Humph. You back in the Mondeo again?
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MLC - Yeah, no matter how much I tried to like the VX the Mondeo just always felt better suited to my needs. Couple that with a series of minor problems with the Signum and the unfailing reliability of my Ford and it gradually signed its own ticket. The Mondeo will be fine for now but I'm sort of open minded about a possible new car. The criteria of loadspace, economy, costs of and ease of maintenance and comfort continue to take the highest priority.
I will get around to a "post mortem" thread on the Siggy some time.
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Hi Smokie - "Tried asking any other dealers what they'd give you for it? Maybe "retail" isn;t what you think it is..."
Retail is what dealers are asking for the same make & model of car at the same age with same mileage. I looked on Autotrader for comparisons
You can argue that retail is this advertised price less any discount / over-allowance but in the absence of actually doing a deal you will never know what this is. Plus at the moment late small sized hatchbacks are low in supply & high in demand so I would expect any discount would be minimal.
Again, this is not a criticism of the operation, they are in buisiness to make money. It's clearly going to apeal to those people who need to sell the car rather than those who will do only if the price is right
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My father enquired with them about his Megane Coupe Cab, received a very good quote. Arranged to visit their rented office in Oxford and on arrivial discovered a mistake with year of car on quote. Immediately reduced price by £250 and then noticed car park ding and reduce a little further. End price was still above part ex levels and a lot less hassle than private sale. He's chuffed to bits with with transaction and has the car off his hands, to look at his options for a replacement.
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8< snip. Person found to be trying to use the Backroom forum to promote other websites.
Edited by Webmaster on 18/08/2009 at 01:11
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Just put my C3 in their ' get a quote ' form and got a quote of just over £3600. A drop of about £700 on what I paid in July 08.
I'm going to sell it next month but I don't think I'll be going down this route after reading this....
www.moneysupermarket.com/community/forums/t/help-w...x
Although, to be fair, they did alright by my daughter when the cambelt snapped on her C8 diesel.
Ted
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I don't think that thread gives a very balanced view. Many of them have got themselves into negative equity and are blaming someone else for it. We already know from the above that they will sometimes (maybe always) offer less when you turn up than they quoted on line.
They have been around a while, so they can't be all bad.
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