Seat Ibiza - Webuyanycar.com

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Thu 11 Apr 2019 15:04
Seat Ibiza - Webuyanycar.com - Senexdriver
I don’t know if any posters have ever used this outfit, but having dabbled with them in the past for indicative valuations, we used them for real at the weekend and I thought others might be interested in our experience.

For background, when my wife bought her new car 18 months ago we kept her old car for our sons to use. They don’t often visit, but when they do it’s useful to be able to offer them a car to run around in. They all live abroad, so when they visit it’s never just for a day and our Ibiza saves them having to hire a car. However, with our last son having just relocated abroad (was it something about our parenting?!) it was time to face reality and move the Ibiza on while it still had some value.

The Ibiza was a 61 plate and had covered 16,500 miles. It was in very good condition. I got some indicative values from WBAC around the time my wife bought her new car and it was then valued at something like mid to higher £3000s. Imagine my surprise then when more recently they were offering higher £4000s. I have also found with WBAC that if you don’t react to their initial valuation they come back a week or so later with a higher figure. Sure enough they followed up with £5150 and then a week later £5195.

Now I know their approach is to lure you in with an attractive figure and then on the day find all sorts of reasons to reduce the headline figure, having examined the car in the metal. Our guy ran the flat of his hand over every body panel looking for indications of repairs and the best he could could come up with were a few minor stone chips and some minor kerbing of the alloys. He couldn’t believe the condition of the interior and was struggling to knock the valuation figure back. Anyway, by arguing that the stone chips would require smart repairs, he arrived at a final offer of just under £5000, which after their admin fee left a net figure of £4921. I was pretty impressed with that and my wife agreed to sell. Looking at the HJ valuation, it says for a private sale anywhere between £4450 and £5600 and to expect £4950 so I think we did pretty well.

Although the WBAC examination concentrated on the bodywork, they failed to comment on the fact that the instruments were indicating that the car was due for a service. They also didn’t ask if the cam belt had ever been changed - which it hadn’t - and that would have been one of my major mechanical concerns.

As for the treatment we received, from looking at the WBAC video on their website I expected a charm offensive, which is exactly what happened. Nothing wrong with politeness of course, but referring to us as Mr Senexdriver and his lovely lady wife had me wondering if we’d stepped back into the 1950s! And then when our guy didn’t agree with the computer’s valuation after he had fed in the niggles he found with the car, making a phone call to his manager for permission to increase the valuation rather reminded me of the old double glazing salesman’s trick. However, we put up with all that bs in view of the final figure we arrived at.

So, all in all, a positive experience and something I would certainly consider doing again when trading in or selling privately.
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Thu 11 Apr 2019 15:10
Seat Ibiza - Webuyanycar.com - Brit_in_Germany

Was the Ibiza petrol engined by any chance?

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Thu 11 Apr 2019 15:26
Seat Ibiza - Webuyanycar.com - Senexdriver
Yes.
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Thu 11 Apr 2019 16:56
Seat Ibiza - Webuyanycar.com - RT

I used WBAC to sell my 5-year old Hyundai Santa Fe - they assessed it as grade 2, out of 5, and put it straight into the BCA auction (WBAC owns BCA, or vice versa) and was sold to a Hyundai dealer who sold it on within days - I was pleased with the price but not the wait to get the money, just not necessary in this day of online banking.

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Thu 11 Apr 2019 17:51
Seat Ibiza - Webuyanycar.com - John F

Our sturdy X reg auto Focus Estate 1.6 Zetec has just passed its MoT at an extra cost of £25 to replace a £5 corroded sheared bolt which attaches the rear anti-roll bar. This was only its second ever MoT failure. WBAC has just valued it at £310. We are not selling.

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Thu 11 Apr 2019 17:46
Seat Ibiza - Webuyanycar.com - SLO76
I’ve only used them once but they did offer strong near retail money for a newish Fiesta 1.0 Ecoboost Titanium I was tasked with selling for a relative and they stuck to the full valuation on inspection. They did in part kill off my little sideline of selling cars from home as they more often than not offered more than I could for decent low mileage retailable stock. I’m amazed at the prices decent cars sell for at auction these days, in fact I wonder how dealers survive at all. Margins are bone thin on new and used stock. The money is in the finance and add-ons.
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Thu 11 Apr 2019 18:07
Seat Ibiza - Webuyanycar.com - skidpan

When the wife had a new car last year we sold her 3 year old Note to Evans Halshaw who do the same thing as WBAC.

WBAC were offering more than the dealer the new car was coming from.

Evans Halshaw offered (and paid) more than WBAC.

I was pleased with the price but not the wait to get the money, just not necessary in this day of online banking.

Evans Halshaw paid the money into our bank within 2 hours.

Would use them again (or WBAC if they offered more). Pretty sure WBAC charge a fee for fast payment.

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Thu 11 Apr 2019 18:36
Seat Ibiza - Webuyanycar.com - RT

When the wife had a new car last year we sold her 3 year old Note to Evans Halshaw who do the same thing as WBAC.

WBAC were offering more than the dealer the new car was coming from.

Evans Halshaw offered (and paid) more than WBAC.

I was pleased with the price but not the wait to get the money, just not necessary in this day of online banking.

Evans Halshaw paid the money into our bank within 2 hours.

Would use them again (or WBAC if they offered more). Pretty sure WBAC charge a fee for fast payment.

I tried Evans Halshaw but their offer was below WBAC's even after the admin fee - so much for advertising trurth.

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Thu 11 Apr 2019 18:39
Seat Ibiza - Webuyanycar.com - skidpan

Not every person will get the same result but at least we have a choice and its very easy to compare without even leaving the comfort or your own PC.

As I said above I will try both when I next sell.

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Thu 11 Apr 2019 22:22
Seat Ibiza - Webuyanycar.com - elekie&a/c doctor

WBAC are not retailers. They are part of the BCA group. They are not interested in service stamps or cambelt changes. All cars go to auction. Its all a numbers game ."stack them up ,and sell 'em cheap." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Buy_Any_Car

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Thu 11 Apr 2019 22:36
Seat Ibiza - Webuyanycar.com - SLO76
“WBAC are not retailers. They are part of the BCA group. They are not interested in service stamps or cambelt changes. All cars go to auction. Its all a numbers game ."stack them up ,and sell 'em cheap."

Well maintained cars with history fetch substantially higher prices and WBAC’s prices reflect this. If a car is retailable they offer decent money, if it’s too tatty or up in the miles then they offer buttons as the trade won’t show much interest.

You can as a trader set up an account with the firm and buy directly from them but it’s not exactly competitive.
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Thu 11 Apr 2019 22:53
Seat Ibiza - Webuyanycar.com - daveyK_UK
Sold a car recently re Evans halshaw who paid £400 more plus no admin fee and that was after they knocked the price down £200 for the various stone chips and wheel trim marks.

The most impressive thing was receiving the full payment the same day as we carried out the deal before 1pm.


One thing they did which WBAC have never done, is they checked the took 3 gauge readings from each tyre regarding tread.
They replace all tyre 3mm or below
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Fri 12 Apr 2019 00:15
Seat Ibiza - Webuyanycar.com - Senexdriver
WBAC were very interested in the stamped service book as it happens and fortunately we were able to produce it. If their aim is to find as many grounds as possible for reducing the offer they make online before seeing the car, then an overdue service or cambelt change would be ideal leverage. Or so you would think.
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Fri 12 Apr 2019 03:07
Seat Ibiza - Webuyanycar.com - James2018

As above. BCA own WBAC and as BCA have a huge database of how much cars sell for, they get their margins right.

They make money on the auction, plus the protection plans they sell that cover things like major faults and these have a sliding price depending on what level of dealer you are.

If the dealer wants, a BCA company then finances the vehicle to the dealer at high interest rates. When the car is sold the dealer has to repay BCA.

If BCA are not repaid within a certain time limit then the interest rate doubles.

Dealers are lucky to make £200-300 on a standard car. Premium (£50k+) cars do better.

Edited by James2018 on 12/04/2019 at 03:09

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Fri 12 Apr 2019 12:56
Seat Ibiza - Webuyanycar.com - skidpan

The car we sold to Evans Halshaw was retailed on the site who bought it. They added about £500 to what they paid us and the car was sold after about 2 weeks. In fairness it needed no work but a service was due in about 4 weeks as was an MOT (which they did before sale as shows on the MOT site).

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Fri 12 Apr 2019 14:24
Seat Ibiza - Webuyanycar.com - Leif

I sold my six year old 130,000 mile VW TakeUp to WBAC. My original idea was to just drive over and prove their offer was pants. In fact they offered £100 below the minimum I would want from a private sale, so I said the offer was too low by £100, so they increased their offer and I accepted. Not a brilliant price by any means, but equally it was not bad either, and I was glad to avoid paying to advertise it, and dealing with visitors including time wasters. Could I have done better privately? Possibly. But I'd probably take pity on some young woman looking for her first car, and with not quite enough money to match my minimum ...

I did though spend many hours valeting the car until it looked rather shiny. I discovered in the process that the interior plastic looks amazing when polished with special polish, but the sheen fades after a few days! It's astonishing how nice a mucky car can look when cleaned up.

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