© Car Adviser 2024 - All rights reserved.
Menu
Buying a used car online can be challenging and scary because you know nothing about the quality and suitability of the car until you’ve bought it and had it delivered to you. Many car buyers in the UK are still hesitant to use online platforms for this reason and are sticking to traditional methods of buying cars.
However, online brands are making the buying process much more trustworthy. One online dealership doing this is Heycar.
Heycar is a digital marketplace that allows you to browse thousands of quality used cars. They partner with sellers from all over the country, giving you a lot of choices about what you can buy.
Although they’re a relatively new business in the market, they’re growing quickly and are perhaps one of the best options for those that want a hassle-free and trustworthy experience.
If you’re curious about the prospect of using Heycar, but want to know more about the business and the buying and selling process, here’s a Car Adviser guide to ensure that you’re in the know. You can find plenty of guides on Car Adviser for more reviews and information on buying and selling cars.
Heycar is an extremely new car dealership service that operates entirely online. It allows you to browse for and buy used cars. The platform partners with dealerships all across the country, allowing them to advertise their cars on their platform. This means that you can see what cars are available across the entirety of the UK.
What makes Heycar valuable and exciting is that not only are they a marketplace where you can find cars, but once you buy one, they’ll offer a delivery service that can pick up and deliver the car directly to you. This means that you can buy a car from a dealership located far away from you.
The business is very new and only started operations in the UK in 2019. Despite that, the company has been running since 2017 in other European nations, such as Germany. They’ve also launched branches in Spain, France, and The Netherlands.
Heycar aims only to offer quality cars. They have strict eligibility criteria, using a robust checklist to see if the vehicle is safe to drive, and they will refuse to sell cars over eight years old and that have driven more than 100,000 miles. This is why they only partner with select dealerships so that you can choose from vehicles that are in good condition and that will be able to serve you well for a few years.
Designed to make things easier for customers, Heycar has quickly grown into an excellent option for those looking for a used car to buy that they can trust.
Heycar is an online car dealership allowing you to buy vehicles online. Heycar is unique as they have their own fleet of cars that you can buy directly from them, or they can get you in contact with their trusted dealers, who you can buy from instead.
Heycar only partners with the best dealerships in the UK, meaning that you will only be seeing quality cars from trustworthy sources. In essence, this makes Heycar kind of like an online showroom, where you can find the best offerings from various dealers in the UK without having to visit them in person.
If you’re struggling to get your head around Heycar, think of them as like the Amazon of used cars, where you can buy products owned by the website or from individual traders.
What makes Heycar useful is that they can deliver the car to you. Even if you’re choosing a vehicle that’s located on the opposite side of the country, you can pay Heycar to collect it and deliver it to your door. This means that with this online dealership, you can buy a car from anywhere, increasing your options tenfold.
In addition to buying cars, you can also get your car evaluated so that you’re in a better position to sell it. Getting a car valuation is easy, as all you need to do is enter your registration and the total mileage that the car has done. From this, you’ll get an estimation of what your car is worth so that you can use this as a guide price to get the best deal possible.
Once you’ve done the valuation, you’re given the option to sell the car to one of Heycar’s partner businesses, Motorway. With that said, you cannot sell your car on Heycar.
The process for buying a car from Heycar isn’t that different from buying from any other online dealership. It’s simple, easy, and follows these steps to ensure that you have a smooth experience:
Heycar lists over 70,000 used cars on their platform, which you can browse. When looking, you can find information about a vehicle such as its condition, mileage, tax and MOT status, and even if the car meets any specific low emission zone requirements, which is great if you’re buying a car in London or Birmingham.
When conducting your search, you can filter the cars based on what model and make the car is, what fuel it uses, if it’s electric, and even cosmetic factors such as the colour. This customisation puts you in total control of finding the best car for you.
Once you find the right car, you will order it through Heycar. In this step, you will choose which finance option you want to use. If you have the cash, you can choose to pay for the car outright, but if you want to pay it off over a few months or years, there are some finance options available that you can use.
When ordering your car, you will first have to put down a £99 deposit to ensure that the dealership that owns the vehicle doesn’t sell it. Once you do that, you’ll get an order form by email, allowing you to complete your purchase.
Depending on if you’re buying directly from Heycar or from one of their partner dealerships, there may be additional steps. Heycar will guide you through the process.
Once the purchase of your car has gone through, you’re free to receive it. If you live close enough, you can choose to pick up the vehicle yourself. If not, Heycar will deliver it to your home; sometimes, this delivery can be free.
Once you have your car, you’ll have ten days to try it and ensure you’re happy with it. This gives you ample time to find faults and form an opinion about your car. If you don’t like it for any reason, you can get a refund and all your money back.
If you keep your car and it breaks down or has issues, all cars from Heycar will have a warranty, giving you extra peace of mind.
At Car Adviser, we believe that the best way to figure out how good any online business is is by looking at past reviews and testimonials that past customers have written. Reviews provide good insight into how well a company is performing and can also give you a heads-up about any potential issues you may encounter.
Most businesses will have a reputation, and it can be tempting to use that reputation as your only guidance when looking for a company to buy a used car from. The issue is that a good or bad reputation can linger for a long time and might not actually be a true reflection of how a business is performing currently. That’s why reviews are so powerful.
There are many ways to find reviews online, and many online car dealerships may even post reviews and testimonials on their website. However, with that said, one of the best resources when looking at reviews is Trustpilot. This website has thousands of reviews and uses them to give each business an average score out of 5 stars. Trustpilot is easily one of the most reputable review websites online because they filter through fake reviews so that you can be sure that each comment is genuine.
Here’s a more in-depth look at how Heycar performed on Trustpilot and how that reflects their trustworthiness and quality.
On Trustpilot, Heycar has a score of 4.5 out of 5. This makes it an excellent business to buy used cars from, as they’ve received far more positive reviews than negative ones.
With that said, despite being an excellent score for a business, compared to other online car dealerships, you’ll find that many others have better scores, reaching 4.7 and beyond. Although this score puts Heycar around the same ballpark as the others, there are indications that it’s not quite at the same level.
Another thing to consider is that Heycar doesn’t have a considerable sample size of reviews, with only around 1,600. In comparison, the likes of Cazoo had over 100,000. Due to its smaller sample size, it does mean that its score may not be as impressive, and it may also indicate that it hasn’t had that much clientele in the past.
When looking at how people scored Heycar in each individual review, you’ll be able to see why its average score is a little less than some of the other alternatives. 78% of all reviews gave Heycar a 5-star review, meaning they thought it was excellent. This is a great number and means that the majority of people were super happy. However, other providers have a 5-star percentage of around 90%.
Instead, Heycar has 14% of their reviewers give it 4 out of 5. Although this is still good, it indicates that something is lacking or that there was a tiny drawback. To use Cazoo as another example, they had barely any 4-star reviews, with the majority instead giving 5 stars. This is why Heycar doesn’t have as good an overall rating.
Still, only 4% of reviewers gave Heycar a 1-star review, meaning that it’s still a quality brand and that not many people were left disappointed.
Although the majority of people gave positive feedback, a few poor reviews have recurring complaints that you should know about. This is because frequent issues suggest that you’re also likely to experience these when you’re a customer.
Among the 1-star reviews, the biggest issue is a lack of communication. A lot of customers weren’t being informed of changes to their agreements or that there have been any issues.
For example, because Heycar puts you in contact with dealerships, they act as the middleman between you and that business. Due to this, communication can sometimes break down, and issues can occur without you being informed. One reviewer stated that their car was sold to another person despite them putting a deposit down, and they were only informed about this once they got in contact.
Another common complaint is that customer service can be a little frustrating and can be challenging to contact managers or high-up staff members. If you’re looking for a specific solution to an issue, you could be passed on to various members of staff before you speak to someone that has the capabilities to help.
Among the positive reviews that Heycar has received, one of the most common things is that many people like the car alert feature you can get with the company. If you sign up for it, Heycar can alert your phone and send you info about a suitable car available in your area, which can shorten your search for a new car.
Other people say that the website is excellent to use and that it clarifies what a car is like and its important details, making it easier to decide which cars to get and what suits you.
Other reviews also praise the delivery system of Heycar, as it means that you can buy a car from dealerships that aren’t near you and then have Heycar transport it to your door. Many say that it’s a great feature that helps increase their options when buying a used car.
One final common praise that you’ll see on review websites is that Heycar is very well-priced, as the cars you can buy off them are valued at an affordable rate. The additional services such as delivery also aren’t as expensive as other options.
When buying or selling from any online dealership, you need to weigh the pros and cons to help you decide if that company is right for you. Heycar is a business that has many benefits and positive aspects. However, there are still some drawbacks surrounding Heycar, and it’s always important to consider them to know you’re getting the best deal.
Pros
Cons
Currently, you cannot sell a car on Heycar directly, and all you'll be able to do on the platform is buy used cars. They do offer a tool where you can get a valuation for your car, although once you do that, you'll be directed off-site to a partner company to begin the selling process.
When you buy a car from Heycar, all of them will have some warranty on them. However, the length and terms of the warranty can differ from vehicle to vehicle.
At the very least, Heycar will place its own warranty on any car bought through its platform, and this warranty will last 30 days. With that said, most of their cars will still be under manufacture warranty, meaning that if it breaks down, you'll be able to have it repaired and fixed with a dealership that focuses on that manufacturer.
Having a warranty with Heycar is a great thing, as it creates added peace of mind. However, because all their cars are under eight years old, they should all be in excellent condition, meaning that you may not even need to use your warranty.
With Heycar, all you're able to do is buy cars. You cannot sell on their website, meaning you can't part-exchange your vehicle to get money off your next purchase.
Heycar has a tool that values your car, giving you a guide price on what to sell it for. This can help you get an estimate which can help you when trying to sell or part-exchange your car.
Heycar only partners with registered and respected dealerships. This helps to protect you and means that you'll never come across a car that a private individual is selling. Doing this stops people from being sold cars that aren't as good as they should be.
You'll be able to find pretty much any car when looking through Heycar, ranging from smaller models up to a luxury or family-sized vehicles. Heycar only offers vehicles in great condition, meaning that they don't sell cars that have been in an accident, been written off, or are too old.
Unfortunately, a few omissions can make searching for a car on Heycar difficult. They don't offer left-hand drive cars, which shouldn't be a problem if you're driving on UK roads, but you also can't get any mobility cars from Heycar either.
A quality check performed by heycar will follow the manufacturer's approved used car standard or the AA's recommended check. Both types of quality checks are thorough and will ensure that any car you buy from Heycar is in fantastic condition and is ready to drive.
The AA's recommended quality check has 128-points, which means a large number of tests need to be done on a car to ensure that it's working well. If a car fails this check, it won't be in good enough condition to be sold on Heycar.
Heycar does not offer car parts; you'll have to go directly to a garage if you're looking for some.