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Unlike many other places where you can sell your car online, Motorway is a fairly recent option that has emerged within the last few years.
Despite being young, Motorway has quickly become one of the best and most used places for UK residents to sell their cars online.
Motorway does things a bit differently compared to the other popular options. Instead of buying your car directly, Motorway lists the vehicle for auction, where partner dealerships bid on the car within the platform.
This approach allows sellers to get an excellent price for their car, as there is more competition for your car, especially if a bidding war breaks out for your vehicle.
That said, as you must put your car on for a 24-hour auction, selling your vehicle with Motorway can take longer than some alternatives. Plus, it may also be more hassle for some people, as you need to make a profile for your car before selling it.
If there are aspects of Motorway that you don’t like, you’re lucky that there are many other options to sell your car online. The industry is thriving, with there being many places where you can reliability sell and get a valuation for your vehicle.
Here’s a look at some of the top options for selling your car if you don’t want to do it through Motorway.
Cazoo mainly functions as a car-buying website, where you can buy from their catalogue of over 7000 used cars. However, Cazoo can also be a great place to sell your car in addition to this service. Unlike Motorway, Cazoo buys your vehicle directly, allowing them to offer a fast and effective alternative to Motorway.
If you’re unhappy with your offer from Motorway, getting a quote from Cazoo is something you should consider, as you may get a higher price from them without having to go through the fuss.
The selling process is drastically different from Motorway. Although it starts the same way by asking for your car’s registration number, instead of giving you an instant valuation after that, Cazoo asks you more questions to understand your car’s condition better.
This questionnaire is an excellent feature from Cazoo, as obtaining all this extra detail can allow them to offer an accurate valuation that represents your vehicle’s genuine condition. This approach means that your valuation is more likely to be honoured when you sell the car and is much more reliable than other options.
This questionnaire will ask for details such as the car’s mileage, service history, and a lot more, but it should only take a few minutes at most to complete. Once this section is completed, you also need to rank the condition of your car.
When ranking your car’s condition, Cazoo will provide a scale from ‘Poor’ to ‘Like New’ for you to choose from. To help you pick the right one, the platform offers a lot of information about what makes a car a certain rank, ensuring that you don’t make any mistakes when uploading your car’s details.
After this stage, you’ll finally see your car’s valuation. Once gotten, this valuation will be valid for seven days, meaning that you’ll be able to spend a week looking for better offers and fall back on this offer if you don’t find anything. This price is set in stone, so don’t expect to be able to negotiate and haggle for a better price.
Although the valuation process with Cazoo can be long, the selling process beyond this stage is pretty swift. As you’re selling directly to Cazoo, there’s no need to create a profile for your car, which you need to do when using Motorway.
Instead, you only need to book a handover date and time. You can either drive the car to one of their customer centres or opt for home pick-up, although this will cost you around £150. The vehicle will be inspected and evaluated during the handover to check if it’s as described. When given the green light, you’ll be paid directly for the car, with the money going straight to your bank account.
If there are any issues with your car that weren’t disclosed online, you should expect a lower offer; however, Cazoo staff are not allowed to haggle unless there is a clear issue with the vehicle.
When comparing the prices you can get for the exact same car, Cazoo offers less than what your car is valued on Motorway. However, unlike Motorway, Cazoo isn’t using any assumptions to get that value. This means that the offer is unlike to drop during your final inspection. With Motorway, you’ll find that many of the offers you get from dealerships will be less than your initial valuation, meaning that the prices offered are pretty similar.
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Motorpoint has the unique selling point of being a car-selling service that offers nearly-new used cars. This means that all the vehicles you can buy from them are either under four years old or have less than 30,000 on the clock. This is great for those looking to buy cars, but Motorpoint is also an excellent alternative for those looking to sell cars too.
Thankfully, you don’t need to sell nearly new cars to Motorpoint, as they buy all types of vehicles, meaning that they can be a valuable location to sell a car regardless of vehicle type.
It only takes a few seconds to start your valuation with Motorpoint. All you need to do is enter your car’s registration plate and mileage to the nearest 1000. The site will then use this information to generate a rough price of what the car is worth.
However, you won’t get your valuation immediately, as you’ll also need to add more details about the car’s condition, history, and more. Doing this allows Motorpoint to give you a more accurate and considered valuation based on facts, not assumptions.
Like Cazoo, you’re asked to rate the condition of your car, but this time from ‘Below Average’ to ‘Excellent’. You’re given a guide of what makes a car each rank; just be aware that the standards for each grade may differ from other car-selling websites.
Once you’ve filled in these details and accurately ranked your car’s condition, you’ll get your valuation. This valuation lasts for a whopping 14 days, giving you a lot of time to search around and find a better price. In fact, this valuation guarantee is the longest period out of all the Motorway alternatives, which helps make Motorpoint one of the best options.
When comparing the offer from Motorpoint with Motorway for the exact vehicle, you’ll get a very close price. However, because this price is affected by modifications and facts about your car, you’re more likely to get a final price that’s closer to your Motorpoint valuation than you are your Motorway one.
To continue the process of selling your car on Motorpoint, you need to create an account. Once done, you can choose when to drop your vehicle off for handover.
Unlike Motorway, you can’t have a buyer collect your vehicle from home. Instead, you need to travel to one of their 19 UK locations. As there are only 19 available, it can mean that some people will have to travel a long way depending on where they live.
However, once there, the handover is very quick and you’ll get your money within an hour, making Motorpoint a very effective alternative to motorway.co.uk.
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Heycar’s primary focus is as a website from which you can buy used cars. As well as this, Heycar is also a good source for reviews and guides on certain vehicles, which can be helpful when trying to figure out which car you should buy.
Despite this focus as a car-selling marketplace, Heycar offers a useful car valuation feature that you should definitely pay attention to. Although you cannot sell your car to Heycar, their valuation checker can help you determine if the prices offered elsewhere are fair.
The valuation tool offered by Heycar is 100% free and doesn’t require you to sign-up or give any personal details, making it an easy, no-strings-attached way to get a valuation for your car.
The process for getting a valuation is super easy and will only take a few moments. All you need to do is enter your car’s registration number and the vehicle’s current mileage. Heycar can search its database and current car listings with this information to generate a valuation.
The valuation will be given to you as a range, which is unique as most others will give you an exact quote. As you’re not buying directly from Motorway, this range is good, as it allows you to figure out how much to expect if the car is in excellent condition and what you can get if it’s below average. Just remember to use this valuation as a rough guide to help guide your car-selling process.
Instead of being able to sell your car on Heycar, the website directs you to use Motorway, which is interesting. When comparing the valuations for the same vehicle, you’ll notice that the valuation from Motorway is right in the middle of the range offered by Heycar. This shows that the offer from Motorway is reliable. If the range skews higher than what is offered elsewhere, it may indicate that you’ll get a better price when selling your car to an independent buyer.
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We Buy Any Car was the original website for UK residents to sell their cars, and even after all these years remains a good option if you’re looking for a Motorway alternative. This s because We Buy Any Car keeps the process simple, and after mastering the industry, they can offer an experience that can allow you to sell your car within 24 hours.
To start selling your car on the platform, you must first input your car’s registration number and current mileage. Once you do this, you’ll then be asked for some of your personal details, such as your postcode, mobile number, and email address, for the valuation to be mailed to you.
Once you do that, you’ll get your initial valuation. This is based on the assumption that your car is in perfect condition, although you can make changes at this point to get a more accurate valuation. You’ll be able to change things such as the details about the service history, how many past owners the car has had, its MOT status, and much more.
After making these changes, you’ll get a more reliable valuation. If you’re still offered a price you like, you can choose where you’d like to drop the car off for handover. The platform will automatically select the closest branch to you, but you can choose others if your preferred date isn’t available at that branch.
Once you select a date, you can choose a timeslot and then book your appointment. When at your local branch, your car will be reviewed for at most twenty minutes, where you’ll receive your final offer and have the option to sell it or not. If you sell the car, it will be taken from your immediately, so make sure you have figured out how to get yourself home.
Unfortunately, there are fees involved when selling through We Buy Any Car. You’ll have to pay an admin fee that can fluctuate depending on the value of your car, and you may also have to pay extra for faster payments.
In addition, when comparing the valuation offered by We Buy Any Car to Motorway, you will usually be offered less at We Buy Any Car, even when selling an identical car. Although this option can be faster and easier to go through, you may lose out on a bit of money by going with this alternative.
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When selling a car online, you won't be able to sell every type of car. In fact, many Motorway alternatives will have some sort of restrictions on what they'll buy from you. Annoyingly, these restrictions may alter from site to site, making knowing what you can sell tricky.
That said, there are some general instances where you'll struggle to sell a car. For example, most places will not buy a vehicle that has been written off, or a car that has been imported from a different country.
As well as that, the car will also need at least six months of MOT remaining, and some buyers will insist that it has a full year left.
Things differ if the car you're trying to sell still has outstanding finance. Some places will still buy your vehicle, such as We Buy Any Car; however, the cost of buying out the finance needs to be less than the car's value.
Thankfully, you'll know very quickly once you enter your car's details if you can sell it. If you still need clarification, you can look at the FAQs on the website you're trying to sell your car on.
Getting a car valuation online is extremely quick, with most places offering a price within seconds. This is because all you must do is enter your registration and mileage to get a valuation.
Some places that ask for more details take a bit longer; however, it still shouldn't take more than a few minutes at most.
When continuing to sell the car after the valuation, you may have to wait a bit, as you'll need to book a handover date and time. You may still be able to sell your car within 24 hours, but it will take a few days for most - which is still much quicker than selling privately.
People have been selling cars online since 2005 when We Buy Any Car first came out, and over the years, it has become a widespread and crucially safe practice. All of the providers listed here are reliable, have good reviews, and are regulated by the appropriate authorities.
When selling online, you just need to ensure the transactions are secure and that you're using a legitimate website.
Most of the cars sold online to Motorway and its alternatives are refurbished and then listed to be sold on. If the buyer deems the vehicle to be in good enough condition, they will likely start selling it on their platform or sell it on the Auto Trader to generate cash for it.
For this reason, you'll likely get a worse offer selling on a car buying website than you will with a private dealer, as they will be offering an amount where they can try to get a profit on it.
You can't say for sure that one car-buying marketplace is better than the rest. This is because each platform has pros and cons, which may mean it suits one person better than another.
For example, someone who values their time and wants to get a sale quickly may prefer the service offered by We Buy Any Car over the others. However, if someone was looking for a service that provided accurate valuations, then someone like Motorway may be best for them.
Choosing the best place to sell your car online will be dictated by your values and priorities, so make sure you know what's important to you before deciding where to sell your vehicle.
The biggest factor that makes a car valuation accurate is the data that the platform has about your car. Although a car's number plate and mileage can help a platform get the core details of your car and thus offer a general valuation, it won't be as accurate as a valuation that knows more of the specifics of your vehicle.
By asking about the condition of your car, its service history, past owners, and more, the valuation will be more accurate and true to life, meaning that there are no surprises when you get your final offer at handover. Although a precise valuation will likely be less than one that isn't, it is one that you can trust and rely on more.
When using the alternatives to Motorway, you cannot haggle or negotiate to get a better price. Instead, the offer you get is locked in, which can be good if you want to avoid dealing with the nerve-wracking negotiation process.
This is also good, as the buyer cannot haggle and try to lower the price. Haggling is only permitted if an issue with the car is found that wasn't mentioned online. This allows you to be confident in the valuation you get online.
You never have to follow through with any of the valuations or offers you get from Motorway alternatives. There is never an obligation to sell your car, meaning that if the deal isn't favourable for you, you can back out for a better deal at any time.
The most important thing that makes a good car-selling website is your offered price. A good website will have accurate market data and thus offer you a fair and accurate price, making them really reliable. If the offer you're getting is either high or low, then it's likely not a good, reputable website to sell your car.
Reputation also plays a big part in determining how good a website is. When looking for a website to sell your car, check out the reviews to see if they're quality. All the Motorway alternatives mentioned in this article have great review scores, meaning you can trust them.
Also, consider the fees you must pay when using the website. A good website will have no or very low fees, so be on the lookout, as high fees can seriously reduce how much you get from your car.
The money you can get from your car will depend on multiple factors. The biggest thing that affects the price you can get is the condition of your car relative to its age. For example, an eight-year-old vehicle in fantastic condition will be worth more than a same-age car in poor condition. This means before selling your car online, try your best to make any fixes you can to the vehicle.
The car's mileage will also impact the amount you can get for your car. If its mileage is less than the average for its age, you'll get a better price, as it's less likely to have wear and tear issues.
Documentation, like it's service history and MOTs, will also impact what you can get. If you have a full service history, you'll be able to get more for the car, and if it's valid for MOT for a long time, you can also expect to get more money for your vehicle.