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If you’re looking to sell your car quickly and effectively online, there are not many more well-known businesses to do so with than We Buy Any Car.
The business has been around since 2006, and it has grown to become the leading car-buying service in the UK, helping over 3 million people during its lifespan.
Despite its good reputation, it’s important to question if We Buy Any Car remains the best place to sell your car. Over the years, many We Buy Any Car competitors have appeared to challenge this market leader, meaning there’s a much wider choice of where to sell your car than ever before.
There’s a lot to learn about We Buy Any Car. Here’s an informed review provided by Car Adviser to help you learn more about how they work and how well they review in the industry.
We have many other reviews of places to buy cars here on Car Adviser, as well as more general guides about car maintenance that you may also find helpful.
We Buy Any Car is one of the leading car-buying services in the UK. Operating primarily online, the service gives you a valuation for your car after you enter your registration details.
We Buy Any Car focuses on being quick and hassle-free and achieves this by being one of the few car-buying platforms that accept all kinds of cars, regardless of their condition. This makes it a premier place to sell damaged or faulty vehicles easily.
The business also has a physical presence in the UK, as to sell cars with them, you need to deliver them to one of their 500 branches. Among these branches, the business employees over 700 members of staff to help with your sale and to monitor and operate their online website.
Since 2019, The private equity firm TDR Capital has owned We Buy Any Car. This organisation also owns many other popular businesses in the UK, such as the Stonegate chain of pubs.
Selling a car through We Buy Any Car is designed to be as straightforward as possible. To start, you must enter your registration plate for the vehicle you want to sell.
Once you’ve done this, the website will pull up the basic information about your car, using its database to find information about its make, model, age, and mileage. With these details, the service will then generate an initial quotation.
This first valuation is based on the assumption that your car is in excellent condition. To get a more accurate quote, you can input more details about your vehicle to get something that better reflects the actual value of your car.
To get a full valuation, you must enter a few personal details, such as your mobile, email address, and postcode. This is so that your valuation can be emailed to you directly and so that you can receive a few updates as well.
Once you’ve done this and are happy with your quote, you can book an appointment with your local We Buy Any Car branch.
To sell your car with We Buy Any Car, you must deliver to one of their 500 branches. A staff member will complete a final inspection to ensure the car’s condition is as detailed online. After this, you’ll be offered a final price which may differ from your online quote if the vehicle is below expectations.
If you accept the quote, you’ll be paid swiftly and leave the vehicle at the dealership, so make sure to arrange an alternative way to get home.
We Buy Any Car gives you no obligation to sell once you get your final valuation, so if it falls short of what you want, you can always back out of the deal. The business is renowned for buying most cars without hassle, making it a great place to offload low-value or damaged vehicles you’re struggling to sell elsewhere.
Although having to drive the car to a local branch can be a bit annoying and less convenient, most of these will be less than 13 minutes away from you on average. As the inspections are quick, you can have your car sold within an hour, much faster than if you went through the whole process of selling your car privately.
If you need clarification about the distance between your home and your nearest branch, you can use their handy branch locator feature that lets you know how far you will have to travel to get your car sold.
If you still need to figure out the quality of We Buy Any Car, we here at Car Adviser believe that an excellent way to understand the brand is to look online webuyanycar.com reviews.
Reviews are typically written by past users of the company, meaning that their ratings provide a good insight into what the business has done well and what it needs to improve on. Using reviews can help you form a better understanding of the actual quality of the company and allow you to create a more accurate and representative opinion of the business.
As We Buy Any car has been around for a long time and has become a household name thanks to its marketing efforts, it has built a good reputation among the British public. However, sometimes a good reputation for a business can be unfounded, as the reviews can illuminate just how good a company actually is.
The best website to search for We Buy Any Car car valuation reviews is Trustpilot. Not only does the platform have a high volume of reviews for individual users, but it also implements various security features to ensure that each review is genuine and has minimal fake reviews.
Each company registered on Trustpilot has a score between 1 to 5 stars, which is determined by its reviews. A high score means that the business can be trusted and is an excellent barometer of how good the company is.
Here’s a more detailed look at how We Buy Any Car ranks on Trustpilot to see if they’re the right place to sell your car.
We Buy Any Car has a fantastic review score in Trustpilot, obtaining a near-perfect 4.8 stars out of 5. This means the business is rated excellent, demonstrating that you should expect a good experience when using the service.
What’s impressive is that this score has been achieved after over 170,000 reviews, which is a high sample size and means that you can trust this final score to be very accurate and reflect the business’s quality.
When you dig deeper into how each reviewer scored the business, you’ll see that 78% of people gave the company a 5-star review. When compared to other car-buying websites, this proportion of five-star reviews is a bit low, but it still indicates that We Buy Any Car is a good business.
16% of their reviews have given four stars, which is still a positive score but may imply that something is missing from the service to push it into a perfect score. Still, when combing the 4- and 5-star reviews, you’ll find that 94% of people have had a great experience with We Buy Any Car, meaning that it’s likely that you will have a great experience when opting to use this brand.
Only 3% of reviewers gave the business a single-star review, meaning that extreme issues are rare and that most people are at least satisfied with the service that they’ve received from the business.
Despite only a tiny proportion of reviewers giving a negative score, it’s still advantageous to explore the reasons for these reviews to see if there are any common pitfalls you should be aware of before going with the company. Although infrequent, the complaints against We Buy Any Car can help you prepare for any shortcomings that they might have.
When looking at the 1-star reviews for We Buy Any Car exclusively, you’ll find many complaints about how the value offered during the final exchange was lower than what was offered online. This has left many users feeling like they’ve been cheated.
This issue can happen with every car buying service online, as there’s no way to get an accurate car valuation until it’s inspected. If there’s damage to your car or other issues, the price will be lower. Many users weren’t aware of this, hence the low review and complaints.
In addition, another complaint among the low-scoring reviews was that when taking the car in to be sold, a few of the users had a bad experience with staff members, with some being accused of being unprofessional. These are small instances, but they did appear frequently enough among the bad reviews to be a bit wary.
What’s admirable about We Buy Any Car is that the business responds to 99% of all negative reviews, explaining why the situation occurred and offering potential solutions, which can let those browsing the reviews know that they’re a thoughtful business that cares about their users.
When looking at the positive reviews that We Buy Any Car has obtained, it’s clear that there are certain aspects of the business that people have enjoyed and thought to be good quality. Knowing these can help you better understand what to expect and make you more aware of the process.
One striking common praise is that many people found selling your car with We Buy Any Car simple and fast, especially the online portion of the process. Many people were also surprised by the online valuation offered for their car, which is pretty high and better than what they found on a few competitors.
Another praise was that the staff were said to be very thorough and caring throughout the process, with many people stating that staff members phoned throughout the process to check in and to see if they had all the documents and information ready for the sale of the car. Many people appreciated this aspect of the business.
When selling a car online, you must use a brand that you can rely on and trust. To help you figure out the quality of a business, it’s worth measuring its pros with any cons that it may have. Doing this lets you determine if the company is the right choice for you.
We Buy Any Car has a lot of great positives and features that make it one of the UK’s most trusted and used car buying services; however, there are a few shortcomings that you need to be aware of and consider.
Pros
Cons
While We Buy Any Car has been a popular choice for years within the car selling market, those looking for an alternative might find ExchangeMyCar to be a superior option.
ExchangeMyCar stands out for its user-friendly platform, where selling a car becomes an effortless process.
You simply provide your car’s registration and mileage to receive an instant, free valuation, avoiding the complexity and wait times often associated with acquiring quotes.
What truly sets ExchangeMyCar apart is its dynamic pricing system, powered by a sophisticated algorithm that matches sellers to the most appropriate buyers, ensuring you receive the most competitive price for your vehicle. This feature alone could potentially lead to higher offers than those typically seen with We Buy Any Car.
Furthermore, Exchange My Car elevates the level of convenience it offers to sellers. Unlike its competitor, which may impose fees for its services and require you to physically deliver your car to a location, ExchangeMyCar charges no fees for the selling process and includes the perk of home collection. This means that the transaction, from valuation to the collection of your vehicle, is not only cost-free but carried out without you having to leave your home.
The platform concludes its seamless service by transferring payment directly to your bank account, circumventing any additional charges.
Given these distinct advantages—higher potential offers, significant convenience, and the absence of extra fees—ExchangeMyCar positions itself as not just an alternative but perhaps the best choice for individuals looking to sell their car online in the UK.
We Buy Any Car does not offer collection once you've sold your car. Instead, you'll have to arrange transport to get the vehicle to your local We Buy Any Car dealership. Here you'll have the final evaluation for your car and then finalise the sale.
Although you may have to travel to a branch to get your car sold with We Buy Any Car, there's a high likelihood that there will be one in your local area and you won't have to travel very far.
As of 2022, over 500 trading branches are part of We Buy Any Car. With this large amount of branches, it's unlikely that you'll have to travel more than 15 minutes to find your closest one.
One of the biggest selling points is that We Buy Any Car follow through with this brand name and buy most cars with few exemptions. This means that if you're struggling to sell your car elsewhere because of issues, you can use We Buy Any Car to get the vehicle off your hands.
We Buy Any Car can purchase non-runners or scrap cars, which is great if you have a vehicle that doesn't work anymore. You can also sell a car with We Buy Any Car if it has less than six months of valid MOT, which many other services do not do.
You can even sell a car if you still owe finance on it. This will mean you'll lose some money due to the settlement fee, but it provides a good option for those wanting to get out of a finance deal.
Unlike most other options, We Buy Any Car also buys cars imported from other countries, as long as they've been registered in the UK.
Of course, although you can sell your car with We Buy Any Car despite its condition and situation, be aware that you will get a much lower value than normal because of these circumstances.
When selling a car through We Buy Any Car, you may have to pay a service fee which will be deducted from the final value of your car.
If the vehicle has been bought for under £99.99, then there is no transaction fee you need to pay. If it's been £100 and £3,999.99, the transaction fee is £49.99.
This increases to £59.99 if the car is sold for a price between £4,000-£4,999.99, and if it sells for more than £5,000, then you will have to pay a transaction fee of £74.99.
In addition, although most transactions come without a fee, if you want to guarantee next day payment, you will have to £24.75 for £29.75 for their Premium Payment service.
All these potential fees make selling a car with We Buy Any Car pretty expensive. It may significantly reduce the amount you get for your vehicle, particularly if it was a low-value car.
When you get a valuation for your car online, this has been generated from the basic information you've provided about your car. The less information you provide, the more generic the price you get offered is, and thus the more likely your final quote will be less than this.
If you provide many additional details, such as insight into the car's condition and performance, then the price offered should be closer to the amount you get.
When you've booked an appointment to visit a branch to sell your car, there are a few things that you need to bring with you to ensure that the sale can go ahead without any issues.
The first thing you should bring with you is the V5 logbook. This document needs to be registered in the name of the current keeper. If the name isn't right, you will need it to be changed before the sale can proceed. If it's under a maiden name, you must also bring a copy of your marriage certificate.
As well as this, you will need to bring two different forms of identification. one will be used to confirm your identity, so you will need a photo of yourself, such as a driving license or passport, and the other will be a proof of address. This can be your passport and driving license as well, but you can also use a utility bill or council tax letter provided that it's dated within the last 9 months.
You should also have the service history and MOT certificates of the car when selling it, so that the dealership fully understands the car's current condition.
Once at your appointment, you should expect it to be a fairly quick process and take around 20 minutes from start to end.
In this time, a representative from We Buy Any Car will inspect the car to make sure it matches the online description. They may also complete a short test drive where the car is driven and reversed for a few metres. This is done to make sure that it's working correctly.
After this short inspection, you will be offered your final price, which may differ slightly from the online price if there are differences between what was stated on the car's profile.
After you've sold your car to We Buy Any Car and received payment for the vehicle, you should contact the DVLA to ensure that a change of ownership has been registered. Once you do this, you will be refunded any tax you have paid for the car during the period you've not owned it.
This refund may take a few weeks to process, but getting it will ensure you're not paying for a car you no longer own.
When you get your initial valuation online from We Buy Any Car, that price is only valid for 4 days. If you decide to sell your car after this time, you will need to get a revaluation to ensure that it's up-to-date.
The second-hand car market changes daily, so the platform needs to adjust its prices regularly to match the industry's demand.
When a car is sold to We Buy Any Car, the car may then be put back on the market to be bought by an individual buyer or a dealership. The reselling of the cars We Buy Any Car bought is how the business makes it money.