What is with all the 'we buy any car' companies??

[harryboon]

Can someone explain why we are seeing a number of companies wanting to buy cars from £50 to £100,000 ie webuyanycar.com, wewillbuyyourcar.com etc

Why are companies so keen to buy our cars? Am I missing something?

 

[british steve]

They are just glorified motor traders, they give you X for your car and then sell on to a car dealer for X+y.

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

Well they buy the car for £x, and then shove them through motor auctions as quickly as they can. They don't tend to pay a particularly high price, but they do pay cash, quickly and without the seller having to make a lot of effort.

 

[harryboon]

So really they just allow a seller to shift a car super fast for cash and then move the car on to auctions and make a quick buck?

I guess I am just not used to seeing them so much on TV - Must be profitable!

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

Its the vehiclular equivalent of Post My Gold

 

[voyage]

They were gonner give me £50 for my car..... Really had to think about it to be honest, I mean thats 500 wham bars or 5000 black jacks!

 

[harryboon]

Two sweets I used to and still do love

ps - out of interest was that £50 under market value?

500 wham bars or 5000 black jacks!

 

[Drpepper]

Two sweets I used to and still do love

I can do mail order if you like - just PM me

Or for the fuel cost I'll personally deliver them, about June would suite me!

 

They rely on finding marks ,as your average guy may tell them where to place there offers.

In a recession they do tend to come out of the woodwork.

I blame brotherly love.

Earl

 

[Magsite]

They now have an admin fee so the £50 sales are not not an option

 

[vvaannmmaann]

Thankfully they produce really tasteful television advertisements that are not at all annoying in anyway.

 

[paulears]

A friend shifted his Renault, a fairly new one when he emigrated. He could have got around 2 grand more selling privately, but they gave him a price - he cleared the personal loan, had a few quid left and was happy.

 

[voyage]

Two sweets I used to and still do love

ps - out of interest was that £50 under market value?

No was £50! I know its all computer based and guessing work so can't really complain.

Yer I also like Fruit Salads!

 

[MASSEY]

It would not suprise me if they are the same company.

 

[harryboon]

Well now that very good point can you imagine if they were annoying like having girls in pink running around, however I wouldn't mind firing a bow & arrow at some of them lol

Thankfully they produce really tasteful television advertisements that are not at all annoying in anyway.

 

[harryboon]

We clearly have the same taste - I used to buy the boxes from cash and carry and sell them at school, happy times

 

[voyage]

We clearly have the same taste - I used to buy the boxes from cash and carry and sell them at school, happy times

Haha Snap!! bought the bars at 10p sold for 20p then 6 for £1!

 

[harryboon]

Sadly I think schools don't allow that any more which is a shame, I used to undercut the tuck shop ha ha

Haha Snap!! bought the bars at 10p sold for 20p then 6 for £1!

 

Well they buy the car for £x, and then shove them through motor auctions as quickly as they can. They don't tend to pay a particularly high price, but they do pay cash, quickly and without the seller having to make a lot of effort.

We buy any car are part of the Carcraft Group, so there is a high chance that the car will end up on one of their forecourts.

They are struggling to buy used stock in the volumes they need, so are going direct to the market.

Their online valuations are broadly in line with Glasses Guide; unsurprisingly they will try & chip some off for minor damage etc, but are up for negotiation.

 

We buy any car are part of the Carcraft Group, so there is a high chance that the car will end up on one of their forecourts.

They are struggling to buy used stock in the volumes they need, so are going direct to the market.

Their online valuations are broadly in line with Glasses Guide; unsurprisingly they will try & chip some off for minor damage etc, but are up for negotiation.

Quite the price of used cars has risen quite a bit both in private sales and auction houses.

Earl

 

[SamStones]

They offered me £50 for my Porsche... Was gonna take it but with the admin fee it hardly seemed worthwhile, what when I could have got £10k all day long on auto trader...

 

[The Pines]

As mentioned, WBAC are part of Carcraft.

So, it goes like this...

STEP 1) Take car to WBAC - get shafted on the trade-in value

STEP 2) Take said rubbish trade-in value onto an overpriced Focus - shafted again

STEP 3) Because of overpricing on said Focus, not enough money to cover the difference - no problem, sir, have you spoken to Lynne in our finance department???
Get shafted on a poxy 17.9% APR for an overpriced Focus...

 

As mentioned, WBAC are part of Carcraft.

So, it goes like this...

STEP 1) Take car to WBAC - get shafted on the trade-in value

STEP 2) Take said rubbish trade-in value onto an overpriced Focus - shafted again

STEP 3) Because of overpricing on said Focus, not enough money to cover the difference - no problem, sir, have you spoken to Lynne in our finance department???
Get shafted on a poxy 17.9% APR for an overpriced Focus...

Always assuming you have no negotiating skills or awareness of what you actually want

 

[The Pines]

Always assuming you have no negotiating skills or awareness of what you actually want

Most of their adverts are on 'Dave', or in the ad breaks for Jeremy Kyle (competing with the ads for 'Bright House')

Do you really think their demographic have any of those basic human skills???

 

[UKSBD]

A lot of it is down to one company at the top paying good commission rates, this leads to loads of affiliate copycat style sites all really leading back to the same place.

Mobile phones is a typical example, thousands of mobile phone sites out there, some looking very professional and independant, but the vast majority are CPW affiliates , or even affiliates to CPW affiliates.

When I used to do affiliate work, you could nearly predict the spam you would get in the next few weeks, a big company would launch a new high paying program and you could almost guarantee that you would start getting spam about if from affiliates a week later.

 

[sellickbhoy]

Can someone explain why we are seeing a number of companies wanting to buy cars from £50 to £100,000 ie webuyanycar.com, wewillbuyyourcar.com etc

Why are companies so keen to buy our cars? Am I missing something?

uhm is there not just 2 companies with lots of adverts - rather than lots of companies?

and it's just a business looking for desperate people to take advantage of (and some not so gullible/desperate people who just happen to be lazy or not need the money)

 

[Lease4Less]

Ultimately people do not have to use their service.

I think everyone knows that selling your car privately (most use Auto Trader), will generate the most amount of money. A lot of people hate doing this though, which is why companies like this exist.

 

[adventurelife]

I sold a year old Ford with them and got just over £1k above trade in prices I was being offered. Service was good and quick they did not try to haggle from the price I was quoted as the car was A1 condition.

Could have got a similar price selling privately but more hassle and autotrader does not do that well on cars above £12k but my reason was less hassle.

Recently priced a Merc with them and got offered £3k less than a dealer offered never mind private.

It all depends on the market at the time and what is in demand and what is not.

Seems a good business model to me especially when you look who owns it.

 

[willitbe]

Most of them end up in BCA auctions. I suspect they nick a few gems, but most are dog poo!

Bought a few myself, can occasionally get a bargain but more often than not, you don't.

 

[viperek]

Please whatever You do dont sell Your car for £50... You will get at least £80 on scrapyard !

 

Can someone explain why we are seeing a number of companies wanting to buy cars from £50 to £100,000 ie webuyanycar.com, wewillbuyyourcar.com etc

Why are companies so keen to buy our cars? Am I missing something?

webuyanycar is Car Craft

Great way of getting motivated sellers to you without much trouble or expense and with a 2nd hand car market which is only going to get stronger and stronger as less and less people buy new cars. Lots of people turn to all sorts of places to release cash out of assets quickly.

Edit - noted others have already mentioned this.

 

[Consistency]

webuyanycar is Car Craft

Great way of getting motivated sellers to you without much trouble or expense and with a 2nd hand car market which is only going to get stronger and stronger as less and less people buy new cars. Lots of people turn to all sorts of places to release cash out of assets quickly.

Edit - noted others have already mentioned this.

I think I remember those car craft adverts!

 

[Rufford]

We buy any car are part of the Carcraft Group, so there is a high chance that the car will end up on one of their forecourts.

They are struggling to buy used stock in the volumes they need, so are going direct to the market.

Their online valuations are broadly in line with Glasses Guide; unsurprisingly they will try & chip some off for minor damage etc, but are up for negotiation.

Correct - it is Carcraft. They solve the stocking problems; particularly when stock prices are high. A proportion of the stock is discarded after purchase too.

 

[cherry8080]

that's right

 

[davisonconsultancy]

Its quite simple really ... profit!

If you have a car then seek a valuation, then try compainies such as W.B.A.C. You will see the answer quite clearly.

With recession and people wanting some Xmas cash, then it may be tempting to certain people.

Anybody used companies such as WBAC and care to comment good/bad/indifferent?

 

[headlight66]

Hello,

I’m Katie and I’m the social media manager at webuyanycar.com. Hope you don’t mind me swinging by.

Just want to fill you in a bit more on our company. We used to be part of The UK Car Group which owns CarCraft, however this is no longer the case. We are now a separate legal entity from the UK Car Group and therefore CarCraft.

Because we buy thousands of cars each week, we have our finger on the pulse when it comes to working out the value of a car. We base our quotes on market conditions and condition of the car etc. In some cases we have to re-adjust our valuation due to one of the above factors changing, but this can affect the valuation both up and down.

I think it will also come as quite a surprise whom our customers are. We have a wide range of customers but our average customer is not selling due to necessity, but usually because they have their heart set on a new car, and want the cash to negotiate a better price for their next car. A large percentage of our customers also use our service, as they simply don’t want the hassle of trying to sell it privately. We really do buy any car, any make and any model – in fact we had a lovely Bentley Azure in last month!

Oh and just on the comment about admin fees from Magsite – obviously there is no admin fee on valuations under £100.

Anyway hope this gives you a bit more of an insight into our business. If you have any other questions just let me know.

Katie – also a fruit salad fan
webuyanycar.com

 

[SamStones]

Hi Katie,

You're a separate legal entity but am I right in saying you're still owned by the same shareholders?

Why did I get such a low quote for my vehicle then? Why offer £50 for a car that's worth at least 100 times that? It just cost me money to get the quote (done via text) and put me off using the service again.

 

[mit74]

The reason for the big increase in these companies is because they've realised they can take advantage of peoples laziness/ignorance by valuing and collecting the car rather than the owner actually having to do any work finding out the value and selling it. I can't common on all cases and companies but my car was valued at 50% below it's real value, my mates Vectra mk1 was valued at 60% below and when he told the valuer he's ripping him off the bloke rolled his eyes, said 'FINE!' and drove off without making the sale. Another friend sold her Corsa for 40% below its value although she gets ripped off with everything because she's one of those people who can't be bothered.
** just a note that these cars were fairly old so the % difference is bound to be larger. It's very unlikely they'd buy a £20k car for 50% below its value.

 

[Lorro2]

There a firms that will buy just about anything from property, antiques and machinery and they simply will offer at trade or below trade price and sell them on. I would think these motor firms will mostly offer rock bottom prices as most people are despirate to get rid of their old vehicles and all the niggling problems they have.

 

[telemax]

It's a similar thing with the companies that buy old mobiles. Mazuma offered me £3 for my old Blackberry handset, I stuck it on Ebay and got more than £30. In my experience Ebay is the best place to get a good price for a car, I was pretty amazed at getting more than £600 for my broken Corolla. My guess is WBAC would have given me less than £100