Selling a car outright

[redsturgeon]

Yes I agree.
I find it surprising how so many contributors to this thread are wrong about WBAC.

I seem to be the only person here with actual experience, which I have documented...how is that wrong?

John

[richlist]

Well I also have direct experience, which my post made perfectly clear, so that makes two.....perhaps there are more.

Unfortunately comments posted often express opinions, beliefs and assumptions rather than facts. So, for those who don't know they can be taken as true.

That's what surprised me.....how wrong is that ?

[redsturgeon]

Well I also have direct experience, which my post made perfectly clear, so that makes two.....perhaps there are more.

Unfortunately comments posted often express opinions, beliefs and assumptions rather than facts. So, for those who don't know they can be taken as true.

That's what surprised me.....how wrong is that ?

Can you show me which comments you are referring to?

John

[chas49]

Well I also have direct experience, which my post made perfectly clear, so that makes two.....perhaps there are more.

Unfortunately comments posted often express opinions, beliefs and assumptions rather than facts. So, for those who don't know they can be taken as true.

That's what surprised me.....how wrong is that ?

Can you show me which comments you are referring to?

John

I note this:

My experience with my wife's A Class Merc was that WBAC offered more than the dealer did in P/Ex.

For what it's worth (and I didn't state this before - perhaps I should have! ) - I have twice obtained quotes from WBAC with a view to selling. In one instance, the WBAC figure was significantly more than the price offered by a dealer - and the vehicle was in good condition and only about £100 taken off on inspection to the best of my memory. On the other occasion, I used the WBAC quote to persuade the dealer to increase their offer so ended up going with p/ex.

I think that make at least 3 of us who are saying that (at least for the right car) WBAC can be a reasonable way of selling. It may well not always be the best price you could potentially get, but it has the merit of being clear. And if you don't like the price they end up offering when they inspect the car, you can walk away (or drive ).

[redsturgeon]

Yes I agree.
I find it surprising how so many contributors to this thread are wrong about WBAC.

Sorry Richlist...I have got hold of completely the wrong end of the stick and it is the WBAC knockers that you are referring to.

Doh!

John

[gryffron]

I sold to wbac too. Very simple and quick.

Worth mentioning for anyone else in the same position, I have since discovered the local car auction place will collect motors from your home, take it off to auction, and send you the cash. It's an option. Obviously this carries more risk on your part, as you do not know what price you will ultimately get. But involves even less effort than wbac. And should be a higher price as there is one less middleman.

Gryff

[saechunu]

I suspect some of the contrasting experiences, or anecdotes, re WBAC are due to the condition of the car being sold. If in really excellent condition there's little scope for differences of opinion over that condition and thus little scope for price chipping when WBAC view the car. So, the original, attractive, quoted price stands and seller expectations are met.

For cars lying in the rest of the condition 'spectrum' there's greater scope for differences of opinion, with the owners more likely to have an inflated opinion of said condition compared to a 3rd party's view. This may lead to the originally quoted price needing to be heavily chipped when WBAC come to view the car to take account of the worse than described condition, leaving the customer feeling disappointed with the outcome. I've certainly heard of people this has happened to, and had assumed (perhaps wrongly) that WBAC's modus operandi was simply to always quote high then massively chip on viewing and rely on sellers caving in due to lack of perceived alternative selling options.

[swill453]

Yes, as someone else said, they take a standard amount off the offered price for any damaged body panel - presumably even for stone chips. I think £90 per panel was mentioned.

Say if three panels were involved, that would make a relatively small difference to a £10k car, but would cut the offered price in half for a £500 car.

Scott.

[richlist]

Yes, that's a good point. How many people have cars without at least a bit of stone chipping and a few scuffed alloy wheels ?.....very few, I suspect.

People's standards & expectations also vary enormously.

[BT63]

I suspect some of the contrasting experiences, or anecdotes, re WBAC are due to the condition of the car being sold. If in really excellent condition there's little scope for differences of opinion over that condition and thus little scope for price chipping when WBAC view the car. So, the original, attractive, quoted price stands and seller expectations are met.

For cars lying in the rest of the condition 'spectrum' there's greater scope for differences of opinion, with the owners more likely to have an inflated opinion of said condition compared to a 3rd party's view. This may lead to the originally quoted price needing to be heavily chipped when WBAC come to view the car to take account of the worse than described condition, leaving the customer feeling disappointed with the outcome. I've certainly heard of people this has happened to, and had assumed (perhaps wrongly) that WBAC's modus operandi was simply to always quote high then massively chip on viewing and rely on sellers caving in due to lack of perceived alternative selling options.

In my case, WBAC's lowball quote (£6.3k vs £7.0 - £7.6k from a dealer) was their starting offer before any deductions.
The dealer offers were from seeing the car.

[swill453]

In my case, WBAC's lowball quote (£6.3k vs £7.0 - £7.6k from a dealer) was their starting offer before any deductions.
The dealer offers were from seeing the car.

Don't forget to reiterate that the dealer prices were for P/X, and WBAC was a cash purchase.

Scott.

[BT63]

In my case, WBAC's lowball quote (£6.3k vs £7.0 - £7.6k from a dealer) was their starting offer before any deductions.
The dealer offers were from seeing the car.

Don't forget to reiterate that the dealer prices were for P/X, and WBAC was a cash purchase.

Scott.

Yes, dealer offers were for part-ex but the cars the dealers were selling were very competitively priced so if I had been a cash buyer I wouldn't expect much if any movement on their price.
Therefore if I had sold to WBAC and been a cash buyer in the belief that I had better bargaining power I'd actually be in a considerably weaker financial position.
As for whether a dealer would offer less if they weren't selling me something, the best way to find out would be to ask for a quote from a couple of dealers and WBAC and that's what I'd do.

[redsturgeon]

Yes, dealer offers were for part-ex but the cars the dealers were selling were very competitively priced so if I had been a cash buyer I wouldn't expect much if any movement on their price.
Therefore if I had sold to WBAC and been a cash buyer in the belief that I had better bargaining power I'd actually be in a considerably weaker financial position.
As for whether a dealer would offer less if they weren't selling me something, the best way to find out would be to ask for a quote from a couple of dealers and WBAC and that's what I'd do.

Yes that's what I did on my last car I sold a couple of weeks ago. £8000 from WBAC vs £7200 from dealer. I sold privately for £8100.

John

[didds]

Yes, as someone else said, they take a standard amount off the offered price for any damaged body panel - presumably even for stone chips. I think £90 per panel was mentioned.

Say if three panels were involved, that would make a relatively small difference to a £10k car, but would cut the offered price in half for a £500 car.

Scott.

Buyt who would be buying a £500 car expecting it be in pristine condition? In this regard it really does sound like the £90 per panel thing is a way to hugely reduce the offer on a car that cannot be expected by be anything but a runner.

??

didds

[redsturgeon]

Yes, as someone else said, they take a standard amount off the offered price for any damaged body panel - presumably even for stone chips. I think £90 per panel was mentioned.

Say if three panels were involved, that would make a relatively small difference to a £10k car, but would cut the offered price in half for a £500 car.

Scott.

Buyt who would be buying a £500 car expecting it be in pristine condition? In this regard it really does sound like the £90 per panel thing is a way to hugely reduce the offer on a car that cannot be expected by be anything but a runner.

??

didds

I guess WBAC have no desire to buy cars in the £500 price bracket...how could they possibly make any money on that? But to live up to their eponym they have to make an offer for any car that is put to them...yes we will buy any car...at a price!

John

[richlist]

Well surely if you have a scuffed bumper, paint damage or kerbed alloy wheels you can take your car to somewhere such as 'Chips Away' and get them fixed before the car is valued.

Either way, if you have damage it is going to affect the value of your vehicle and ultimately cost you.

[moorfield]

Is it just me being weird, has anyone ever googled their reg after disposing of it on WBAC to see what became of it ? (perhaps as one might an ex on linkedin)

I can't fault WBAC for disposing of dodgy Citroens with:

3 weeks before MOT expires
Dinks all over the bodywork
Cracked wing mirror casing
Plastic wheeltrims which have a penchant for rotating at speed and slicing off the tyre valves
Broken aircon needing re-gassing
Soon to need replacing semi automatic clutch

[6Tricia]

My appointment with WBAC did not go smoothly, unfortunately. On checking the MOT history with the DVLA an odometer discrepancy was flagged! Luckily, I had my car documents file with me so we were able to check where the discrepancy occurred. It was an obvious clerical error - 6771 being typed instead of 2771 in 2009 - whereby the 2008 service showed 1538. Since having surgery in 2009 and 2011 I have driven very little, averaging less than 400 miles a year so the negotiator agreed that reducing their offer by what would normally be £1500 wouldn't be fair and after a couple of phone calls she said that the reduction would be (only!) £415. Then came the inspection of the car, where every tiny blemish was noted. The worst ones were scrapes on both left side non-metal mudguards (too close to the wall on narrow driveway entry when backing in one dark night in pouring rain ). Reduction £190! So because of some idiot's poor typing skills back in 2009 I ended up receiving a lot less than I had hoped for today .

I'm sad tonight - no car in my driveway - but not altogether unhappy. As WBAC said, the odometer discrepancy will have to be disclosed at the auction and it may well make a difference to the eventual sale price. Hey ho!

Tricia

[bionichamster]

It was an obvious clerical error - 6771 being typed instead of 2771 in 2009 - whereby the 2008 service showed 1538.

I have one of those on my car, can't remember what it is without checking but something like someone typing 88,000 instead of 58,000 for an MOT a few years back (before I bought it), it was flagged up by the HPI check but it was obvious by looking at the old MOT certs that it was a mis-type. Apprently (I read, but didn't check) you can't get the DVLA to go back and revise it, I'm not that bothered as by the time I come to sell I doubt it will make much difference to the value but it could be significant on a much more valuable car, it should be a reminder to everyone to check the mileage on the MOT printout that the garage give you, these day's there's no written certificate but there could still be a typing error.

BH

[MyNameIsUrl]

It was an obvious clerical error - 6771 being typed instead of 2771 in 2009 - whereby the 2008 service showed 1538.

I have one of those on my car, can't remember what it is without checking but something like someone typing 88,000 instead of 58,000 for an MOT a few years back (before I bought it), it was flagged up by the HPI check but it was obvious by looking at the old MOT certs that it was a mis-type. Apprently (I read, but didn't check) you can't get the DVLA to go back and revise it, I'm not that bothered as by the time I come to sell I doubt it will make much difference to the value but it could be significant on a much more valuable car, it should be a reminder to everyone to check the mileage on the MOT printout that the garage give you, these day's there's no written certificate but there could still be a typing error.

BH

It is possible to challenge the DVLA record, and they will provide a copy of the record they received for the update. In my case I was sent a copy of the change of ownership slip part of the V5 which had been filled in with a rushed 7 which looked a bit like a 2. The DVLA also said they would send out a correction to their users (such as HPI) so that the discrepancy flag would be removed.