Should I sell my car privately or to a dealer?

If you are thinking "Should I sell my car privately or to a dealer?" there are a number of things to consider.
Selling your car privately "Should" return you a stronger figure than selling your car to a dealer as ultimately you are selling to the end user although this is not always the case.

The vast majority of buyers wan't some form of assurance that they won't get ripped off so they play safe and buy through the trade. The minority that do buy privately will not expect to pay anywhere near "dealer" price, that along with the potential hassle of people coming to your house to view your car that probably won't turn up, people that want to drive your car that probably aren't insured as well as the countless scams currently around makes selling to a dealer all the more attractive and convenient.

What should I expect if selling to a dealer?

If you have decided to sell your car to a dealer, it is important that you are "sensible" when deciding how much you want.

All the dealers registered on our site are professional car buyers who have access to the very latest valuation data provided by the likes of Glass's Guide and CAP as well as the experience that comes through working in the trade. Just because a vehicle books at "X" amount of pounds does'nt mean it's worth that amount. The guides are a exactly what they are called... "a guide" the true valuation of a vehicle is what someone is prepared to pay, not an opinion of what its worth but what someone is prepared to write a cheque out for.

When trying to gauge your vehicle's value don't just look on autotrader and eBay and pick the most expensive cars with similar age and mileage, these cars may well be overage or unrealistically priced (hence they are still there) and buyers will be looking at the cheapest cars for an idea of price not the most expensive.

These figures will also be "retail" figures, the price that dealers will have to sell the cars on for after paying hundreds (in some cases thousands for exotic cars) for a warranty, a service if required, possibly an MOT, a discount or a part exchange, any refurbishment as well as advertising costs, sales commission to sales people and VAT.
Oh and they are in business to make a profit so it will be a total waste of everybody's time if you are just unrealistic with the figure you wish to achieve.

Another factor that many private sellers don't take into account when selling their car is the market movement.
Most cars will depreciate each month in the valuation guides. Most small cars and older vehicles should only move down in price by a small amount (a hundred pound or so) but larger, prestigous / sports vehicles can devalue many hundreds and in some cases thousands in one month so if your car is worth £20,000 this month but you decide to try your luck selling privately and are unsuccessful, next month it may only be worth £19,000.

Also convertible vehicle sales is extremely seasonal. Many dealers just won't buy convertible vehicles in the winter and those that will probably wont expect to sell the car until early the following year and will take this into account with their valuation. - Would you go looking to buy your new convertible car in the winter?

Cash for cars

If you are comparing a dealer's bid with that of an automated offer from a cash for car site then beware. Many offer automated prices they know will never be achieved as a hook to get you to travel to their business or collect your car, only to pick hundreds of pounds worth of "faults" when you/they get there. Any quick search on google for -
"ENTER COMPANY NAME" review" should provide you with some useful links to sites that will have clients reviews and give you a realistic indication of whether the site has been honouring its automated prices or not as the case will commonly be.

Some useful links -

Glass's Guide Vehicle Valuation
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