We Buy Any Car

[2into1]

When the figures are finally revealed, it would be educational to know the premiums likely to have been paid by the seller and the buyer.

In my world of antique auctions, a hammer price of £1000 ends up costing the buyer £1250 (often more) with the seller receiving only £870.....which is why all the auctioneers you see on tv are so bloody happy. I know car auction fees are much lower, but having an guesstimate would be useful.

 

[Jay586]

I think if you are a private buyer, BCA charge quite a lot.

 

[reserves]

Not sure I was supposed to take photos but...

BCA 15

• reserves
• Aug 4, 2018

2015 Sold for £43,500

Private buyers fees would have been £1542
Trade buyers would have been around £300-500

BCA 18

• reserves
• Aug 4, 2018

2018 was bid to £50,900 but the reserve wasn't met, nor did it sell afterwards

Private buyers fees would have been £1720
Trade buyers would have been around £300-500

From the trade buyer I spoke to, and from my previous one experience at BCA Auctions there are NO bargains, in fact, both these Cali's went around or over the expected forecourt price listed in the trade buyers catalogue.

It's a bit of a fix as BCA Auctions own We Buy Any Car, so they know what they've paid and they don't let vehicles sell for below this as far as I can tell. Plus they take bidders online so you're no longer bidding against just the people in the room.

Interesting experience but won't be going back

 

[Vagophile]

Anyone had a similar experience?
2013 180 SE DSG, 65,000 miles, part service history (but all the important bits).
Because my use of this is not turning out as intended, I was thinking of selling and contacted WBAC for a valuation on 11 June. The valuation was £33305. I didn't follow up.
Subsequently I have had emails from WBAC on 8,9 July, 6,11,13 and 25 August and 2,3,8,9 and 10 September. I thought that there must be a reason for their persistence, so succumbed and checked again today. £31635.
I guess that we are heading towards winter now, but this seems a little contrary to all the stories around about inflated prices, or do they know something that I don't?
By the way, I'm not thinking of selling anymore, even though I may end up with some of the lowest annual mileages ever!

 

[reserves]

Just checked mine and it’s the same as it’s been all summer (more than I paid!)

 

[brianpilk]

Son just sold his Tiguan to Arnold Clarke for better price than WBAC, I checked Cali with them, also offering better than WBAC (Seem prepared to negotiate for add-ons/extras). Decent offer but not selling!

 

[pjm-84]

Mine dropped from 43500 to 40500 but I'm not selling.

 

[larrylamb]

Anyone had a similar experience?
2013 180 SE DSG, 65,000 miles, part service history (but all the important bits).
Because my use of this is not turning out as intended, I was thinking of selling and contacted WBAC for a valuation on 11 June. The valuation was £33305. I didn't follow up.
Subsequently I have had emails from WBAC on 8,9 July, 6,11,13 and 25 August and 2,3,8,9 and 10 September. I thought that there must be a reason for their persistence, so succumbed and checked again today. £31635.
I guess that we are heading towards winter now, but this seems a little contrary to all the stories around about inflated prices, or do they know something that I don't?
By the way, I'm not thinking of selling anymore, even though I may end up with some of the lowest annual mileages ever!

Prices have been very strong but the end of season drop off for demand will affect prices at WBAC. They will have seen it tailing off and adjusted. It's starting to happen on here with a few more sensibly priced adverts amongst the dreamers.
If you did think of selling, the forum ad would get you a better price than WBAC.

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

From time to time, and just out of interest, I get a WBAC and a Motorway valuation. Bemused to see that that the last couple of times I’ve done it, Motorway value my Cali at £15k more than WBAC. That’s quite some delta!

 

[reserves]

From time to time, and just out of interest, I get a WBAC and a Motorway valuation. Bemused to see that that the last couple of times I’ve done it, Motorway value my Cali at £15k more than WBAC. That’s quite some delta!

Those 2 services are 2 different offerings, hence the gap in prices.

WBAC offer a price to buy a car.

Motorway offer guide price to which they will list a car for so that dealers can bid on it, it’s not an offer it’s a reserve / guide price. If no one bids then the car remains unsold. If the reserve is met then all good, if the reserve is not met the seller can decide if they want to sell at the lower price.

 

[Lambeth Cali]

Motorway listed my 2008 Golf at £8k then £7.8k. Nobody bought it!
I traded it in for £6k, which was fair.

 

[Borris]

Our current second car is a 13000 mile 69 plate Mercedes E class Cabriolet. Whilst we have no immediate intentions of selling it, I have been using it to run an experiment on WBAC. Last winter the price offered dropped to below £25,000. In late May early June this year it rose and peaked at well over £29,000. It has now dropped back to below £24,000. Whilst not being a Cali, convertibles are subject to similar seasonal fluctuations. This experiment shows by just how much. Leaving other factors aside, I'd expect to be offered circa £28,000 next May/June. Unsuprisingly, that late spring early summer window appears to be the sweet spot if you are considering selling a convertible via WBAC. It's probabably earlier for the Cali as people will be planning holidays and not just buying because the sun has come out. Personally, when the time comes to sell I will first look to sell privately, adding £2-3000 to the asking price as that seems to be a realistic premium given advertised asking prices elsewhere.

I suspect that this experiment is only relevant to those vehicles that enjoy seasonal popularity and not your every day family hatch that are in demand all year round.

In order to buy the above aforementioned convertible from a Mercedes Benz main agent dealership, we enquired about trading in our previous car. They replied that they couldn’t offer anywhere near the price that WBAC could and actually recommended we use WBAC. I may have been a different story if we had been trading in a low mileage Merc though.

You may be thinking, why didn't he do this experiment using his Cali as the example? The answer is simple. I have no intentions of ever selling the Cali whereas the convertible was an itch that needed to be scratched. Once we've done that, it's value will be realised and put into the piggy bank towards the bigger van project.

 

[andyinluton]

The difference between WBAC and an offer selling straight to a Vw dealer without buying another van was just over £20,000 a couple of weeks ago. With WBAC being the lower figure.

It appears that a low mileage 4motion with diff lock is saleable at the moment.

WBAC don’t want anymore calis at the moment. If we all keep getting figures off them I’m sure that their computer algorithm thinks there’s going to be a flood of them on the market so offers a lower price.

 

[Barry Chuckle]

Remember the 6.1 is at the very end of it's model cycle, the discounts and incentives are the most generous I can recall on it. This is typical of any model at the same stage in it's production life (which is usually 7 years with a facelift in between)
Borris is absolutely correct that demand will correlate with convertible cars, ie in most demand spring/summer, 4x4 SUV's follow the reverse curve However motor underwriters are also very mindful of what will replace the Cali next year, if this is in great demand, then used values will take a dive. I've seen this when underwriting the price of BMW's, initally people usually dislike the new shape when seen in the press, but gradually warm to it overtime which harms residuals. There are only a very few exceptions to this rule so I do think WBAC and others know exactly what they're doing.

 

[Borris]

Remember the 6.1 is at the very end of it's model cycle, the discounts and incentives are the most generous I can recall on it. This is typical of any model at the same stage in it's production life (which is usually 7 years with a facelift in between)
Borris is absolutely correct that demand will correlate with convertible cars, ie in most demand spring/summer, 4x4 SUV's follow the reverse curve However motor underwriters are also very mindful of what will replace the Cali next year, if this is in great demand, then used values will take a dive. I've seen this when underwriting the price of BMW's, initally people usually dislike the new shape when seen in the press, but gradually warm to it overtime which harms residuals. There are only a very few exceptions to this rule so I do think WBAC and others know exactly what they're doing.

I can't tell you why but I have a strong gut feeling that the current T6 Cali and older versions will continue to hold their value very well indeed. If I'm right, then I suspect it will have something to do with it being the last Transporter based Cali. The traditional customer loyalty for that model over the years being corupted by the decision to base the next Cali on an entirely different chassis line. The Transporter based Cali and other similar Transporter conversions have always enjoyed an almost cult like status that VW have tried to exploit fully. They have even attached the California badge to any other half suitable models in their range in an attempt to ring every last euro out of that brand name. However, if the reports are correct, the next generation of VW campervan will clearly mark an end to that core Transporter DNA.

This decision could well back fire on VW if the traditional aspirational Cali buyer no longer recognises that Transporter based heritage. My suspicions are founded even before we get into what method of motive power will be employed.

 

[Barry Chuckle]

I really hope you're right Borris as I have one on order, it's very difficult to call as the Cali is such a unique proposition. I heard the same things said about the LR Defender when it was due to being replaced, and that too was the last of an iconic lineage, however the new Defender is a rabbit LR have pulled out of the hat and is JLRs best selling vehicle which no one was expecting. The old Defenders are still in demand and hold their value but they'd be worth more if so many didn't hanker after the new shape. VW will be acutely aware of what they're doing so I really do think they will come up with something special...