WeBuyAnyCar has long considered to be the fastest and easiest way to sell a car in the UK.
Enter your car registration number and details about your car, get a quote, arrange an appointment, and get money in your bank account the same day.
No taking photos, listing your car for sale, dealing with tyre kickers, test drives etc…
Sounds too good to be true, no?
Well in some cases it can be. For the many thousands of people who have sold their car to WeBuyAnyCar.com – including myself – there are many reports that the quote price isn’t always the price offered during the appointment.
You can negotiate with WeBuyAnyCar. Often the agent during the appointment has a small tolerance to allow an uplift to the quote price. This is often around 10%. If you are prepared to negotiate, and also walk away, the chances of a higher offer price are increased.
I want to share my own experience of the WeBuyAnyCar buying process, how it works, and how to try and negotiate a better price than the one offered.
How to Negotiate a Better Price for Your Car with WeBuyAnyCar
Negotiating is almost an art form.
Ultimately the goal within a negotiation is for both parties to come away from the deal with the thing they came for.
In this case WeBuyAnyCar are looking to get your car to resell at the lowest price, and you are looking for the maximum price possible. The negotiation here is to meet somewhere in the middle.
Negotiation though with the very skilful and seasoned agent isn’t easy. Their job day in and day out is to secure the car for the lowest price.
They are usually in the best position as they can happily walk away from the deal. Those looking to sell are usually in a position where the cash is needed elsewhere.
There are though some things to remember when negotiating with WeBuyAnyCar:
- They can not offer you the market price, as this is the value they will sell your car for in order to make a profit
- They will look for any dents, knocks, marks and reasons to reduce their original online quote
- The online quote and appointment offer can vary as much as 50%
- There is usually ‘some’ wiggle room from the appointment offer
- This wiggle room can be up to 10% of the original appointment offer (not the online quote)
The best way to negotiate a higher price is if you are prepared to walk away.
If there is any wiggle room available to the agent, this is the time they will make it.
If they believe there is some margin to be made on the purchase of your car, and the later resell, they can sometimes use a small piece of this to increase their appointment offer.
Be warned though – if you do decide to walk away, and the agent does not increase their offer, their offer is only available during your appointment.
If you do walk away and come back, they will have to go through all the checks again – in case your car has suffered any knocks, faults, or bumps between appointments.
You could always try and call their bluff, and at the point of walking away from the deal you could call them back and accept.
Everyone who sells their car through WeBuyAnyCar.com tries to haggle for the best deal. The agents have heard reasons why a customer’s car is worth more before hundreds of times, and they have been trained on how to handle the situation.
You are unlikely to negotiate the offer price of your car dramatically, but of course when selling every pound counts!
There are also times of the month when you could find better opportunities for negotiation.
When is the Best Time to Negotiate a Better Deal for Your Car?
The one thing I learned very quickly when working in sales for many years is the month end target!
This is usually a selling target that is set by head office on number of units that must be sold in the month. It’s a number salespeople are judged upon as to whether they have had a good month or bad month.
All salespeople want to meet their targets. It becomes in-built like a badge of honour.
All WeBuyAnyCar agents will have sales targets.
Visiting on the last day of the month can mean you are in a stronger negotiating position than on the first day of the month, especially if the agent hasn’t reached their target, but is close.
So, if possible, try to book an appointment towards the end of the month where possible, rather than at the very start where the agent knows they have all month to try and meet their targets.
How Much More Money Can You Negotiate?
WeBuyAnyCar.com are a multi-million pound business in an industry of buying and selling used cars.
They can happily walk away from almost every deal and wait for the next customer’s appointment.
The higher the market value of your car the more money you can potentially negotiate, but as a % it will be unlikely to be above 10%.
In fairness to WeBuyAnyCar, there is a lot of overhead and administration cost involved in running such a business. Their overall margin per car sale will be relatively low in comparison between the market value of your car and their original offer price.
They make their money on bulk continuous trade, buying and selling cars in their tens and hundreds of thousands.
There are other ‘benefits’ WeBuyAnyCar may initially offer you like a waiver of the administration fee and, or a waiver of the same day payment fee so you get paid into your account faster at no additional cost to you.
These can be a good incentive but from experience this is usually the first negotiation offer made as a sweetener to the deal, before a slightly larger offer is given if the customer is still prepared to walk away.
Whether an agent is prepared to offer you a higher price can come down to the overall value of your car. If your car has a market value of £6,000 or more, you will be in a better negotiating position than someone who’s car has a market value of less than £1,000.
Be Prepared to Walk Away
You only really know the strength of the want of the other party when you decide to walk away.
This is great advice, but if you are bluffing and the other party isn’t then the end result you hoped for may not materialise.
If you’re prepared to walk away – and look like you actually mean it rather than standing there waiting for the agent to respond with a higher offer – one of two things will likely happen:
- The agent doesn’t see too much margin in the car, and will let you walk away
- The agent offers a (slightly) higher price
As long as you haven’t driven away in your car, or even started your car, you could call the agent back if your bluff doesn’t work as intended and say you have reconsidered.
Hopefully, they will still agree.
If the agent does offer you a higher price you could always haggle for a little more but at this point you may have been offered the highest price you are going to be offered.
At this point you need to decide whether to take the offer or walk away and sell privately or through other means such as selling privately or as a part exchange against another car.
Negotiating with WeBuyAnyCar – In Conclusion
Trying to negotiate with WeBuyAnyCar is not an easy task.
The agents have heard everything before, and their job is to buy for the lowest possible price.
This isn’t to say you can’t still negotiate a slightly higher price than the original offer, and as much as 10% more.
Selling through WeBuyAnyCar is a simple way of selling your car. It does take a lot of the hassle away from selling privately.
Through my personal, recent, experience I was offered more from WeBuyAnyCar’s final appointment price than three other car buying companies that can be found online.
I was also offered more than two car companies would offer me as a part exchange.
Although the amount offered is usually a far cry from a private sale, if you are looking for a fast alternative without the headaches, then it is worth entering your car registration number in to the WeBuyAnyCar valuation tool and see what price you are offered!
