The best way to sell your car: the top options for simplicity and price

If you’ve ever stood at your door, looked at your car, and thought ‘it’s time for you to go,’ you may also have painful memories about how much of a mission selling a car can be. Whether you’re selling your car because you don’t commute as much, want to downsize, upsize, or simply fancy a change, shifting your car can be a road to headaches if you’re not clued up on how best to do it. 

The days of classified car ads in the back of the local paper are gone - the internet is a hive of car buying and selling activity, but perhaps not in the way you think. Traditional classified ads for private car sales are still present and correct, but maybe dealer services, car auctions, or specialist car selling services would suit you better. Here’s our run down of how it all works and which car selling method might suit you. 

Private sale

The original way to sell your car: Going it alone. Today’s version of a private sale is less about print ads, and more about hitting the web’s various classified sites to make your pitch for a future friend to buy your pride and joy. There are plenty of sites out there that will gladly take a little bit of money in exchange for space to show the world what you’ve got. The best thing to do here is to find a site that works best for you, make sure your ad is open, honest, and clear, and make sure your photography the car in its best light - no fingerprint smeared phone cameras! Here’s how to write a great classified car ad.

Dealers

Dealers tend to like it when people come to them with cars to sell - it means they have more stock to move on, and there’s a good chance that they’ll be able to sell you a new car as part of the deal. If you want to simply sell your car via a dealer, it’s a matter of picking up the phone, making sure they’re in the market to buy, heading in, and agreeing a deal. 

If you’re looking to sell your current car as a part-exchange for a new one, you need to head in, choose the car you want to buy next, and seal a deal with the salesperson that suits you both.

Online auction

The UK’s various online auctioneers can be a great place to sell your car. Set a reserve (the minimum you will accept for it) on your vehicle,  and send it into the ether to whip bidders up into a frenzy. 

As with private sales, clarity and honesty are important here. Make sure your ad tells prospective buyers everything they need to know - positive AND negative - about the car, and you must have clear pictures to back up what you’ve said about it. Once you’re ready, you can set the auction to go live and watch the bids fly in. Various auction platforms charge different amounts to place your car with them, and can take a chunk of the final price - so bear it in mind when you’re choosing where you advertise your car. 

In-person auction

Usually the preserve of dealers and keen private buyers out for a bargain, the good ‘ol fashioned auction house is still a fantastic way to sell your car. Fees are added depending on how much your car sells for, and if it doesn’t sell there’s likely to be a small charge. While you can’t guarantee a price, you can set a reserve to make sure you don’t take a bath on your expected value. Our guide to selling a car at auction can help.

Car buying services

You’ve heard the ads on the radio, you’ve seen them online, you’ve watched them on your TV - there are plenty of people out there who’ll gladly buy your car from you hassle free. Once you’ve found a car buying service that suits you, enter the car’s details - mileage, age, condition - into their respective site, and you’ll be offered a valuation. 

The way services work varies, some will buy your car from you directly. Others, like Auto Express Sell My Car, will put it up for auction to a network of dealers giving you the best price, the winning dealer will come and get your car. Selling insurance write-offs, scrap cars, or non running cars is possible through these services too, though how they work may vary. 

The UK’s top online car selling services

Below is a selection of some of the top ways to sell your car online in the UK…

Auto Trader

The original way to sell your car, though it’s now purely digital. Prices start as low as £9.99 to advertise your car with up to 100 pictures, though prices rise if you want more functionality on your advert. 

Carwow

Carwow, our parent company, is better known as a car buying portal but there’s a car-selling service, too. You upload your car and Carwow’s vast network of dealers can bid on it. Then you’re invited to either accept or decline their best offer. Accept and the car is collected from your home, hassle free.  

eBay 

While much of eBay is free to sell on, you do need to put up at least £14.99 to use the car sales service, and to hand over one per cent of the final sale price (up to £45). 

Motorway

It’s free to put your car online with Motorway. After plugging your reg into the site to get a valuation you’re invited to profile your car and, once complete, it’ll be sent off to a huge selection of dealers so they can bid for it. You’ll be offered the highest price, and if you accept your car will be collected, with payment appearing in your account less than 24 hours later. 

We Buy Any Car

True to its name, We Buy Any Car will buy… any car. It’s free to get your vehicle valued, and there are plenty of pick up spots around the country to drop it off should you want to go through with the deal. There can be a transaction fee up to £124.99 depending on the value of the car, and if you want to be paid within 15 minutes there’s a £29.75 fee to pay. 

Auto Express

Of course we’d put our names in the ring. Auto Express offers a no hassle car selling service, too. After sending us your registration we’ll offer you a valuation, and send your car’s details out to thousands of dealers. Once you’ve accepted a dealer’s bid for your car, they’ll come and get it, dropping cash in your account not long after. 

Which way of selling your car is best?

As with so much in life, it depends. If you’re looking to get the best possible price for your car, we’d recommend a private sale but that is also the most labour intensive route. If you don’t fancy all the hassle of compiling a car advert then dealing with the procession of prospective buyers, the other options are all simpler. 

Car auctions set a fixed timeframe on the sale and you can achieve strong value but the process of in-person auctions can be daunting to those that are new to it. 

Car dealers will hold your hand through the whole process and sell you a replacement car as part of the same deal but you may not be offered quite as good a price - either as a straight sale or a part-exchange. Online car selling services, meanwhile, are probably the easiest because the whole thing can be done from home. You can get a good price too, just make sure the car is as described so there are no quibbles when the dealer comes to collect.  

How much is your car worth? Find out with our free car valuation tool...