Selling through Motorway
Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2024 1:53 pm
I said I would share my experience having just sold a car through Motorway.
For anyone who doesn't know; this is how it works with Motorway:
They are just a 'middle man', they don't buy anything. They get the details of your car, give an estimate of what it should sell for and put it into a 24 hour 'auction' for dealers who have signed up with them to bid. They suggest a reserve price, which in my case was £150 less than their original valuation. Once the auction has ended they notify you what the car achieved. You can accept of decline the offer, however, if it above reserve they don't like you saying no, as it is wasting everyone's time.
Once the offer has been confirmed, they ask the winning dealer to contact you directly and arrange to collect the car. Someone turns up to collect on the agreed date, does an appraisal to check it is 'as described', then contacts the dealer who transfers the money instantly. The car is driven away and all is complete.
You pay nothing. The dealers pay Motorway a fee for using their auction platform.
My experiences:
I sold a previous car through them in 2022. I called them on the phone and they set everything up for me and gave me an email link to send photos, etc. I spoke to two people, both based in London. The car sold in their 24 hour auction and was bought by a fairly local main dealer. The sales manager's wife actually turned up to collect. Took 5 minutes and the money was paid. She then drove the car away. It was the simplest transaction I have ever had TBH.
Two years later and I thought I would do it all through their website, as it should be simpler and quicker, as I knew the process. First problem I had was that the website will only accept photos taken with a phone, as they text you a link to upload them. I don't do photos that way, as I take them with a 'proper' camera and upload them onto my PC. No way to do that on their website.
So I phoned them. They now have a call centre in South Africa who can take a while to answer the phone. They were very helpful and emailed me a link to email photos through. It took a few calls to get everything sorted but it was fairly painless. There was a lot more information required than the last time I used them.
The car was auctioned the next day. It sold for £128 more than the reserve, but that was still around £100 less than the original valuation. This was still around 10% more than WBAC or Cazoo, etc so pretty good.
They emailed me details of who had won the auction and said they would be in touch within 24 hours. 24 hours came and went, so did 48 hours..nothing! I rang Motorway to see what was happening. They contacted the dealer (carbase in Bristol) to chase them. Next day I had a call from a logistics company to arrange collection. We agreed a day and a rough time. They didn't turn up and I had no call or message. I phoned them to see where they were...they got the days mixed up it should have been the next day! Luckily I work from home.
The collection guy turned up today, on time, did his appraisal phoned the dealer and they paid the money and he took the car. I NEVER spoke to or had a message from the buying dealer..at all!
So in summary...Motorway are very good just not quite as good as they used to be.
Depending who buys the car, the dealers can be excellent or not so good. And it seems logistics people don't know what day of the week is what!
HTH
For anyone who doesn't know; this is how it works with Motorway:
They are just a 'middle man', they don't buy anything. They get the details of your car, give an estimate of what it should sell for and put it into a 24 hour 'auction' for dealers who have signed up with them to bid. They suggest a reserve price, which in my case was £150 less than their original valuation. Once the auction has ended they notify you what the car achieved. You can accept of decline the offer, however, if it above reserve they don't like you saying no, as it is wasting everyone's time.
Once the offer has been confirmed, they ask the winning dealer to contact you directly and arrange to collect the car. Someone turns up to collect on the agreed date, does an appraisal to check it is 'as described', then contacts the dealer who transfers the money instantly. The car is driven away and all is complete.
You pay nothing. The dealers pay Motorway a fee for using their auction platform.
My experiences:
I sold a previous car through them in 2022. I called them on the phone and they set everything up for me and gave me an email link to send photos, etc. I spoke to two people, both based in London. The car sold in their 24 hour auction and was bought by a fairly local main dealer. The sales manager's wife actually turned up to collect. Took 5 minutes and the money was paid. She then drove the car away. It was the simplest transaction I have ever had TBH.
Two years later and I thought I would do it all through their website, as it should be simpler and quicker, as I knew the process. First problem I had was that the website will only accept photos taken with a phone, as they text you a link to upload them. I don't do photos that way, as I take them with a 'proper' camera and upload them onto my PC. No way to do that on their website.
So I phoned them. They now have a call centre in South Africa who can take a while to answer the phone. They were very helpful and emailed me a link to email photos through. It took a few calls to get everything sorted but it was fairly painless. There was a lot more information required than the last time I used them.
The car was auctioned the next day. It sold for £128 more than the reserve, but that was still around £100 less than the original valuation. This was still around 10% more than WBAC or Cazoo, etc so pretty good.
They emailed me details of who had won the auction and said they would be in touch within 24 hours. 24 hours came and went, so did 48 hours..nothing! I rang Motorway to see what was happening. They contacted the dealer (carbase in Bristol) to chase them. Next day I had a call from a logistics company to arrange collection. We agreed a day and a rough time. They didn't turn up and I had no call or message. I phoned them to see where they were...they got the days mixed up it should have been the next day! Luckily I work from home.
The collection guy turned up today, on time, did his appraisal phoned the dealer and they paid the money and he took the car. I NEVER spoke to or had a message from the buying dealer..at all!
So in summary...Motorway are very good just not quite as good as they used to be.
Depending who buys the car, the dealers can be excellent or not so good. And it seems logistics people don't know what day of the week is what!
HTH
