A trade-in gets you the lowest number in the room. A private sale gets you the highest — if you've got a month, a clean driveway and the patience for time-wasters. We sit in between: your car, sold properly on your behalf, for close to private money, without you fielding a single phone call.
An illustration of how the three options usually compare, not a quote for your car. Real numbers come after we've seen it, and our selling fee is agreed in writing before anything is advertised.
Most people come for one. Plenty do both — we sell the old one while we're finding the next.
You keep ownership and you keep the upside. We do the work that stops most people getting private-sale money.
Tell us what you're after and the budget. We go looking instead of talking you into whatever's sitting in a yard.
You hand over the keys and the paperwork. That's the last job you have.
We look the car over, tell you honestly what it should make, and agree the lowest price you'll accept. We also agree our selling fee in writing, so you know exactly what lands in your account before anything is listed.
Detailed inside and out, photographed properly, and written up with the service history and the honest faults. Most private ads fail on bad photos and a three-line description.
Listed where buyers for your kind of car are looking. We take the calls, weed out the time-wasters, supervise the inspections and check a licence before anyone drives it.
We negotiate to your reserve or above, confirm the funds have genuinely cleared, lodge the transfer of registration, and pay you the balance. If there's finance owing, it's paid out from the proceeds first.
Not every car suits being sold this way. Here's what does.
When it isn't worth it: a cheap, tired car where the whole private-sale premium would disappear into the fee and the preparation. If that's your car we'll say so and point you at the quickest way to just be rid of it, rather than take it on and waste both our time.
We're the middle option, and we'd rather you understood that than found out later.
| Sold through us | Private sale | Dealer trade-in | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you walk away with | Close to private, less our fee | The most, if it sells | The least |
| Your time | One conversation | Weeks of calls and no-shows | An afternoon |
| Strangers at your home | None | However many turn up | None |
| Who sets the price | You set the reserve | You | The dealer |
| Payment risk | We verify the funds | Yours to judge | None |
| Certainty | Sells when a buyer is found | May not sell at all | Guaranteed today |
If you need the money this week, a trade-in or an outright sale beats us — we're selling your car, not buying it, so it takes as long as it takes to find the right buyer. If you've got a few weeks and you want what the car is actually worth, this is the better way.
Fill this in and it writes the message for you — you just hit send. Calling is faster if you'd rather do that.
Nothing has reached us yet — send it as a text, or copy it and send it however you like.