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Off Col U topic, but I want to tell you guys just how good this methodology is. I am "Over the Moon" in football parlance.
Selling a car...?
The best offer I got part exchange for my three year old Mercedes was £34,500 from local Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Land Rover, Mazda (etc) dealers. That was actually pretty good, as its three year depreciation was merely 16%. Of course, new prices have rocketed (as have used), but the car had been great value. But could I do better? I needed to change as my arthritis meant I required something more accessible, and I have changed from a diesel to Plug In electric hybrid to help save the planet.
The typical local dealer from whom I might buy my replacement usually only ever has one p/x outlet. What CarWow (and Motorway) do is put it to 3,000 dealers at auction. You set a minimum reserve below which it is unsold. CarWow advised me to set this at £36,400, almost 6% more and (initially) got it!
It was purchased by a Mercedes dealer, and the process is the car is then checked. I was then beaten down to £36,200 because of scuffs on two my alloys that I hadn't declared (or noticed). Fair enough, and I could have withdrawn and gone back to auction, having not been offered the original bid. But I still got £1,700 more than the best part exchange offer. You don't have to hand over the car until the agreed cash is in your bank. So here, three year depreciation was less than 12%. Unbelievable!
In the meanwhile, I had gone back to the dealer for my new car purchase and told it that the recommended CarWow auction reserve suggested was £1,900 more than their part exchange offer, and that could be a deal breaker. It then agreed a purchase discount of £1,500 irrespective of whether I part exchanged or paid cash, the latter after selling via CarWow. It was a win-win situation for me. Overall, I saved an awesome £3200, on the aggregate deal, and CarWow charged me zero fees (the dealers pay them).
Buying a car.
CarWow offered me a number of excellent new car deals. One problem was that no sooner I received an offer, the dealer had sold it. I think this is symptomatic of the current market shortage of stock. To be frank, I had managed to beat my local dealer down matching CarWow best offers, so my preference was to complete a local purchase.
In summary;
Don't poo poo CarWow, or Motorway as a selling or buying option. It is an incredible good system that gives you access to multiple dealers (n.b. seven main stream Mercedes dealers desperate for stock bid on my car). But interestingly, Mercedes and a few other manufacturers are now creating a single price purchase guarantee irrespective of dealer. I can only assume this is a response to what this process exposes as regards market practices.
My perspective is don't hesitate from exploring CarWow (or Motorway) when buying or selling. You can always put a reserve + 20% above your best part-exchange offer and whether it does, or doesn't sell, it still costs you £zilch. If the latter, it can go into the next CarWow (or Motorway) auction at no cost to you. Your safety net fall back is p/x.
I was sceptical, particularly at the 'We buy any car" claims that avoiding part exchange is advantageous. But I am 100% sold on CarWow. It really does work!
[Post edited 1 Mar 2023 23:14]
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CarWow - just WOW! on 22:51 - Mar 1 with 1578 views
CarWow - just WOW! on 22:51 - Mar 1 by durham_exile
That is an amazing story Noah. Shrewd bit of business.
I am only sorry that we won't see you on the We buy any car ads dancing to I've just sold my car to we buy any car.
Incidentally what car did you buy in the end.
I have always been a premium brand snob (BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes) and had their local dealers had any plug in hybrid PHEV stock I probably would never have visited my local Mazda dealer. Glad I did as the new CX60 is £20k less than German equivalent equipment specifications.
Fastest Mazda ever, a PHEV SUV, quality interior, staggering technology and economy. With a 60 km range in all EV mode, and petrol hybrid for longer, this car is (IMHO) the most likely contender to give the German SUVs a bigger bloody nose than Michael Owen did to their soccer team.
[Post edited 2 Mar 2023 6:20]
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CarWow - just WOW! on 13:48 - Mar 2 with 1466 views
The selling or buying customer always pays nothing Lead’.
I then believe that a dealer buying a car having successfully bid at auction pays a £300 (?) finders fee on completion of the purchase.
The dealer selling a car advertises it on CarWoW, then (I believe) pays a small sum for each buyers enquiry/details passed to it by CarWow. I was looking at multiple car options, and was sent dozens of options. So even if this fee is only a few £££s, CarWow make money as their car volume £turnover is £millions. This is a typical Internet lead generation ‘turnkey’ model.
I gather for some brands, the same purchaser details inevitably get set to multiple dealers. The same purchaser might then appear (for free) on the brands own National on-line site, so in effect, leads are possibly paid for multiple times. It also drives prices down as dealers compete with each other for the same customer. That’s good for us as the buyer!
However, I believe Mercedes dealers (and maybe Volvo?) have now mutually agreed no discounts on new cars to avoid this forced competition. Whether this is deemed anticompetitive remains to be seen. The consumer selling model of CarWow seems sound, but the buying NEW model perhaps faces some future challenges. As regards buying used, other factors like mileage and condition impact. Hence it’s harder for dealers to formulate any cartel pricing.
I was sceptical, but for my sale and purchase worked a charm.
[Post edited 2 Mar 2023 16:19]
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CarWow - just WOW! on 20:21 - Mar 2 with 1396 views
The selling or buying customer always pays nothing Lead’.
I then believe that a dealer buying a car having successfully bid at auction pays a £300 (?) finders fee on completion of the purchase.
The dealer selling a car advertises it on CarWoW, then (I believe) pays a small sum for each buyers enquiry/details passed to it by CarWow. I was looking at multiple car options, and was sent dozens of options. So even if this fee is only a few £££s, CarWow make money as their car volume £turnover is £millions. This is a typical Internet lead generation ‘turnkey’ model.
I gather for some brands, the same purchaser details inevitably get set to multiple dealers. The same purchaser might then appear (for free) on the brands own National on-line site, so in effect, leads are possibly paid for multiple times. It also drives prices down as dealers compete with each other for the same customer. That’s good for us as the buyer!
However, I believe Mercedes dealers (and maybe Volvo?) have now mutually agreed no discounts on new cars to avoid this forced competition. Whether this is deemed anticompetitive remains to be seen. The consumer selling model of CarWow seems sound, but the buying NEW model perhaps faces some future challenges. As regards buying used, other factors like mileage and condition impact. Hence it’s harder for dealers to formulate any cartel pricing.
I was sceptical, but for my sale and purchase worked a charm.
[Post edited 2 Mar 2023 16:19]
Thanks Noah. Very interesting. Change of car is not on the horizon for me but I’ll have a proper when the time comes.
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