The best We Buy Any Car alternatives: Who pays the most?

Have you had your car valued with We Buy Any Car and you’re not impressed with the price? Or have you used them before and not had a good experience? Then take a look at some of these alternatives you can consider as I share with you who offers the best price.

The best We Buy Any Car Alternatives

• Motorway
• The Car Buying Group
• We Want Any Car
• Cazoo
• Money4yourMotors
• Exchange My Car

Selling your car isn’t always the easiest of processes, especially if you’re looking for the best price. Trading in your old vehicle to a dealership is often the simplest option but means you won’t what it’s really worth. They’re not really interested in your car, so will never give you the market value.

Selling privately is usually the best way to get a decent price but can also be the hardest. There are plenty of timewasters out there that will just come for a quick look around and then you’ll hear nothing from them again. And those are the good ones. In many cases, they’ll arrange to come and see you and never turn up.

But companies out there claim to take away the stress and the hassle. They value your car online, check it over and then give you the cash. And the biggest company out there offering this service is We Buy Any Car (WBAC).

What’s bad about We Buy Any Car?

It’s not a perfect company, not by a long shot. Although I’ve had a fairly decent experience with them before, they do tend to want to haggle the price of your car down after you arrive at one of their valuation shops. Even the smallest scratches could see £50 wiped off the value. And that’s per panel. Five or six tiny dinks could see £300 gone in seconds.

They’re also renowned for adding extra fees to their purchase.

• Purchase price up to £99.99 – no transaction charge (subject to minimum valuation of £50)
• Purchase price up to £3,999.99 – £49.99 transaction charge
• Purchase price up to £4,999.99 – £59.99 transaction charge
• Purchase price above £5,000 – £74.99 transaction charge

And unlike the other companies on this list, receiving payment will take up to four days. However, if you want it sooner, you can pay £24.75 for next working day payment or on the same day for £29.75. But WBAC says that this is only for ‘select customers’.

The good news is though, that they are willing to purchase cars that still have existing finance attached to them.

Although they’re the biggest, they aren’t the only car buying service available. If WBAC doesn’t appeal to you, let’s look at some of the other companies you can approach for a valuation.

Motorway

Once Motorway has all of your vehicle’s details, they’ll run it through their database of over 5,000 dealers who will decide on the best offer they can give you for your car. They basically bid against each other in order to secure your vehicle. That means that you should get more cash.

If you’re happy with the price and you accept, somebody will come and collect your car and you should be paid on the same day.

Motorway makes its money by charging dealers a fee, which means that you’re not charged anything extra.

Or, you can take a look at my post on how Motorway works.

The Car Buying Group

The biggest benefit of the Car Buying Group is simplicity. Rather than you having to go to one of their valuation centres, they’ll come to you to collect the vehicle. And, there are no added fees. Whatever they agree to pay you is what you’ll receive.

When finding out the valuation of the car, be as honest as possible and send any photos of the damage. This decreases the likelihood of the person coming to collect your car disputing its value. In fact, that goes for any of the companies I’ve listed below. But remember, the online valuation of your car is not a binding contract. Although the company is within its rights not to pay you what it originally offered, you can always say no if you think any new offer is derisory. And if you do say no, it means that the person that came to get the car will have to find their own way back.

Once everything is agreed upon, you should receive the money by bank transfer within a couple of hours.

Or take a look at my full The Car Buying Group review.

We Want Any Car

Some car buying companies can be a little fussy with the cars that they will take, even though they claim otherwise. However, We Want Any Car will take any roadworthy vehicle even it doesn’t have tax or an MOT. In fact, they can even come and value non-running vehicles.

Any quote you receive is valid for 5 days.

Like The Car Buying Group, there are no valuation stations, so you will have to rely on We Want Any Car to visit you. The bad news is, if you do decide to sell, there are fees attached.

• Purchase price up to £100 – no administration charge
• Purchase price up to £4,999 – £58.75 administration charge
• Purchase price above £5,000 – £78.75 administration charge

However, payment should be made to your bank almost immediately and for no extra cost.

Cazoo

Only established back in 2018, Cazoo has grown incredibly quickly and now boasts sponsorship of two Premier League football clubs. But this company tends to be a little fussier compared to others on this list. They will not buy cars that;

• haven’t got a valid MOT 
• have outstanding finance 
• have major accident damage 
• haven’t got tyres which are road legal 
• have been categorised as insurance category A, B, N (formerly C) or S (formerly D)
• have been written off or stolen
• have been imported or exported
• have a mechanical or electrical fault
• have exceeded 25,000 miles per year
• haven’t been first registered in the UK
• have been modified in any way

But this is mainly because Cazoo looks to sell the cars on themselves, rather than sending them to auctions like many of the other companies. And because of this, they claim to give a better price for your car.

Once you’ve entered the details of your vehicle, you’ll have the price guaranteed for 7 days.

There are no fees attached unless you want Cazoo to collect your car, which will set you back £99. Otherwise, you can take your car to a local Cazoo valuer for free.

Money4yourMotors

Another car buying company that will come to your door to purchase your vehicle. Working in a similar way to all of the companies above, just enter your vehicle details and you’ll be provided with a valuation.

As long as the assessor is happy with the condition of your car when they arrive, you’ll receive payment before they leave.

You can sell a car without tax or an MOT, but when you receive your online valuation, the system assumes that it will have at least 3 months left on the MOT. That means that when the assessor comes to look at your car, you’ll receive less money than was quoted. They will also purchase some non-runners.

Your valuation from Money4your Motors will be valid for 5 days.

There are fees if you sell (the same as We Want Any Car):

• Purchase price up to £100 – no administration charge
• Purchase price up to £4,999 – £58.75 administration charge
• Purchase price above £5,000 – £78.75 administration charge

Exchange My Car

Although the name of the company may cause a little confusion, Exchange My car will buy your car without you having to purchase one from them. They claim to ‘provide the best price for your car nationally’.

They do this by acting as a middleman. They will check with other car buying companies to find you the best price available. Once found, you have 7 days to accept the quote.

Your car can be collected from your home or workplace for no extra cost and there are also no hidden fees. Any money you receive should be paid instantly into your bank account.

It’s important to note that it does say on their website that ‘part exchanging the car will always attract a higher payment for your car from our panel of dealers.’ That suggests you’ll receive more for your old vehicle if you’re buying a car through Exchange My Car at the same time.

Which We Buy Any Car alternative pays the most?

So, I couldn’t write this comparison without getting an idea of the prices on offer from all of these companies. I used my car and my wife’s to get a range of quotes. But bear in mind that these are only initial prices quoted and that the prices could be reduced after inspection.

I checked Parkers for an independent valuation too, to get an idea of how much the cars really should be valued.

	Car 1	Car 2
Parkers guide price	£11,130 – £12,665	£13,235 – £14,895
We Buy Any Car	£12,640	£13,670
The Car Buying Group	£10,804	£10,554
We Want Any Car	£12,261	£13,444
Cazoo	£10,875	Would not quote
Money4yourMotors	£12,589	£13,584
Exchange My Car	£12,090	£12,485
Motorway	£12,783	£13,891

As you can see, Motorway beats all of its competitors for quotes. And that’s not surprising when you consider how many dealerships they have on their system. On top of that, they won’t charge you fees either.

Of course, I could only get an initial offer from these companies and there’s no guarantee of how much they would pay. I would have loved to get a firm quote from all of them, but simply don’t have that much time.

If you’re not in a rush, it’s worth running your car through as many of the sites listed above as you can. If a company offers you a certain amount and then knocks you down too much, move on to the next one.