Selling advice

The Best Way to Sell Your Car: Private, Part-ex or Online Trade-in?

Figuring out whether you want to sell your car privately, part-exchange or even trade-in online, it’s mostly a matter of weighing up the speed and convenience of a sale with the likely price you’ll get.

By
21 May 2021

There are a number of ways to sell your car, and it can be tricky to figure out the best way for you. 

Essentially, the first thing you need to figure out is which you want more: the best price or the least hassle. Once you’ve made that choice, it’s easier to decide which route is best for you. Here is OneWomanOwner’s guide to the pros and cons of selling privately, part-exchanging with a dealer or trading in on an online site. 

Sell privately

This is the way to go if you’re willing to wait a while to get the best price. Selling privately does mean a bit more time and effort, of course. You can check out our guide to how to advertise your car for the best results, and doing it through OneWomanOwner also means taking the awkwardness and worry out of meeting a total stranger when they come to view your car. But ultimately for the sake of taking the photos, writing the listing and showing off your wheels to prospective buyers, you can get hundreds more for the car. 

Sell your car as a part-exchange 

This is a really convenient route if you want to buy a car from a dealer. Part-exchange is where the dealer buys your old car from you and gives you the agreed price off the car you’re buying. You can do this if you’re looking to buy a new or used car from the dealer, and most established dealerships – whether independent or affiliated with a manufacturer – will accept a part-ex. The benefits are that it’s easy; you can haggle a price, and then it’s a simple swap from your old car to the new car with no frustrating in-between period where you’re without transport. 

The downside is that you won’t get the same price as you would if you sell your car privately. The dealer has to make money on your car when they sell or auction it on, so you can guarantee that it’ll be a lower price than if you sell privately. Still, if a quick turnaround or low-hassle method is what you’re after, this is a good route to go down. Just be willing to play hardball when you negotiate a price for your car as otherwise, you could be losing more money than you should. 

Online trade-in 

This is a super-quick, super-easy way to sell your car. You don’t even need to have your car in a particularly good state to use websites like WeBuyAnyCar. You can go online, punch the car’s details in and get a price back in a moment. Then it’s a case of taking the car to the nearest trade-in point, where it’ll be checked over to see that it matches your description, and if all’s well on that front, the money will be transferred straight to your account. 

It’s all about the convenience, this method of selling your car, and because you get cash straight away then you can go out and get another car in short order. However, you pay for that ease in the price you get for the car, which is non-negotiable and can be some 30% and more less than you’ll get if you sell privately. Even part-exchanging is likely to see you get a better price. Even so, this no-fuss route appeals for all of the above reasons, so if you just want get-rid-quick, there’s a website out there for that.