Discussion
The £49 admin fee is transparent and a given. What they do is "Chipping". The web will quote a price and when you turn up for your appointment they will "chip" money off for every defect they can find.
I find that getting the quote and not replying will get you the email a week later saying: "your car has increased in price..."
I find that getting the quote and not replying will get you the email a week later saying: "your car has increased in price..."
I've used them twice and they were very good, on the second they even paid me more than the original offer - no idea why but I didn't say anything!
Obviously if you declare it online as having no marks then they find it is scratched they will take some off, people seem to have a problem with that but it's pretty obvious and if you don't like the price don't sell it to them.
Obviously if you declare it online as having no marks then they find it is scratched they will take some off, people seem to have a problem with that but it's pretty obvious and if you don't like the price don't sell it to them.
My uncle sold his S60 to them. Good cond for age, low mileage, FSH, cosmetically OK but a few marks.
Local dealer offered him £600, they said £800.
By the time they'd walked around and picked at all the little chips and scuffs, knocked £60 a corner off for tyres under 3mm, and the short MOT, they offered £280.
The daft sod took it, as he thought the local garage owner would do the same.
Similar cars were up for retail at £1400.
Local dealer offered him £600, they said £800.
By the time they'd walked around and picked at all the little chips and scuffs, knocked £60 a corner off for tyres under 3mm, and the short MOT, they offered £280.
The daft sod took it, as he thought the local garage owner would do the same.
Similar cars were up for retail at £1400.
It should noted that what they seem to want are fairly mainstream cars that are probably up to five years old, they will buy anything but not necessarily at a good price. So they are going to be far better with a car worth, say, £5,000 than one worth £500.
Obviously that is because the costs of what they do are going to be much the same for each car so if, for example, they need to make £250 a car to cover costs (made up number) that's a hell of a lot easier on a £5k car than on a £500 car.
Obviously that is because the costs of what they do are going to be much the same for each car so if, for example, they need to make £250 a car to cover costs (made up number) that's a hell of a lot easier on a £5k car than on a £500 car.
E30M3SE said:
shopper150 said:
I'm thinking about liquidating my e350 coupe here.
Does anyone have any experience or advice that I should be aware of?
I have used then before
If you've used them before, you're probably a better judge than most on PH.Does anyone have any experience or advice that I should be aware of?
I have used then before
I think wbac and the likes of are killing the used car market. I sold my mk5 golf 1.6 tdi red 3 door with 50k on a 10 plate for just £7200 to wbac. Now I have a ffrr and bought for £12k wbac have offered £7k now and the garage that works on it have offered me £13k!!! How many people check wbac before buying a second hand car! I sold mine to wbac as people we're phoning up offering wbac prices 2k down on the advert!
Siscar said:
It should noted that what they seem to want are fairly mainstream cars that are probably up to five years old, they will buy anything but not necessarily at a good price. So they are going to be far better with a car worth, say, £5,000 than one worth £500.
Obviously that is because the costs of what they do are going to be much the same for each car so if, for example, they need to make £250 a car to cover costs (made up number) that's a hell of a lot easier on a £5k car than on a £500 car.
It's also to do with the liquidity of the market for that car.Obviously that is because the costs of what they do are going to be much the same for each car so if, for example, they need to make £250 a car to cover costs (made up number) that's a hell of a lot easier on a £5k car than on a £500 car.
WBAC aren't a dealer to the public, they don't store cars, market them or prep them for sale etc., their business model is based on moving the car on as quickly as possible, either to auction or to a dealer who will buy unseen.
The more liquid the market for the car, the easier it is for them to move on, and the closer the offer will be to book price.
So newish mainstream stuff with no significant cosmetic damage gets near book offers.
Stuff outside of this - older stuff, classics, imports, very high-end, very low-end, accident damaged, VCAR, customised etc. - ends up miles away from book price, because there are fewer buyers, and the only way they can be sure of realising the value immediately is to either set a low auction reserve or to sell it on at a low price. And the concept of "book price" is less meaningful for this stuff anyway. Here, if you have time you are better off selling privately.
I've used them before and they were fine. If you aren't P/X'ing and you want to get shot of something immediately with no comeback and no hassle it's worth looking at.
Interestingly I just did a quote for my car and was wounded... I paid £7500 back in the day.
04 - Clio 172, 131k miles, full service history, 2 owners - £513. Pampered its entire life and its spotless.
But also did a quote on the car that will replace it.
10- E61 530d touring, 70k miles, 2 owners, full service history - £10993. The 'dealer' only wants £13k for it. Surprised their margin is so low.
A friend recently traded in his Skoda Octavia 1.9d estate and got £300 for it. Wbac would have offered him 400 notes. Stupid sod didn't think to check.
To be fair they aren't a charity!
04 - Clio 172, 131k miles, full service history, 2 owners - £513. Pampered its entire life and its spotless.
But also did a quote on the car that will replace it.
10- E61 530d touring, 70k miles, 2 owners, full service history - £10993. The 'dealer' only wants £13k for it. Surprised their margin is so low.
A friend recently traded in his Skoda Octavia 1.9d estate and got £300 for it. Wbac would have offered him 400 notes. Stupid sod didn't think to check.
To be fair they aren't a charity!
WBAC is one of a swathe of new businesses starting up in the last few years which have a very basic business model.
Move into ANY market as a middle-man. Take your cut and who cares what happens.
An example of a couple of others would be:
1. Hungry House - order a takeaway - they take their skim and place an order with a local take-away on your behalf.
2. Service Stop - same as above but they book your car in for a service with a local garage
In the case of ServiceStop - as an owner of a car servicing business I looked into this. I found their operation to be entirely amateur. Basic errors like fixing a price for an engine oil fill which was far below what the oil actually costs and then insisting that's what it has to be and then later agreeing to increase the allowance just like that. I charge £35.00 to fill customers cars with fully synthetic 5w30 BMW longlife-04 spec. You can't really buy that oil for less at retail prices. Of course I buy lots so mine is a bit cheaper but I still pay more than what they wanted to charge.
So all these businesses offer is a sales service for companies who can't sell enough by themselves.
Even with all the compromises you have to make as a retailer the fact you don't have to put any effort into selling makes their offer attractive in principle. Where things go wrong is that they want to offer the consumer a good price but at the same time they want to take quite a bit out of each deal for themselves. So not really a win-win for everyone. In the case of ServiceStop the retailer has to take a hit and find savings where previously profits are unlikely to have been substantial to begin with.
Bottom line is, use a company like ServiceStop if you want to spend less having your car serviced. In other words, you'll pay more or less the same... but ServiceStop will keep some of the money and give a bit less to the garage so you'll get less for your money! I don't work in the take-away business but assume it's the same deal there.
Move into ANY market as a middle-man. Take your cut and who cares what happens.
An example of a couple of others would be:
1. Hungry House - order a takeaway - they take their skim and place an order with a local take-away on your behalf.
2. Service Stop - same as above but they book your car in for a service with a local garage
In the case of ServiceStop - as an owner of a car servicing business I looked into this. I found their operation to be entirely amateur. Basic errors like fixing a price for an engine oil fill which was far below what the oil actually costs and then insisting that's what it has to be and then later agreeing to increase the allowance just like that. I charge £35.00 to fill customers cars with fully synthetic 5w30 BMW longlife-04 spec. You can't really buy that oil for less at retail prices. Of course I buy lots so mine is a bit cheaper but I still pay more than what they wanted to charge.
So all these businesses offer is a sales service for companies who can't sell enough by themselves.
Even with all the compromises you have to make as a retailer the fact you don't have to put any effort into selling makes their offer attractive in principle. Where things go wrong is that they want to offer the consumer a good price but at the same time they want to take quite a bit out of each deal for themselves. So not really a win-win for everyone. In the case of ServiceStop the retailer has to take a hit and find savings where previously profits are unlikely to have been substantial to begin with.
Bottom line is, use a company like ServiceStop if you want to spend less having your car serviced. In other words, you'll pay more or less the same... but ServiceStop will keep some of the money and give a bit less to the garage so you'll get less for your money! I don't work in the take-away business but assume it's the same deal there.
ejenner said:
WBAC is one of a swathe of new businesses starting up in the last few years which have a very basic business model.
Move into ANY market as a middle-man. Take your cut and who cares what happens.
An example of a couple of others would be:
1. Hungry House - order a takeaway - they take their skim and place an order with a local take-away on your behalf.
2. Service Stop - same as above but they book your car in for a service with a local garage
In the case of ServiceStop - as an owner of a car servicing business I looked into this. I found their operation to be entirely amateur. Basic errors like fixing a price for an engine oil fill which was far below what the oil actually costs and then insisting that's what it has to be and then later agreeing to increase the allowance just like that. I charge £35.00 to fill customers cars with fully synthetic 5w30 BMW longlife-04 spec. You can't really buy that oil for less at retail prices. Of course I buy lots so mine is a bit cheaper but I still pay more than what they wanted to charge.
So all these businesses offer is a sales service for companies who can't sell enough by themselves.
Even with all the compromises you have to make as a retailer the fact you don't have to put any effort into selling makes their offer attractive in principle. Where things go wrong is that they want to offer the consumer a good price but at the same time they want to take quite a bit out of each deal for themselves. So not really a win-win for everyone. In the case of ServiceStop the retailer has to take a hit and find savings where previously profits are unlikely to have been substantial to begin with.
Bottom line is, use a company like ServiceStop if you want to spend less having your car serviced. In other words, you'll pay more or less the same... but ServiceStop will keep some of the money and give a bit less to the garage so you'll get less for your money! I don't work in the take-away business but assume it's the same deal there.
There's a joke graphic doing the rounds of a Middleman who gets called up about a boy drowning. As a Middleman he organises the rescue and charges £30k...Move into ANY market as a middle-man. Take your cut and who cares what happens.
An example of a couple of others would be:
1. Hungry House - order a takeaway - they take their skim and place an order with a local take-away on your behalf.
2. Service Stop - same as above but they book your car in for a service with a local garage
In the case of ServiceStop - as an owner of a car servicing business I looked into this. I found their operation to be entirely amateur. Basic errors like fixing a price for an engine oil fill which was far below what the oil actually costs and then insisting that's what it has to be and then later agreeing to increase the allowance just like that. I charge £35.00 to fill customers cars with fully synthetic 5w30 BMW longlife-04 spec. You can't really buy that oil for less at retail prices. Of course I buy lots so mine is a bit cheaper but I still pay more than what they wanted to charge.
So all these businesses offer is a sales service for companies who can't sell enough by themselves.
Even with all the compromises you have to make as a retailer the fact you don't have to put any effort into selling makes their offer attractive in principle. Where things go wrong is that they want to offer the consumer a good price but at the same time they want to take quite a bit out of each deal for themselves. So not really a win-win for everyone. In the case of ServiceStop the retailer has to take a hit and find savings where previously profits are unlikely to have been substantial to begin with.
Bottom line is, use a company like ServiceStop if you want to spend less having your car serviced. In other words, you'll pay more or less the same... but ServiceStop will keep some of the money and give a bit less to the garage so you'll get less for your money! I don't work in the take-away business but assume it's the same deal there.
Hungry House and Just Eat charge 12% minimum on orders via their website. As a rough rule of thumb any takeaway using them are pretty poor and need to drum up the business. The takeaways that are absolutely manic every weekend don't need to use them.
MrsThatcher said:
Interestingly I just did a quote for my car and was wounded... I paid £7500 back in the day.
04 - Clio 172, 131k miles, full service history, 2 owners - £513. Pampered its entire life and its spotless.
But also did a quote on the car that will replace it.
10- E61 530d touring, 70k miles, 2 owners, full service history - £10993. The 'dealer' only wants £13k for it. Surprised their margin is so low.
A friend recently traded in his Skoda Octavia 1.9d estate and got £300 for it. Wbac would have offered him 400 notes. Stupid sod didn't think to check.
To be fair they aren't a charity!
Ill give you £600 :-)04 - Clio 172, 131k miles, full service history, 2 owners - £513. Pampered its entire life and its spotless.
But also did a quote on the car that will replace it.
10- E61 530d touring, 70k miles, 2 owners, full service history - £10993. The 'dealer' only wants £13k for it. Surprised their margin is so low.
A friend recently traded in his Skoda Octavia 1.9d estate and got £300 for it. Wbac would have offered him 400 notes. Stupid sod didn't think to check.
To be fair they aren't a charity!
I used them a couple of years back on an X5. They bid around 1k more than dealers were offering in part ex. Chipped it by £500 when I turned up but well worth an hour on a Saturday morning to take the car to them to end up 500 better off. Found them good to deal with and professional.
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