There are two ways to change cars. One is to sell yours privately: write the advert, take the calls, show it on Saturdays, negotiate, do the transfer with a stranger and answer for whatever goes wrong afterwards. The other is to hand it over against the next car and sign a single transaction.
The first usually yields a bit more money. The second costs considerably less time and considerably less risk. This guide is so you can decide with both of those on the table, not just the figure.
What a valuer is really looking at
There is no secret formula and no magic database. These are the factors that move the price of a used car, roughly in order of weight:
- Model, trim and engine. Some versions sell themselves and others sit on a forecourt for months, even though from the outside they are the same car.
- Mileage and age, always together. A diesel with high motorway mileage is usually in better shape than one with low mileage that was all urban.
- Service history. Invoices and stamps are worth real money, because they reduce the risk for whoever buys it next.
- Actual condition: bodywork, interior, tyres, timing belt, clutch and, on a 4x4, the transmission, the transfer case and whether it has been towing.
- Paperwork and a valid ITV, any outstanding charges, and how many previous keepers there have been.
- How much demand that specific car has right now. It is the least welcome factor and it is real: whoever values it has to sell it again.
Prepare the car before you show it
Gather the service invoices, both keys if you have them, the service book and the documentation. Clean the inside. This is not cosmetics: a car that arrives with its history in order is valued better because there are fewer unknowns to discount for.
How the transaction works
- You tell us what you have: make, model, year and mileage. That is enough for a rough range the same day, by phone or WhatsApp.
- We see it in person. A serious valuation is not done from a screen. You bring the car, or send photos and documentation if you are far away, and we look at bodywork, interior, tyres, servicing and how it drives.
- You get a firm figure, and an explanation of where it comes from: what adds and what subtracts.
- You decide. If you buy here, it comes off the price of the car you take and both vehicles' paperwork is handled. If you do not buy, there is no obligation and no cost.
A high figure quoted on the phone and then cut once you have made the journey is the practice we like least in this trade. If it happens to you, leave.
What you save besides the time
When you part-exchange, a whole set of things disappears from your side: the transfer with a private buyer, the liability if the car develops a fault after you sell it, and the calls from people who never turn up. So does the gap between selling one car and buying another, which is when a lot of people end up buying in a hurry.
And there is a detail people forget: if you hand your car to us, we handle its change of ownership too, so a vehicle you no longer drive does not stay in your name. What that process is made of is in the guide to the change of ownership.
If your car still has finance on it
It can be sorted out, and it comes up more often than you would think. What matters is saying so at the start and doing it with the settlement figure in front of you, not halfway through. Ask your lender for the current outstanding amount before you sit down to talk numbers: with that figure the conversation takes ten minutes, and without it nothing can be closed.
Your car as the deposit on the next one
The valuation works exactly like a deposit: it reduces the amount you need to finance and with it the monthly payment. If you were looking at how to finance with no deposit, this is the simplest way to stop being in that position without touching your savings.
When selling it yourself is the better call
Let us be honest, because part-exchange is not always the right answer. If your car is a sought-after model, it is immaculate, you have every invoice and you do not mind giving it several weekends, selling it yourself will get you more money. The difference is real and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
What we will say is that you can keep the valuation either way. If it helps you price the car and sell it privately, go ahead: it is free and carries no obligation, and nobody is going to pressure you into buying today.
And if the car you want in exchange is not on the forecourt, it can be found: that is what car sourcing is for.
