Where to sell your car in the UK

Every selling route trades money for effort. The spread between the laziest route and the best one is often £500–£2,000 on an ordinary car — so it pays to know exactly what each pays, and what each demands of you.

The four routes, honestly compared

1. Private sale (Auto Trader, eBay Motors, Facebook Marketplace) — pays the most, because you're selling at retail. Costs you: photos, an advert, messages from strangers, viewings and test drives. Best for clean cars with a story to tell.
2. Dealer-bidding platforms (Motorway and similar) — dealers compete for your car and you post nothing publicly. Usually lands well above part-exchange with a fraction of the private-sale effort. The sweet spot for most people.
3. Part-exchange — the most convenient if you're buying anyway, and always the number to beat. Get an online figure before you walk into the showroom, or the dealer sets the anchor.
4. Instant buyers (WeBuyAnyCar and similar) — money in a day, at the lowest price of the four. Right when speed genuinely matters more than a few hundred pounds; expect the online quote to be trimmed at inspection for any flaw.

Price it from evidence, not hope

Three numbers matter: what to ask (clean private-sale value), what to be ready to accept (average-condition private value), and your floor (the part-exchange figure — any private offer above it beats trading in). Get all three at your car's real mileage, then check live listings for your exact model and year to see today's asking spread.

Your MOT history is your sales pitch

Buyers discount claims they can't check — and pay for ones they can. The strongest lines in any advert are the verifiable ones:

• "MOT until [month, year]" — a long ticket removes the buyer's first fear.
• "Mileage verified across every MOT test" — a consistent gov.uk trail is the anti-clocking proof.
• "Last MOT passed with no advisories" — rarer than you'd think, and it reads as "cared for".
• Below-average annual mileage — under ~7,000 a year is worth saying with the number.

Put the plate into the MOT history service (or Vekkle) before you write a word — you may be sitting on selling points you've forgotten, like an unbroken decade of passes.

The advert itself

Lead with year, model, trim and mileage. Then the verifiable facts above, then service history and condition in plain words — flaws included, because disclosed flaws build the trust that closes sales. Price it at your "ask" figure with "ono". Photograph it clean, outdoors, from the front three-quarter — and blur your number plate before posting to keep it from cloning sites.