“It was a nightmare. First, the ad-creation website is buggy - you select that the vehicle has a fault and it loses that selection when you save that page (and if you select 'other' it doesn't have a text box for you to explain what the fault is). Then, you put lots of photos in the first section, then find they should go in the later sections, so you delete them from the first section, check a few times that that has happened, then finish the ad and it uploads all the images, even the photos you deleted, so you have repeated photos.
Biggest problem? The carwow agent promised to put a description of the mechanical fault in the ad, they didn't. That meant that the first buyer refused to honour the purchase, even after we'd arranged a collection date. Waste of time.
2nd auction: carwow do manage to include the fault informaton. Buyer backed out after I'd agreed to their offer, and was awaiting a collection time, even though they'd had no new information, even their own agent was annoyed by this unprofessional behaviour!
3rd auction: despite the mechanical issue, the carwow agent wanted to list it at the highest price yet! I told them to put a lower one in as I knew their estimate was totally unrealistic. Offers had been about 50% of what it was listed at. This time we were offered 35%, but from a local garage, not big auction company. They haggled over the phone and claimed it had faults that they couldn't have diagnosed, and that their guy had said things about it that he hadn't (we'd heard them talking), but we managed to argue them back up most of the way. It's been a total nightmare, very stressful. You will not get the price the buyer offers you, the buyer will haggle - quite aggressively in our case, even for an old, cheap car (shouting at us over the phone, we just shouted back, we'd had enough being messed around). So, total nightmare. Some of this is the buyers fault, not carwow, but it is part of going down the carwow route. Will never use carwow again, and will not recommend them to anyone.”
“A more optimistic price hooks you into their process. Then, pressure to lower your price is followed, on the basis of ensuring dealers are interested, "it could go for more" they say. The auction saw a number of below par bids, for which you are pressured to take one. Then onto the collection....
Inspection revealed the missing rear wiper arm (declared on the ad) and stone chips on the windscreen which I honestly did not see. The chips were about the size of a grain of white sugar, 2 of them. The dealer wanted to replace the windscreen at a reduced price of £650 less. I refused. The dealer also wanted to take the car, and confirm payment the following day when it arrived at their dealership, which wasn't happening.
In reality, they are fed by the business from dealers and provide them with a process to get cars on mass. At every point there is pressure to reduce your price. I was lucky in that I didn't need the cash to buy the next car, but if I did I would likely have had to take their ever reducing offer. I would stay away.”
“Went from a £8925 valuation in the morning, proceeded to waste time taking pictures, listing etc to be told in the same evening my reserve should come down to £8000 due to ‘market factors and recent sale prices’. Apparently these change quite drastically not in your favour during the course of a day. Jokers”
“I’m car teaser/drake who buys from Carwow and have had my account shut before they didn’t like the review I left, DO NOT TRUST THESE PEOPLE, foreign call centres, people have no idea about motor trade or customer service, incorrect information on website, DO NOT TRUST”
“Absolute time wasters. Despite their claims, selling a vehicle with Carwow is definitely not “hassle or haggle free”.
Carwow simply enter your vehicle into the BCA auction and give the dealer your details to arrange collection and payment.
Dealers are not “trusted” and “vetted” by Carwow, but simply “any Tom Dick or Harry” who wishes to bid on your car.
Once you accept an offer on your vehicle, it is marked as “Sold” by Carwow. However, the dealer has no obligation to commit to the purchase and may back out at any time. The dealer may also offer a lower price than the accepted offer.
Carwow has wasted over 2 weeks of my time with false promises and incompetencies, resulting in delay in selling my vehicle.
In my case, I accepted an offer £700 lower than the value of my vehicle for a quick, hassle free sale. Carwow inputted the most recent service as the “first service” and consequently informed my buyer the vehicle was “83 months overdue a service”. This lead to the buyer cancelling. Throughout the process, the buyer kept postponing the collection date and were overall extremely unprofessional. When I reached the buyer/ “vetted dealer”, the address was registered to a backstreet hand car wash!
Avoid if you can.
You’d be better off with WBAC!”
“Carwow sold my car to a trader who, upon inspection, offered £400 less than the agreed price. When I refused the lower offer, they claimed I would be charged £300 for their inspection costs, citing it as per Carwow's terms and conditions. However, when I reached out to Carwow, they denied any such clause and stated it was a trader cost. Ultimately, both parties pointing fingers resulted in a loss of £300 for me. This experience has been disappointing. Selling through platforms like Autotrader and others allows potential buyers to view the car without charging fees for every inspection, making it a more preferable option.”
“Carwow site offers intelligent, good humoured, real-world reviews for normal motorists. A lot of motoring press can get caught up with vehicle handling and performance - and who can blame them if they are driving nice new cars every week. Carwow reviews offer a sensible blend of practicality and passion for heads and hearts.
The Carwow site allows you to look at a really wide range of vehicles, offers suggestions if you want any and gives you a bucket-load of prices to compare without having to engage with dealers until you are ready. They don't hassle you.
I spent several months making my mind up - which was painless and frankly quite enjoyable - and eventually bought my new car through their site, so they must be doing something right...”
“Carwow is the first online site to actually get this idea right. They have managed to reverse the car buying process so the buyer has more transparent visibility. At this stage Im only researching cars but I will update this review when I pull the trigger.”
“Trading standards should get after them for false advertising .Trying to get people to think that they are getting a bargain overinflated car RRP prices.”
