By 
Arguably the most important aspect of selling your long-serving set of wheels is getting the correct car valuation.
Luckily, this doesn’t have to be down to guesswork or witchcraft, as there are a number of handy car valuation websites that offer free valuations that arm you with the knowledge of what your car is really worth.
Where car value was once only really the knowledge of industry insiders, or those with plenty of time on their hands to conduct lengthy analysis of the used car market, it is now as simple as punching a few digits into the correct website and coming away with the latest car prices.
How do I check how much my car is worth?
Good question, as simply typing "what is my car worth?" into your chosen search engine will be enough to bring up some relevant websites but it is worth considering the sort of service you are going to use to eventually sell your car.
Third party sites, such as We Buy Any Car and Evans Halshaw, will first give you a rough estimate of your car’s value to the business in question (after they’ve skimmed some profit from the sale), meaning it might not be a true representation of your vehicle’s value on the used market.
Also, it is a good idea to take note of your car’s mileage and any damage that it might possess, as these factors will be taken into account when calculating a car’s true value.
After all, worn interiors, scratched paintwork and damp patches in the boot are rarely desirable facets in a used car and will tend to see the value drop.
Credit:
Armand Grobler/Barcroft Media
How to get the best price for your car
This will really depend on how much time you’d like to invest in selling your car, versus the cash you’d like to see deposited into your bank account.
Third party sites that promise to take the hassle out of selling your car often offer a value that is considerably under the current market value for your vehicle, as they need to take into account their own costs and overheads.
A better representation of vehicle value can be found on websites that use HPI or CAP industry figures, which specifically comb the used market for up to date used car prices.
Alas, this price is only attainable if you’re willing to sell your vehicle privately, which can often be the most time consuming method but is prone to reaping the greatest rewards.
If you’re thinking of selling your car online, don’t forget to check out our handy guide here or read on for our pick of the best car valuation sites on the web.
Confused.com
There isn’t much that Confused.com doesn’t offer, from car and van insurance quotes to accurate used car valuation tools.
Although not the easiest section of the site to find, you can find out how much your car is worth by heading to the Buy a Car dropdown menu and then clicking on ‘used car valuation’ under the Handy Tools section.
It requires a registration number, an email address and optional mileage but pulls in data from industry experts Glass’s to give you a good representation of what your car is worth if sold privately (in good or poor condition), a trade-in price or what you could expect to pay on the forecourt.
www.confused.com
RAC Cars
RAC Cars is a great portal to visit if you are in the market for a used car, as it boasts over 300,000 cars for sale, all of which are a few clicks away.
Handier still is the ‘Value my car’ tab, which requires the registration number of your vehicle and a few simple details about its age, mileage and condition, before feeding back with an accurate representation of what your vehicle is worth.
Unfortunately, you will need to enter an email address and a phone number, while small tick boxes should be left unchecked if you don’t want to receive lots of marketing material.
www.raccars.co.uk
Regit
Do you often forget your MOT date? Do you find your car insurance auto-renews when you don’t want it to? Well, Regit has you covered, as it creates a virtual garage of all of your vehicles and reminds you of all the key dates throughout its life.
Better still, it also gives you an up-to-date value of your car (it’s possible to enter store multiple vehicle information simultaneously), with real offers pulled in from WE Buy Any Car, The Car Buying Group and much more.
www.regit.cars
The AA
Although not primarily what The AA offers in terms of services, the site does feature a number of tools that will assist in the buying or selling of a used vehicle.
It’s possible to quickly check a car’s history if you’re consider buying, for example, but its valuation tool is also a good way of getting a quick overview on what your vehicle might be worth.
It is powered by We Buy Cars Today, which is a third party selling site, so the information isn’t as thorough as those that use HPI, Glass’s or CAP vehicle information.
www.theaa.com
Motorway
Consider Motorway the price comparison website of the used car world, as it pulls in data from the biggest car buying sites on the web, meaning you get the best price for your used car.
Remember, the values offered by these third party car buying sites will likely be less than those achievable if you sell your car privately, but Motorway displays fees and makes the selling process as transparent as possible so you get the best deal.
www.motorway.co.uk
We Buy Any Car
Thanks to a raft of annoyingly effective television adverts, this might be the first port of call for those looking to sell their car and that’s not bad thing, as it’s as easy as entering your reg number and a few personal details to receive a value.
However, We Buy Any Car will take a cut of the profits and will require you to visit one of its 200 nationwide branches to have the vehicle inspected before settling on a final value.
Easy? Most certainly. The best value for your car? Probably not.
www.webuyanycar.com
Auto Trader
Auto Trader is one of the biggest used car buying and selling sites in the UK and as a result, it benefits from an extensive database of used car values.
Punch in a registration number and the current mileage and let Auto Trader do the rest. It offers a car guide price based on the latest car values and offers figures for private sales and part-exchange prices, giving you plenty of options.
www.autotrader.co.uk
HPI Valuations
It is telling that many of the sites, as well as industry insiders, rely on CAP data to get the very best, latest and accurate values of used cars.
Head to the site, enter your registration number and a few details about you and HPI will instantly respond with the vehicle’s value when new, the market value of the car if sold privately, a part exchange figure and what you’d expect to pay for the vehicle if you bought directly from the dealer.
It’s a robust service – and completely free – with valuation derived from HPI’s team of highly experienced researchers who work closely with various industry experts and motorists to collect and analyse data on a weekly basis.
www.hpivaluations.com
What Car?
As well as delivering some of the most honest, accurate and sensible reviews of new and used cars, What Car? has also teamed up with industry experts CAP and HPI to deliver a quick and free valuation of your car.
Your car can’t be more than 20 years old, but the immediate valuation figure is free and extremely easy to obtain, while the data is some of those most thorough and extensively researched on the web.
www.whatcar.com
Parkers
Parkers’ team of independent experts visit hundreds of dealers every month and feedback to a central database with the most up to date vehicle pricing.
According to the team, it monitors around 1.5 million sales every year – around 4,100 car sales every day – so the information fed back from the free car valuation check is accurate and reliable.
Type in your reg number and receive the original price of the car when new and the secondhand price you’d expect to pay for it today at a franchised dealer, an independent dealer and a private seller.
Plus, you can adjust the valuation for mileage and input the factory fitted options that might make your car more desirable on the second hand market and therefore more valuable.
www.parkers.co.uk
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