The Best Place To Sell Your Car

eBay gives you a huge audience and the freedom to sell your way, either as a fixed price classified advert or as an auction with a reserve so the car can't go for less than you'll accept. It's our go-to site for private sales, and we've used both listing types many times with good results.

Creating a listing is quick, with a few details and your photos doing most of the work. Buyers can message you through eBay, the feedback system helps you judge who you're dealing with, and there's an online payment facility for the deposit.

There are listing fees for cars, and the cost depends on the listing type you choose. As long as the car sells for the price you want, the fees are a small part of the deal.

AutoTrader is the best known car selling site in the UK, and dealers browse it daily for stock, so your advert lands in front of serious buyers. Its listings are the most detailed of any site here, with plenty of filters and fields for your car's specification, a clean layout and the option to add a video.

That reach comes at a price. AutoTrader sells a range of packages, and the cost rises with the value of the car, so it's the most expensive place to advertise in this list. You pay whether or not the car sells, which is why we only recommend it when you're confident of a sale.

There's no online payment facility, so you'll arrange payment with the buyer yourself.

Gumtree lets you advertise your car for free, with optional paid boosts if you want it pushed up the results. We've sold cars on Gumtree several times and most of our listings found a buyer, mainly for cars under £5,000, as the site leans towards lower value cars.

Its search is built around location, and every car we've sold there went to someone local or a few miles away. Listing is simple, as a registration lookup fills in your car's details, and when we've listed, a basic vehicle history check appeared on the advert. You can also hide your phone number and take enquiries by email.

There's no auction option and no online payment, so it's a straightforward classified advert.

Facebook Marketplace costs nothing and lets you share your advert across your profile and local groups, so it can reach a lot of people without spending a penny. Adding photos and videos is easy, and you can see a buyer's profile before you reply, which helps weed out time wasters.

The catch is that buyers and sellers need a Facebook account, so anyone who isn't on Facebook won't see your advert. In practice, that still leaves a huge audience, and a car shared into a local or owners' group can find a buyer quickly.

There's no payment facility, so you'll need to arrange a safe way to take payment before handing over the keys.

For a classic, Cars & Classics puts your car in front of people who are already looking for one. We've sold two cars through it, a VW T2 camper and a Mercedes SL380, and both sold within a few days.

Classified adverts are free, and the site runs online auctions too, with no fee unless the car sells. Auctions are promoted on its social media channels to bring more eyes to your listing, and there's an online escrow payment service for safer transactions.

The site is basic compared with the bigger names, and the search filters are limited. It also isn't the place for a modern car, as its audience is focused on older and classic vehicles.

We Buy Any Car is one of the quickest and easiest ways to sell a car, and we've used it three times ourselves. You enter the registration, mileage and contact details, adjust a few questions about condition, service history and MOT, and get an instant valuation.

If you're happy, you book an appointment, which can be the same day. An assessor inspects the car, and if it matches what you declared, you get the full price, while any undeclared faults reduce the offer. You can walk away at that point if the final figure isn't right.

It buys cars in any condition and completes the V5C on the day. An admin fee comes off the price, and faster payment costs extra, so compare the final figure with a private sale. Our We Buy Any Car review covers our experience in full.

Motorway sells your car directly to a dealer, putting it in front of its network of dealers so they compete to buy it. That competition can push the price above a fixed valuation from a single buying service.

You enter the registration and answer questions on history, mileage and condition, then upload photos of the car for a more accurate offer. Dealers bid on what they see, so the more honest and complete your photos, the less risk of the price dropping at collection.

Once you accept, the dealer inspects the car and arranges free collection from your home, with payment made when they take the car. Collection times depend on the dealer buying it, and taking all those photos takes a little time upfront.