Selling your car using Autoflip

[Crazy Dazz]

So a friend was selling her 2014 FG2 XR6. Nothing special, just a nice clean, well maintained, Falcon I think it had done around 125kk.
Paid $15k a few years back, so was advertising for $17k, and hoping to get at least $16k.

So had the usual gumnuts and time wasters, and a few low-balling dealers.
Then along comes this mob called "Autoflip".

Our team will develop a profile on your car & forward the profile on to our reliable network of dealers & wholesalers.
Our network will bid on your used car & we will call you within 24 hours to let you know the highest bid.
You can have the car picked up & the cash in your bank account within 48 hours.

Sounds like either a scam, or just another one of these schemes that go nowhere.
But they came out, did an inspection, took photos, she listed it with a reserve of $15k, and a day or two later the car is sold for a smidge over $16k. No hassle, no haggling, no messing about.

Anyone else had any dealing with this mob, or similar?

I suppose one take away could be that she under-priced the car, but considering she had it advertised for weeks at $17k, and got only time-wasters, I don't know.
And its hardly the first time where I've had a dealer or wholesaler make a better offer.

[flightstrike]

I've seen a few of these Agentspop up lately. I think I might've first seen one being plugged by one of the TV NEWS shows. Some do all the work for you, including pickup of the vehicle.

Do you know if the buyer was private or a dealer?

I have to say I've done no research on them, but keeping them in the back of my mind if/when the time comes to move my Ute on.

[jaydee]

Good concept, can't say I've heard of this company, but sounds like they're ok.
As flightstrike asked, be interesting to know if it was a dealer or private buyer.
Probably on a truck to Sydney with a speedo showing under 100 thousand kays.
Nah, just being cynical.
Lots of good reviews on FB and Google.

[Itsme]

It pays to know the value of your car you want to sell otherwise you could be short changing yourself, be interesting to know the fees they charge for this service compared to normal auction houses.

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by flightstrike

I've seen a few of these Agentspop up lately. I think I might've first seen one being plugged by one of the TV NEWS shows. Some do all the work for you, including pickup of the vehicle.

Do you know if the buyer was private or a dealer?

They claim that their buyers and dealers & wholesalers,
and I can't find anywhere that a member of the public could access the cars.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

They claim that their buyers and dealers & wholesalers,
and I can't find anywhere that a member of the public could access the cars.

Their FAQ has something similar.............


I am looking to sell my car and buy something new, can AutoFlip help me with both?
Yes, not only can AutoFlip find the best price for your car we can also help find you a new one at a great price, fee free with no need to go to a dealership. We do all the running around and negotiating for you.

[Bossxr8]

They have companies like this in the usa. Carmax, carvana etc.

[winkle]

Hi all. As I've got my wife's Ford Escape for sale at the moment, I'd thought I'd give this a try yesterday after reading about it here. I entered the details of the car on their website and it gave me a suggested value of $35,840 - $39,760. It's a 2017 Titanium with 42,000 kms, so this range seemed a bit excessive - I'm thinking around $30,000. I got a call from Scott who explained the process: they essentially put it out to tender to a range of dealers, who can respond if interested and basically pick up the car and pay for it within 24 hours. To be clear, the dealer pays the seller direct and pays some fee/commission to Autoflip (I'm not sure how much). All that sounds OK, so I agree to have a sales agent call me. Alex rings me a couple of hours later and confirms a few details and asks what reserve I want. So I tell her $30,000. She responds that that seems to high, and runs through a couple of current listings on carsales.com.au to back it up (examples at a dealer for less than $30k). I still reckon the car is worth $30,000, she thinks a reserve of $26,500 is appropriate. Bear in mind the original range from their website. So we agree to go no further and this has cost me nothing but a little bit of time. I was in my Ranger on the way home when she rang me, so immediately jumped on carsales when I got home. The first 6 listings were all above $30k for similar kms, one as much as $37k. So she's been at least a bit cagey in my mind, or a worse deliberately omitted the truth. No judgement at my end, but my impression is that they are essentially trying to wholesale cars with a quick turnover. Not really what is promoted. Anyway, just thought I'd share my experience. If anyone wants a very well looked after low km Escape, let me know.

[Bossxr8]

Looking for a quick flip by low balling the owner.

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by winkle

but my impression is that they are essentially trying to wholesale cars with a quick turnover.

It's called "autoflip", what exactly were you expecting?

Originally Posted by winkle

Not really what is promoted.

Say what? I'd say that their service is exactly as promoted

It's interesting.
My initial reaction is that such things are a scam, but it worked well for my friend.

Obviously they are in it to make money, they have to charge the dealer a fee for their service. (Although it's possible that they in their Establishment & Growth phase, and so are moderating their fees to generate business??)

And yes, the underlying notion is absurd. Somebody could have bought her car for $16k, instead they will pay $19~20k at a dealer. But that's life. I myself have sold cars to dealers who offered more money that what was going privately.

As for the valuations, all I can say is that it was inline with expectations.
She was advertising the car privately, for $17k, hoping to get $16k. Their valuation was $14~15k, and they agreed to a reserve of $15k. She got just over $16k.
Yes, that's less than what dealers are asking, obviously it has to be.

[winkle]

My biggest issue is the huge difference between the initial valuation and the reserve price they want you to set. The minimum value was $35,840 (I've got a screen shot of the range), and they want me to set a reserve of $26,500. That's a difference of $9,340. That's a lot of money in my book. And she was selectively quoting car ads from carsales, which I found to be misleading within 15 minutes of the phone conversation. If I wanted to sell for $26,500 I would list at that and probably sell within a couple of days.

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by winkle

If I wanted to sell for $26,500 I would list at that and probably sell within a couple of days.

So why don't you?

So you're prepared to sell your car for $29,750, and I'm guessing that if somebody offered you $29k cash tomorrow then you would certainly consider it.

BUT you think this mob should do the work for you, AND guarantee you at least $30k minimum.
How does that work?

[fordomatic]

So today I thought i'd do the same as winkle. My 2010 G6E Turbo with 50,000km, 2 owners and full service history. The minimum valuation it gave me was $32560 I also got a call and they wanted to do a reserve of $23000. That's an almost 10k difference. Considering well used examples with 200km are selling for 25-30k I politely declined. To me this seems the same as dealers ringing you up and lowballing you, but offering a quick sale.

Then this afternoon I did the instant offer on Carsales for a laugh, got an offer range of $34580 to $36490 and a dealers name to take it into. I'm not going through with it, but I was much more surprised with that rather than Autoflip.

[fordomatic]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

So why don't you?

So you're prepared to sell your car for $29,750, and I'm guessing that if somebody offered you $29k cash tomorrow then you would certainly consider it.

BUT you think this mob should do the work for you, AND guarantee you at least $30k minimum.
How does that work?

Mate, in the initial valuation they told him $35840, that is why he was expecting 30k minimum. Have a read of his actual post and you might understand where he is coming from better.

$3500 might not be much for you, but I'd much rather wait a few weeks and pocket that, then sell it for a quick sale that i would regret.

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

So why don't you?

So you're prepared to sell your car for $29,750, and I'm guessing that if somebody offered you $29k cash tomorrow then you would certainly consider it.

BUT you think this mob should do the work for you, AND guarantee you at least $30k minimum.
How does that work?

If Autoflip is quoting minimum prices yes you would expect that from them and again they are charging for their services, no one does anything for nothing.
Sounds like false advertising from Autoflip, if it is too good to be true then it is not true.

Cheers

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by fordomatic

Mate, in the initial valuation they told him $35840, that is why he was expecting 30k minimum. Have a read of his actual post and you might understand where he is coming from better.

So he KNOWS his car is worth no more than $30k (he's actually selling it for $29,750)
but somehow manipulates the online valuation tool into an extra $5k...
ok, I can see how some simpletons might be confused by that.

Bottom line is that he's advertising his car for $29,750, and not getting any bites, but wants this mob to guarantee him $30k???

Originally Posted by fordomatic

$3500 might not be much for you, but I'd much rather wait a few weeks and pocket that, then sell it for a quick sale that i would regret.

Obviously anybody would rather have more cash than less, and this is by definition a quick sale process.

In a perfect world, you would always get more selling your car privately, and cutting out the profit for the dealer and wholesaler.
But it doesn't always work. I guess some buyers are just more comfortable buying from dealers.

And I think that part of the problem is all the nongs trying to sell their cars privately. They look look at an expensive advertised price, decide their car is better, and price it more, whilst completely ignoring that the dealer's price includes GST, warranty allowance, wriggle-room, and profit.
Then other nongs look at their inflated prices, and inflates theirs also.
Then buyers look at those inflated prices and conclude it's easier to buy from a dealer.

End of the day, all this process is doing is shopping your car around to dealers. You're only ever going to get, at best, a good dealer offer. You could probably still do better yourself by physically driving the car around to a bunch of dealers

[FairmontGS]

Originally Posted by fordomatic

So today I thought i'd do the same as winkle. My 2010 G6E Turbo with 50,000km, 2 owners and full service history. The minimum valuation it gave me was $32560 I also got a call and they wanted to do a reserve of $23000. That's an almost 10k difference. Considering well used examples with 200km are selling for 25-30k I politely declined. To me this seems the same as dealers ringing you up and lowballing you, but offering a quick sale.

Then this afternoon I did the instant offer on Carsales for a laugh, got an offer range of $34580 to $36490 and a dealers name to take it into. I'm not going through with it, but I was much more surprised with that rather than Autoflip.

I did the Carsales instant offer thing with the FG GT recently just for a laugh and they basically Redbook priced it. Yeah, nup when they are pulling > $80k for low km manuals.

[Giant Cranium]

Originally Posted by FairmontGS

I did the Carsales instant offer thing with the FG GT recently just for a laugh and they basically Redbook priced it. Yeah, nup when they are pulling > $80k for low km manuals.

Red book is all the are worth mate. Because I like you I’ll compound tomorrow and give you 5k extra. You know, just to help you out

[Beastie]

[Yellow_Festiva]

This mob must be very new. When this thread started I searched for reviews and found none.

[Honest Gaza]

Originally Posted by fordomatic

Then this afternoon I did the instant offer on Carsales....

I have done the same thing previously to see what they would give for our 2013 FPV-GT (will be selling once our Ford Everest arrives)

November 2021 came back as $43,500
January 2022 came back as $44,800

The only positive thing I can say is at least it's going up

[fordomatic]

Originally Posted by Honest Gaza

I have done the same thing previously to see what they would give for our 2013 FPV-GT (will be selling once our Ford Everest arrives)

November 2021 came back as $43,500
January 2022 came back as $44,800

The only positive thing I can say is at least it's going up

I was actually super surprised with what it said. Probably would have arrived at the dealer to get the money, "Nah mate, only worth 25k to me that one, i'll give ya 23k just because i'm feeling nice today"