Sell On Behalf vs Cash for Cars vs Dealer Offer: Which Leaves You With More?

An instant cash buyer or dealer pays you today, at a price that leaves room for them to resell your car at a profit. Having your car sold on your behalf takes a few weeks, sells to a retail buyer at a retail price, and costs you a commission and fees. Which one leaves you with more depends on a single number: how far below the realistic sale price the instant offer sits. Here's how to work that out for your own car, and when the quick sale is still the right call.

Three ways to hand the job to someone else

If you don't want to sell privately, you have three realistic options in New Zealand.

1. An instant buyer. Cash-for-cars services, online instant-offer sites and "we buy cars" yards. They buy your car outright, often the same day.
2. A dealer offer. A trade-in when you're buying another car, or a straight buy-in.
3. Selling on behalf. A registered trader sells your car to a retail buyer for you and takes a commission. This is what we do. The full walkthrough is in how selling a car on behalf works.

All three save you from fielding messages and meeting strangers. They differ in how the money works.

How an instant cash offer is priced

A business that buys your car has to sell it again. Before it makes anything, it has to cover:

• Grooming and any repairs to get the car ready for sale
• The cost of holding the car until it sells
• Advertising and the time spent selling it
• The risk that it finds a fault, or that the market moves
• Its own profit

So the offer has to sit below what the car will sell for. That isn't a trick, and plenty of instant buyers are upfront about it. It's the price of speed and certainty. The question is only whether that price is worth it to you.

How selling on behalf is priced

When we sell your car on your behalf, a retail buyer pays a retail price, and our costs come off that figure: a package fee, a commission on the sale price, the pre-purchase inspection at cost, and storage while the car is listed. Every line is published on our pricing section, and yesterday's post goes through sell on behalf fees in detail.

The important difference is who benefits when the price goes up. If your car sells for $1,000 more at our 9% rate, $910 of that is yours. With an instant buyer, everything above the offer belongs to them.

The break-even number

Here's what selling on behalf costs through MV Consignment on our Essential package at three price points, allowing for four weeks of storage. The last column is the figure an instant offer has to beat.

Each total is 9% commission, the $189 Essential package, the $218.50 inspection and $80 of storage. Figures are illustrative. Actual sale prices, commission and timing vary by vehicle and market, and we don't guarantee a sale or a particular sale price.

So the rule of thumb for a car in this range is simple. If an instant offer is more than about 11% to 13% below what the car would realistically sell for, selling on behalf comes out ahead on the numbers, provided the car sells at that price. If the offer is closer than that, take it and enjoy the free weekend.

To use the rule you need two figures: the offer, and an honest view of what the car would sell for. We'll give you the second one for free. Ask us for a quote.

Side by side

Notice what isn't different: the effort. People often assume the choice is between an easy low price and a hard high one. Selling on behalf is as hands-off as an instant sale. What you trade is time and certainty.

When an instant sale is the right call

We'd rather you choose the right option than choose us for the wrong reasons. A quick sale makes sense when:

• You need the money now, or the car has to be gone within days.
• You're leaving the country this week and nobody can hold the car for you.
• The car has a known problem that would put most retail buyers off.
• It's a low-value car, where fixed selling costs take too big a share.
• The offer is close to what the car would realistically sell for.

If that's you, our wholesale service is worth a look before you accept the first offer you're given. One dealer or one instant buyer gives you one number. We detail and photograph the car, take it to our network of trusted wholesale buyers, and bring back the best offer on the table. You see the actual figure and say yes or no, with no pressure and no obligation.

When selling on behalf wins

It tends to come out ahead when:

• The car is worth roughly $10,000 or more and is in good condition.
• You can wait a few weeks. If you're on the North Shore or close to Riverhead, you're welcome to keep driving it while it's listed, with no storage fee.
• The car is something special. Performance, European, classic and enthusiast cars are where instant offers are usually furthest from retail value, because the buyer is pricing in the risk of a small market.
• You've been offered a trade-in that felt light. We run that comparison in consignment vs trade-in.

How to decide in ten minutes

1. Get one or two instant offers. They're free and they give you a floor.
2. Ask us what we think the car will realistically sell for, and which package suits it.
3. Take our figure, subtract roughly 11% to 13%, and compare the result with your best instant offer.
4. Ask yourself whether a few weeks' wait is worth the gap.

If you'd rather skip the arithmetic, our two-question quiz will point you to wholesale or to the right consignment package. Or get a free quote and we'll run the numbers with you.