Motorway

Investigation by Motorway reveals car buying sites often give inflated online valuations to attract customers. The company has released “TruePrice” technology to improve valuation accuracy

• Motorway data suggest 60% of sellers received less than their online valuation on day of sale
• Investigation shows buyers ‘chip down’ price when the car is inspected by an average of 6%
• Motorway launches its TruePrice online tech to improve the accuracy of buyers’ online valuations

An in-depth investigation into online used car sales by Motorway.co.uk has found that some instant car buying websites quote unrealistically high car valuations online to attract customers, but then offer significantly less on the actual day of sale.

This practice, known in the industry as ‘price chipping’, has become so commonplace that six out of ten car sellers received less than their original online valuation on the day of sale. Just 40% of sellers received the original valuation they were quoted.

The investigations revealed that prices were ‘chipped’ by 6% on average – that’s a huge £600 on a £10,000 vehicle.

To collate its figures, Motorway the UK’s leading car selling comparison website, analysed more than 4,000 completed sale transactions through instant online car buyers featured on its website, supplementing this data by surveying customers that sold to other car buyers that don’t feature.

Motorway compared the actual sale prices received for each car sold with its original online valuation. It found that while cars valued above £5,000 were chipped down by 6% on average, for those below £5,000, the average ‘chip down’ was as high as 11%.

To put this into context, a 6% chip down on a high-end car valued at £35,000 would mean a £2,000 reduction in the price at the point of sale. On a car valued at £4,550, an 11% reduction would see the valuation reduced by £500 on inspection.

But Motorway’s data showed that not all car buying services take the same approach. Some do offer realistic valuations online, which rarely change by much at all on the day of sale, while others have an average chip down rate of up to 14%.

Why are prices reduced on the day of sale?

Professional car buyers have to make reasonable assumptions on the condition and history of a vehicle in order to generate an instant valuation online, and this is notoriously difficult. If a buyer assumes that a car being valued is in ‘fair-to-good’ condition, they should expect the car to have some wear and tear consistent with its age and mileage, and present a valuation that reflects this.

While some changes to online prices are inevitable, some buyers assume all used cars valued are in perfect showroom condition despite their age – and very few are. This leads to significant reductions for typical vehicles when light scratches, dents and other normal wear-and-tear is revealed on the day of sale.

Motorway found that sales were much less likely to fall through when buyers priced realistically.

Solving the problem – TruePrice

Launched in 2017, Motorway.co.uk is a price comparison website enabling car sellers to compare offers from online car buying websites in order to find their best price. Having completed thousands of successful car sales to its panel of online buyers, Motorway today unveils its own technology called TruePrice that enables sellers to compare actual likely sale prices for their car, as well as the online offers provided by buyers.

With TruePrice, Motorway is working to deliver more accurate online valuations and a greater level of price confidence for consumers. It’s an industry first in a sector crying out for transparency.

How does TruePrice work?

Motorway proprietary TruePrice technology uses ‘guide price’ instant valuations from online buyers, and analyses historical sale prices from thousands of similar completed sales in order to calculate what customers are statistically likely to receive for their car in ‘fair-to-good’ condition.

Comparing TruePrice offers, car owners can make a more informed selling decision in seconds.

Alex Buttle, director, car buying comparison website Motorway.co.uk comments:

“Consumers are increasingly looking to sell their car online to car buying sites because the process is quick, hassle-free and there are some great instant deals to be found. Many sellers simply don’t have time to wait for offers on classified sites or to drive between car dealerships to negotiate a good price. Selling online is the fastest way to get a vehicle sold and it’s why the instant online car buying industry is growing at around 15% a year.

“But speed and convenience should not mean consumers have to accept unnecessary price reductions as part and parcel of selling online. Not all buyers routinely inflate their online valuations, but sadly chipping has become so widespread that many consumers have already accepted it as common practice. Unrealistic online valuations could really damage the reputation of this growing industry if it’s not tackled head-on.

“We felt it was time to introduce smart technology to solve this problem, so we developed TruePrice to bring pricing clarity and transparency to motorists across the UK. Car buyers featured on the Motorway.co.uk platform are now actively collaborating with us to instantly provide the most accurate valuations they can for sellers, that reflect the money customers ultimately end up receiving.

“Price transparency has transformed every other e-commerce space, it’s about time the car industry embraced the inevitable transition to a consumer-first, data-led experience. Car sellers deserve to be empowered with technology and should never be treated like ‘valuation victims’.”

Notes to Editors

Data and methodology

Buyer chip down rates were calculated by looking at the difference between online car buyer valuations and the price sellers actually received on the day of sale. Motorway analysed the online valuations and final sale prices for over 4,000 completed instant car buyer sales through it’s comparison platform during the past 12 months.

We are extremely proud to announce that Motorway was awarded ‘Highly Commended’ for the ‘Used Car Product of the Year’ award at the Car Dealer Magazine Used Car Awards 2020.

The awards were presented online by Mike Brewer, star of Discovery Channel TV show Wheeler Dealers on Friday 5th February.

Well done to our fantastic team for all your hard work throughout a challenging year. Thanks too to our incredible dealers – we love working with you, and are always proud to serve you with exclusive privately-owned stock.

Finally, a big thank you to Mike Brewer for hosting the event, all the judges, Car Dealer Magazine, James Baggott and Michelle Searle for your support. What a year!

Motorway sales director James Bush said:

“We are delighted to have been awarded Highly Commended in the Used Car Product category in this year’s Used Car Awards.

“It’s testament to the hard work our team have put in to provide a truly market-leading product and service for the dealer community, especially during the pandemic.

“Our unique offering of high-spec, privately owned used vehicle stock – all online and without the middle men – has attracted more car dealers than ever this last year.

“This recognition from the judges is a great validation of our mission towards providing the best possible, most efficient online stock-acquisition platform for the long term.”

Dealers can sign up to buy exclusive, privately-owned used car stock at Motorway here.

The British car market has seen some dramatic changes over the last 25 years. Walk down any UK road in 2019 and the brands and models you’ll see parked up in driveways are very different to 25 years ago.

To show just how much things have changed, we’ve visualised data from the DVLA on makes and models on UK roads between 1994 – 2018.

Take a look at the most popular brands over time:

For the specific models, the speed of change is even more apparent:

What to make of all this then?

🇺🇸US brand Ford remains the king of UK roads with its ubiquitous Focus and Fiesta models thriving with sustained numbers. However Escort, Mondeo and Sierra models saw quick declines over the period. Ford’s dominance is beginning to look shakey as competitors from Europe start to take a chunk of market share.

🇩🇪German car manufacturers including Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes and Audi made massive inroads with numbers on UK roads increasing by 156% over this period. It would seem that a growing reputation for build quality, efficiency and safety has convinced more and more Brits to go Deutch.

🇫🇷French brands Peugeot, Renault and Citroen have been consistent over the period, but in recent years that ‘Va Va Voom’ has all but dried up with numbers on UK roads declining by -30% between 2010 to 2018.

🇬🇧As for UK brands, Vauxhall leadership has remained strong, propped up by solid Corsa and Astra sales. The picture for Rover isn’t so pretty – it went from being the second most popular UK car brand in 1994 to total decimation after the turn of the millennium, before barely registering by 2005.

What other stories can you see?  Tweet us @motorwayhq and tell us your views.

Feel free to embed these graphics from Motorway on your website (with a link/ credit back to Motorway.co.uk who produced the graphs)

Credit for the source data to DVLA, 2018.

Buckle up Londoners, there’s a new Motorway ad on the tube…

This week we are proud to announce we have launched our first tube ad across London’s underground train network.

The advert features a pink-haired passenger whizzing down the road as she enjoys the rush of comparing prices with Motorway. The ad explains how you might be smarter using Motorway when you sell your car – you could get up to £1,000 more.

We are running the ads London-wide for a couple of weeks this September across every underground line. Look out for them on your commute!

See the Motorway tube ad below:

And here it is spotted in the wild on the Bakerloo line:

• Car thefts in City of London fall by a fifth (21%) in 2018 vs 2017
• Five police forces in England and Wales have seen car thefts more than double in five years

Staffordshire Police recorded the largest increase in car thefts of any police force in England and Wales last year, with crimes up by more than a third (38%) on 2017 figures, according to analysis of GOV.UK data by Motorway.

The latest government data on recorded police crimes*, reveals that, alongside Staffordshire, four other police forces – Bedfordshire (27%), Thames Valley (27%), Surrey (22%) and Durham (20%) – saw car thefts rise by more than a fifth last year vs 2017.

Only seven police forces in England and Wales recorded fewer car thefts in 2018 than the previous year, with the City of London (-22%), British Transport Police (-12%) and Wiltshire (-11%) all reporting double-digit cuts in thefts.

Five police forces – British Transport Police (217%), Surrey (138%), Nottinghamshire (122%), Staffordshire (115%) and the West Midlands (114%) – have seen motor vehicle thefts more than double in the past five years.

Four in ten car thefts in England and Wales during 2018 were reported by the Metropolitan Police (30,752) and West Midlands Police (11,140).

The following table shows police forces recording largest rise and fall in car thefts in 2018.

Police Force	Number of car thefts in 2017	Number of car thefts in 2018	% rise in car thefts  2018 vs 2017
Staffordshire	1,332	1,831	37.5
Bedfordshire	1,054	1,342	27.3
Thames Valley	2,574	3,265	26.8
Surrey	1,257	1,537	22.3
Durham	631	760	20.4
Gwent	681	813	19.4
West Midlands	9,386	11,140	18.7
Derbyshire	1,055	1,252	18.7
Northumbria	1,411	1,667	18.1
Essex	4,216	4,915	16.6
London,  City of	78	61	-21.8
British Transport Police	464	409	-11.9
Wiltshire	636	565	-11.2
Humberside	1,489	1,352	-9.2
Dyfed-Powys	211	195	-7.6
Merseyside	3,063	2,836	-7.4
Avon and Somerset	2,476	2,352	-5.0

Alex Buttle, director of Motorway comments:

“These troubling car crime figures suggest that over-stretched and under-resourced police forces are struggling to curb the rising number of car crimes, and in particular keyless car thefts.

“Advancements in anti-theft systems do not seem to be discouraging thieves, who are using a variety of ever-more sophisticated techniques to break into and start cars.

“The 21st century thief isn’t using a hammer to smash a window and hotwire a car. They’re armed with wireless transmitters, signal jammers and key programming devices, and can open car doors and start engines in seconds.

“The police can only do so much, and there is a responsibility on drivers, particularly those with highly desirable prestige motors, to check they are not being watched, to keep their car keys in a safe place away from windows and front doors, and to consider fitting a tracking device as an added level of protection.”

Notes to Editors

Methodology

Motorway.co.uk analysed the latest Police recorded crime data on www.gov.uk, updated on 25th April 2019, for 43 out of 44 police forces in England and Wales. Lancashire wasn’t included in the research due to the lack of a complete data set.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables

N.B. Aggravated car thefts weren’t included in the research.

• In 2019 so far, more than 42,000 people have had their driving licences medically revoked
• Over 7,000 drivers had their licences revoked because of seizures or blackouts
• Alcohol (5,450) is the most common reason for a licence to be medically revoked
• Almost 1,000 domestic vehicle drivers have had licences revoked for sleep conditions, including narcolepsy
• In the past 18 months, almost 1,000 bus or lorry drivers had their licences revoked due to blackouts or a sleep-related condition

More than 360,000 UK drivers (363,280) have had their driving licences revoked for medical reasons in the past five years, according to DVLA data analysed by Motorway.

Numbers peaked in 2018, with 73,724 driving licences medically revoked. Over 300,000 motorcycle and car drivers (307,414) have had their licences revoked on medical grounds since the start of 2014, while 55,866 lorry or bus drivers have had licences cancelled.

So far this year, more than 40,000 UK drivers (42,467) have had their driving licences revoked on medical grounds.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request made to the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) in August 2019 by Motorway.co.uk, reveals that 36,310 car or motorcycle licences (Group 1) and 6,157 lorry or bus licences (Group 2) have been medically revoked in 2019 to date.

Of these, almost two-thirds (65%) of drivers were 50 years old or over. More than 800 teenage drivers (829) have had their licences medically revoked.

Alcohol (5,450) is the most common reason for the DVLA to medically revoke a driving licence. More than 7,000 drivers (7,159) have had their driving licences cancelled this year for seizures or blackouts.

Just under 3,000 motorcycle or car drivers (2,865) have had their licences revoked in the past 18 months for sleep related conditions, including narcolepsy.

And worryingly, DVLA figures on larger vehicles reveal that almost 1,000 bus or lorry drivers (920) have had their licences revoked over the past 18 months because of blackouts or a sleep condition.

If a driver has their licence revoked on medical grounds, they can reapply for their licence once their doctor says they meet the medical standards for driving.

The rules are different if a driver voluntarily surrenders their licence. Under these circumstances, you can drive while your licence is being renewed if; you have the support of your doctor, a valid licence, you only drive under the conditions of the previous licence, you’re not disqualified, your last licence wasn’t revoked and your application is less than 12 months old.

The following table shows the most common reasons why the DVLA revoked a driving licence on medical grounds (2019):

Medical condition	Number of licences revoked	% of all medical licence revocations
Alcohol	5,450	15.0%
Seizures	5,417	14.9%
Eyesight	4,534	12.5%
Memory problems	4,175	11.5%
Mental health	3,268	9.0%
Neurological	3,041	8.4%
Cardiac	2,228	6.1%
Drugs	1,770	4.9%
Blackouts	1,742	4.8%
Diabetes	1,176	3.2%

The following table shows the number of driving licences medically revoked in the past five years (2014 to 2019 to date):

Year	Number of licences medically revoked (Group 1 & 2)
2014	48,941
2015	55,753
2016	72,019
2017	70,376
2018	73,724
2019  (to date)	42,467

Alex Buttle, director of Motorway comments:

“These figures make for quite frightening reading, but they could be just the tip of the iceberg. How many people are driving with a medical condition and haven’t informed the authorities?

You can be fined up to £1,000 if you don’t tell the DVLA about a medical condition that affects your driving, but is that really a strong enough deterrent?

“With so many of us reliant on our cars for work and pleasure, there will be drivers on the road who think it’s worth the risk to keep quiet because handing in their driving licence could mean losing their mobility, their job and not seeing their family and friends.”

At Motorway our mission is to help you get the best price for your car with the least hassle.

To help make choosing a buyer even easier we have just released two exciting new features on our website: Continue reading “Bringing reviews and maps to Motorway”

This week we were proud to launch our first radio ad for commercial UK radio.

Like our TV ad, it features a cheeky sat nav with a mind of its own which once again helpfully suggests Motorway as the fast and easy way to sell your car.

The advert explains how you could get up to £1,000 more by using Motorway to compare offers.

You can hear it airing on commercial radio stations including Absolute Radio and talkSPORT throughout 2019.

We are really proud of the finished recording and would like to thank Space City who produced it working with MNC, as well as voiceover artists Elizabeth Saary and Paul Seed.

Listen to the new Motorway radio ad below:

Motorway, the UK’s fastest-growing online marketplace for used cars, today reveals record growth in transactions on its platform as buyers and sellers embrace the opportunity to buy and sell cars entirely online. 

Having paused trading during the lockdown, Motorway restarted its service for private car sellers and dealers nationwide on May 11th, along with free, no-contact transport for every transaction. It has since seen 100% week-on-week growth in transactions, achieving £4.9m in sales last week, and a record £1.39m completed on June 10th. Over 250 new dealerships have started buying cars in its daily auctions since lockdown restrictions were eased, joining over 1,000 already using the platform. This recent performance surpasses figures from before the lockdown, supporting reports that the market is surging back to life.

To respond to huge market demand, the three-year-old start-up is now expanding its 70-strong team to reach 100 by the end of the year, as it leads a drive for efficiency and online transactions in the used car market.

Motorway connects car sellers with dealerships looking to buy stock via a purely online platform, helping both parties get the best deal by removing middlemen and automating the sale process. It charges dealers a fee for each successful sale, and is free for consumers to sell their car, with each vehicle collected from their home in a contact-free transaction.

Key stats from Motorway include:

• Over 60,000 customer sale enquiries since the start of May
• £4.9m in weekly sales and a record £1.39m on a single day
• 480% increase in revenue over the past four weeks
• Sustained improvement in car sale valuations achieved in its auctions. On average, Motorway’s sellers are receiving £480 more for their cars in June than in May.
• The company is now looking to expand its 70-strong team to 100 in the next three months to help fulfil market demand for its service.

Huge demand from consumers looking to sell their cars, along with safety concerns around visiting physical dealerships, is shifting behaviour to all-online solutions, which Motorway is leading. Motorway’s model – connecting private sellers directly with dealers – results in much faster transactions for everyone. 

Tom Leathes, CEO of Motorway, says:

“We have been growing rapidly for the past twelve months as the automotive market continues its shift online. The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated that trend, and we’re now seeing unprecedented demand for our service, from car sellers and dealers alike.

“Unlike many other industries, the used car market is now looking stronger than it has been for months.  Consumers wanting a quick sale for the best price, and dealers looking to replenish their stock, are now embracing the efficiency of doing everything online with Motorway. 

“The car industry has been behind others in embracing technology, but that is changing – and there will be no return to how things were. Motorway is delighted to be at the forefront of a fundamental movement towards a better experience for the long term. We look forward to continuing to drive technology to help the used car industry get back on the road.”

“With ballooning sales and a surge in new dealers signing up, Motorway’s experience suggests strong growth ahead in the used car market. Motorway expects this trend to continue through 2020 as both car sellers and dealers adapt to the post-Covid market with a much greater focus on efficiency, speed and transparency.”