Sell my car to Cazoo: review and tips for getting the best price
Thinking of selling to Cazoo? Sell My Car Guide explains everything you need to know, including fees to watch out for and getting the best price for your car.
If you want to sell your car quickly and easily, without buyers turning up for a test drive or haggling over the price, you could consider Cazoo.
Selling your car to Cazoo may not bag you the best price compared with selling privately, but it’s fast.
You’ll get an instant offer, and can sell within 48 hours with money in the bank (you can find out which car-buying site pays out fastest here).
However, they have recently introduced more fees to watch out for, which is especially important if you’re looking to sell a low-value vehicle.
So should you sell your car to Cazoo? To answer that question, let’s start by looking at how the sale process works.
Sell my car to Cazoo: how it works
Head over to the Cazoo Sell My Car page on their website and enter your car’s registration number.
This will automatically bring up the make and model of your car, and you’ll be asked a few questions about its condition, mileage and service history.
No complicated stuff here as it’s just a case of choosing the best option, like its condition, with no need to load photos or write a sales pitch as you would with the likes of AutoTrader.
You’ll then get an instant on-screen valuation, which is also emailed to you and valid for seven days.
If you’re happy with their offer, click the ‘review valuation’ button in the email to book your inspection and handover.
This can either be a home collection, which will cost you at least £149, or free drop-off at one of Cazoo’s customer centres.
You can find your nearest one by putting in your postcode and booking an appointment, usually within 48 hours, for inspection and handover.
As part of the selling process, you’ll need to show proof of ID, like a photo driving licence or passport, as well as a valid V5C, (vehicle registration document), and proof of your address, so a utility bill or bank statement.
You’ll also need evidence of the service history and at least one set of keys.
Will Cazoo buy my car? What cars do Cazoo want?
You can’t expect to sell any old banger to Cazoo.
Cars are typically under fifteen years old, with less than 150,000 miles on the clock and a minimum of two weeks MOT.
Cazoo lists the type of cars it won’t buy on this page (you’ll need to scroll down a little to the section titled ‘What we will and won’t buy’.
This includes cars without a valid MOT, outstanding finance, (unless you’re part exchanging), mechanical or electrical faults, imports or if you’ve been the registered keeper for less than three months.
How accurate is the Cazoo valuation? Will Cazoo rip you off?
Cazoo says that 97% of their customers receive the same valuation they’re offered online.
However, they do add that, if what they see on inspection doesn’t match your description, you may be offered a lower price.
This is pretty common practice and will apply at every car-buying site, so it’s best to be as honest as possible in your description to avoid getting your price knocked down upon inspection.
You might also be wondering ‘how much will Cazoo pay compared to selling my car myself?’
While there’s no question that Cazoo will offer you less – there’s a price to pay for selling your car quickly and easily – the exact amount you’ll ‘lose’ by selling to Cazoo will depend on the make, model and condition of your car.
To give you a rough idea, AutoTrader estimates you’ll get around £1,000 less when selling to a typical car-buying site (so, not specifically Cazoo) compared to going through all the effort and selling the car yourself.
I was curious to see how the numbers compared, so ran a valuation through Cazoo for my 2010 Peugeot 207 CC 1.6 GT Convertible and was offered a top price of £1,650 for ‘Excellent’ condition, down to £1,525 for ‘Poor’ condition.
I then went to AutoTrader, where I got an instant valuation of £2,670 – over £1,000 higher, which is broadly in line with what I was told to expect.
How can I get the best price when I sell my car to Cazoo?
Before selling your car to Cazoo, check the bodywork for dents, chips or scratches, as there are strict limits on how many you can have with each of the four ‘condition’ categories.
These are Excellent, Good, Average and Poor.
‘Good’ means can have up to five ‘small or medium chips, dent or scratches that don’t go through the paint’ and ‘up to two small or medium chips, dents or scratches that go through the paint’.
More than six dents that don’t go through the paint and more than three that do, counts as ‘Poor’.
A tatty interior will count against you and there’s a full checklist for each category on the website.
Cazoo claim they usually only revalue your car if the condition is “two grades lower” than described.
So if you claim it’s ‘Good’, and on inspection, Cazoo say ‘Average’, you shouldn’t get a lower price.
When you first get your online valuation, it’s worth going back in to ‘edit’ the ‘condition’, of your car to see the price variation for lower categories.
This way you’ll know Cazoo’s bottom offer upfront, say if it deems your car ‘Poor’.
However, when I did this, the difference between the highest and lowest offer was only £100.
Cazoo fees: how much will I be charged if I sell my car to Cazoo?
Cazoo fees are pretty hefty.
The car buyer used to be fee-free, but it now charges a £49 admin fee should you choose to sell to them.
You’ll also be charged if you want your car collected from your home rather than taking it to a local branch yourself.
This collection fee starts at £149 and, like the admin fee, is taken off the final price Cazoo has offered you and will be deducted before the funds are transferred into your bank account.
In the event Cazoo arrive and, post inspection, make a revised offer that you refuse, you can keep your car without paying a fee.
When you add the two fees we’ve mentioned above together, you’re looking at a cost of around £200 at best should you want your car picked up, making it by far the priciest car-buying site in terms of charges.
Take a look at the table below to see how Cazoo compares to rivals on fees.
Make sure you factor these in when comparing offers from rival sites.
| Car-buying site | Admin fee | Home collection fee |
|---|---|---|
| Motorway | £0 | £0 |
| Webuyanycar | £0-£74.99 | N/A |
| Wewantanycar | £0-£78.75 | £0 |
| Carwow | £0 | £0 |
| Arnold Clark | £0 | N/A |
| Evans Halshaw | £0 | N/A |
| Cazoo | £49 | £149+ |
| Money4yourMotors | £0-£125 | £0 |
| Webuyurcar | £0-75 | £0 |
How will I be paid if I sell my car to Cazoo?
However you sell your car, you obviously want to be sure of getting paid.
With Cazoo, payment is made direct to your bank account.
Once you accept the offer in your confirmation email, you’ll be asked for your bank details.
And, on handing over your vehicle and keys, you’ll be asked to sign to authorise the sale, and payment should be in your account within two hours.
Should I sell my car to Cazoo or can I get a better price elsewhere?
While Cazoo offer a quick sale, with the convenience of home collection, the downside is getting a potentially lower price than if you sold privately, say through Auto Trader (pictured above) or eBay.
Other competitors in the ‘quick sell’ car market include WeBuyAnyCar, Arnold Clark and Motorway.
Some will offer collection from your door like Cazoo – and even do so for free – while others will make you drive all the way to one of their branches to drop it off.
Find out who collects and who requires drop-off here
Throw in the fact that no car buyer can guarantee they’ll pay the best price for every car, and it’s clear that it’s worth doing a little research before choosing who to sell your car to.
To help make the process a little easier, we’ve rounded up all the major players in the market below.
The first link is to our independent review, the second will take you straight to the valuation page of each site.
- I want to sell my car quickly online
Read our Motorway review – or head this way to get a Motorway quote now
Read our Webuyanycar review – or head this way to get a Webuyanycar quote
Read our Wewantanycar review – or head this way to get a Wewantanycar quote
Read our Carwow review – or head this way to get a Carwow quote
Read our Arnold Clark review – or head this way to get an Arnold Clark quote
Read our Evans Halshaw review – or head this way to get an Evans Halshaw quote
Read our Mone4yourmotors review or get your Money4yourmotors quote
I want to sell my car myself to get the best price
Sell my car through AutoTrader (be sure to read our review first)
Cazoo Trustpilot rating – Excellent
Trustpilot is an independent customer review site and Cazoo has a 4.4-star rating, (out of five stars), with nearly 40,000 reviews.
While there’s no easy way to separate ‘buyers’ from ‘sellers’ in the reviews, 84% of customers have awarded Cazoo a five-star rating, with just 8% giving it the lowest one star.
When we first wrote this guide in 2022, it had a rating of 4.8 stars, putting it among the best performers in this category.
It would seem that customer satisfaction has fallen slightly since then, but it is still a good overall score.
Should I sell my car to Cazoo? Verdict/Pros & cons
If you want a hassle-free sale Cazoo is definitely an option. It’s very easy to get an instant valuation with no need for photos and a quick sale from your door.
And if you want to ask a question, you can call up and speak to real people, (not online chatbots), from 8am – 8pm 7 days a week.
Do check terms and conditions carefully, for example, if the mileage on inspection is over 1,000 higher than at valuation, you may get a revised offer.
The downside is that, with only a handful of drop-off centres spread across England and Wales, you may face a long drive along with the cost of getting home.
Also, the fees are pretty hefty, especially if you want a home collection. As we mentioned earlier, you could be looking at fees of £200 plus if you sell your car to Cazoo.
On a low-value car, that would likely mean you’re better off selling to a fee-free rival like Motorway.