With months of consideration I decided I’d like to sell my car and jump into a lease deal instead. I like the idea of renewing my car every few years and having all of the maintenance costs covered, breakdown cover, road tax and all that kind of thing. 

But, I wanted to sell my car for the most money and use it as a deposit for a car leasing deal. Cause I have a bad credit history I’d need to go for a firm like CVS vehicle leasing, or Hippo (I’m in the UK). 

Over the course of a few weeks I was checking out the best was to sell my old car. I found a tonne of ways to do this including car buying services, car auction, selling directly to a dealer, part exchanging and privately. My main requirement was to get the most money I could and didn't mind phone calls and showing my car to buyers. 

Before putting the car up for sale privately I went about getting some valuations and was surprised at just how much they vary. 

My car was a 2008 Ford Fiesta, 3 doors, silver with only 32, 000 miles on the clock. I used the We Want Any Car online quote to start with and was offered £1,825. This was what I kind of expected (a low value) as We Want Any Car obviously to look to make money from the purchase.

Next, I went along to the Skoda main dealers in my home city as it's a Skoda I'd like to buy next. The car I wanted to buy was around the 12k mark so a significant spend. I asked them to value my car for part exchange and they offered me just £850! It was such a low price that I felt a little insulted. It led me to rethink what car I wanted to buy. I hopped over to the Volkswagen dealership who offered me £1,500 which is still on the low side. 

So far, the We Buy Any Car quote was the one to go for and it also made me a 'cash buyer' that could hopefully lead to discount.

Car auction was not a viable method as I don't really know what I am doing and have heard that privately entered vehicles don't' get looked at very much (usually because they have mechanical issues.)

Finally, I looked at Autotrader and comparative cars to mine which was for sale anywhere between £2,500 and £3,200. I decided to have my car valeted, MOT'd and to put it up for sale on Autotrader for £2,950. I did a Google search for guides on how to sell my car on Autotrader. I found an excellent selling guide that included Autotrader prices and a tonne of information I had never thought about. 

The car went up for sale on Monday evening and I had my first call on Tuesday evening. The car was sold on Wednesday for £2,825! That's a grand more than my nearest quote. 

So, my advice is to check out the guide mentioned above and go for a private car sale (if the extra money is important to you).

To hell with part exchange prices where the dealer wants to make money out of their car and mine. I'm for private, every time.