Last updated 29 September 2026.
Most UK used car dealers buy stock from a handful of places: trade auctions such as BCA and Manheim, online dealer-to-dealer marketplaces such as Dealer Auction, consumer-sourced platforms such as Motorway and Carwow where private sellers put their cars up for dealers to bid on, and cars they buy direct from their own customers as part exchanges or outright purchases. This guide explains how each channel works, what to check before you bid and how to work out the most you should pay. If you sell vans or bikes, see where van dealers buy stock and where motorcycle dealers buy stock.
This guide is based on what each platform publishes on its own website as of September 2026. Fees, terms and eligibility change, so check the linked pages before you rely on a detail. We do not rank the platforms, and Haswent is not paid by any of them and earns no commission on what you buy.
Where do car dealers buy their cars?
- Trade auctions, in person or online: BCA, Manheim and Central Car Auctions among others.
- Online dealer-to-dealer marketplaces, such as Dealer Auction, where dealers, fleets and manufacturers sell part exchanges and wholesale stock.
- Consumer-sourced platforms, such as Motorway and Carwow, where you bid on cars private sellers have listed.
- Part exchanges and direct buys from your own customers, often through an online appraisal on your website.
- Other dealers, through trade contacts and franchise dealer disposals.
Trade car auctions
Trade auctions are the traditional way to buy used stock in volume. You register for a trade account, then bid in the auction hall, online during a live sale, or on buy-it-now and timed online sales. The car goes to the highest bidder once bidding passes the seller’s reserve, and you pay the hammer price plus a buyer’s fee.
BCA
BCA sells cars in live sales, where you can bid in the hall or remotely, and online through Buy Now and Bid Now sales. Its buyer app is only for registered BCA trade buyers and lets you search stock, watch live sales with audio and video, place proxy bids in advance and buy 24/7 with BCA Buy Now. Vehicle pages show guide pricing, vehicle grades and, where a car has one, a BCA Assured report, and you can book collections and request delivery from the app (BCA Buyer on the App Store).
If you used to buy at Aston Barclay, note that its five centres at Chelmsford, Donington Park, Prees Heath, Wakefield and Westbury were rebranded as BCA in July 2026, after BCA’s owner Constellation Automotive Group bought the business. They still run physical in-lane bidding as well as online sales through BCA Online and the BCA Buyer app (Car Dealer Magazine, Motor Trader).
Manheim
Manheim is part of Cox Automotive UK and runs physical auction centres alongside online sales and Buy Now (Manheim auction services). Its Simulcast platform broadcasts every Manheim auction live with video, audio and vehicle details, and is only open to the motor trade through a Manheim trade account (Manheim Simulcast).
Manheim’s buying costs guide says the buyer’s fee depends on the sale price of the vehicle, some vehicles also carry VAT on the final price, and cars covered by its SureCheck inspection carry an extra fee. You get three working days of free storage from the date of sale, then storage charges apply (Manheim buying costs). Its guide to the auction process says you have 24 hours to pay in full (Manheim buying process). SureCheck comes in Bronze, Silver, Gold and EV levels, with seven days to make a claim, and its cost depends on your buyer account type (Manheim SureCheck).
Central Car Auctions and regional auctions
Central Car Auctions runs sales from Glasgow, Birtley, Stafford, Lingfield and Accrington, with more than 17 live auctions a week from Monday to Friday. To open a trade account you upload photo ID, a motor trade insurance certificate and a utility bill. Cars carry a NAMA condition grade, you can bid online through its Auction Live service or with proxy bids, and you can view cars and start the engine on site, though test drives are not allowed. It publishes its buyer fees as a table by sale price (Central Car Auctions: buying).
Whichever auction you use, read its buyer terms before your first bid: what the grade covers, how long you have to raise a problem, and when payment and storage charges are due.
Online dealer-to-dealer marketplaces
Online trade marketplaces let you buy from other businesses without going to a sale. The best known is Dealer Auction, a joint venture between Cox Automotive and Auto Trader, formed in 2019 (Dealer Auction: about us).
Dealer Auction says its sellers include manufacturers, fleets, finance companies, dealers and consumers, and that much of the stock is part exchanges and overage wholesale stock (Dealer Auction). As a buyer you can use “Buy it now” or bid, setting a maximum that the system bids up to on your behalf, and listings show AutoTrader Retail Rating insight to help you judge how quickly a car should sell (Dealer Auction: buyers).
Dealer Auction grew out of dealer-auction.com, which Cox Automotive described as an online auction of trade-in vehicles from UK franchise dealers (CMS: Dealer Auction joint venture), so it is one of the places franchise part exchanges that are not kept for retail get sold on.
Consumer-sourced platforms: Motorway, Carwow and Wizzle
Consumer-sourced platforms put private sellers’ cars in front of dealers in an online auction. The seller lists the car with photos and details, dealers bid, and the winning dealer collects the car and pays the seller. The cars have not been through the trade, but you are buying from a member of the public, so the handover needs care.
Motorway
Motorway’s dealer site describes it as a source of private stock for dealers. Each car has a description and photos, and proxy bidding means you set your maximum over the reserve and pay £1 more than the next highest bidder. You can collect the car yourself, with Motorway putting you in touch with the seller, or use its Motorway Move delivery service, which it says starts at £99 and includes an on-site check of the car. Motorway Pay handles payment to the seller, and Motorway says NextGear funding can cover the full vehicle cost at checkout (Motorway for dealers).
Motorway’s dealer terms say you pay a purchase fee for each car, set by its fee schedule, and invoices are due within seven days. You must contact the seller or Motorway within one working day of the sale confirmation, and you can only cancel or adjust the price in set cases, such as the seller refusing to sell, undisclosed outstanding finance or fraud, or under its cancellation and price adjustment policy (Motorway dealer terms).
Carwow
Carwow runs daily auctions of private sellers’ cars from Monday to Saturday. To join, it says a dealership must be registered at Companies House, sell at least five vehicles, have a website or virtual showroom, business premises and customer reviews. Autobid caps your bid at your maximum and charges £1 over the next highest bid. Its Carwow Collects service covers appraisal, test drive, collection and delivery, BuySafe adds cover for major faults found after delivery, and it says buyer fees start from £199 (Carwow auctions for dealers). For the seller, listing is free and they get free collection and same-day payment (Carwow: sell my car).
What happened to Wizzle?
Wizzle was a platform that let dealers value and make offers on cars from private sellers. Carwow bought it in June 2021 to add multiple dealer offers to its own car selling service (Motor Trader). When we checked in September 2026, wizzle.co.uk redirected to Carwow’s sell my car page, so if you are looking for Wizzle stock, Carwow’s dealer auctions are where it went.
Part exchanges and buying from the public
Cars you buy from your own customers come without anyone else in the trade taking a cut. They come as part exchanges against a car you are selling, or as outright purchases from people who just want to sell.
With each part exchange, decide whether it is for your forecourt or the trade. Our part exchange guide covers valuing a PX, outstanding finance and overallowances.
Buying outright from the public is how the big car buying brands work, and you can do the same from your own website with a “we buy any car” style valuation form or an online appraisal. The customer sends photos and details, you make an offer, and if they accept you arrange the handover. Either way, every car you buy from the public has to be put into the trade with DVLA, and you need to see the V5C and run a history check before you pay.
Trade-to-trade and other sources
Plenty of stock never goes near an auction. Dealers sell to each other directly: a franchise dealer clearing part exchanges, a specialist selling on a car outside its niche, or a trader you have bought from before phoning you first. There is no buyer’s fee, but you are relying on the other dealer’s description, so do the same checks you would at auction.
Fleet, lease and rental companies also sell their returned cars into the trade, mostly through the auction houses and online marketplaces above. Dealer Auction lists fleets and finance companies among its sellers, and Manheim offers defleet services to fleet owners.
What to check before you bid
Check the car, the numbers and the costs before you bid, not after. A car that looks cheap at the hammer can lose money once fees, preparation and time in stock are added.
- History. Run a history check for outstanding finance, write-off markers and stolen records, and look at the MOT history on GOV.UK for mileage and advisories. If the car has a write-off category, read our guide to Cat S and Cat N.
- Condition. Read the grade or condition report and what it does and does not cover. Look at any assurance product, such as Manheim’s SureCheck or BCA Assured, and the claim window.
- Trade value. Compare the asking price or guide price with CAP HPI or Glass’s trade values. Our guide to CAP clean, retail and trade values explains what each figure means.
- Retail value and speed of sale. Check the AutoTrader retail valuation and the retail rating, a score from 1 to 100 of how fast a car is likely to sell in your area at market value (AutoTrader Retail Check). See our guide to AutoTrader valuations for dealers.
- Preparation. Estimate the service, tyres, bodywork, MOT and valet the car needs, from the report and photos.
- Fees and transport. Add the buyer’s fee from the platform’s current schedule, any assurance fee, and collection or delivery. If you drive cars back yourself, you will need trade plates or to tax the car.
- VAT status. Manheim’s buying costs guide notes that some vehicles carry VAT on the final price. Check whether a car is sold with VAT before you bid, because it changes both your cost and how you sell it.
How to work out your maximum bid
Work back from what you will sell the car for. Start with the retail price you expect to achieve, take off every cost of getting it sold and the profit you want, and what is left is the most you should bid. AutoTrader’s Retail Check includes a “retail back” calculator that does this, starting from the retail valuation and taking away your expected costs and target margin.
Here is an example for a VAT-registered dealer selling under the margin scheme. All figures are illustrative, so use your own costs and the platform’s real fee for the price you expect to pay.
| Expected retail price (from the AutoTrader retail valuation) | £10,000 |
| Less preparation (service, tyres, smart repair, valet) | −£600 |
| Less collection or delivery | −£150 |
| Less warranty and sale costs | −£200 |
| Less buyer's fee | −£400 |
| Less stock funding and holding cost | −£100 |
| Less your target profit | −£1,200 |
| Less margin scheme VAT (one-sixth of £3,180, the gap between selling price and hammer price) | −£530 |
| Maximum hammer price | £6,820 |
Under the margin scheme, VAT is one-sixth of the margin between your selling price and your purchase price, and you cannot add repairs or preparation to the purchase price to reduce it (HMRC: how to work out the margin). For simplicity, the example works the VAT out on the hammer price. HMRC’s guidance on buying from an auction explains how the buyer’s premium and other auction charges are treated, which can change the figure slightly. A dealer who is not VAT registered has no VAT line, so in this example the ceiling would be £7,350.
Then adjust for speed of sale. If the retail rating is low, or you already have similar cars in stock, take more off: every extra week the car sits costs you funding and forecourt space. You can test your figures with our free vehicle profit calculator, and our VAT margin scheme guide covers the VAT side in more detail.
Set that number before the sale and use it as your proxy or maximum bid.
Managing cash flow and stock funding
Most dealers fund at least part of their stock with a stocking loan, because buying outright ties up cash you need for the next car. A stock funder pays for the car and you repay it when it sells or the term ends, paying fees and interest in the meantime.
Funding is often built into the buying platforms. NextGear Capital says it is integrated into Central Car Auctions so you can buy with your stocking plan, with funding for up to 150 days per vehicle (NextGear Capital), and Motorway says NextGear can cover the full cost at checkout. Central Car Auctions also lists MotoNovo Finance, V12 Vehicle Finance and LE Capital as funding options.
The risk is that funding makes it easy to buy more than you can sell. Keep track of how many days each funded car has left, and include funding charges in each car’s costs so your profit figures are real. Our guide to stock management from purchase to sale covers ageing stock and repricing.
Common mistakes
| Mistake | What to do instead |
|---|---|
| Bidding from the trade guide value alone | Work back from the retail price you can achieve, with all your costs and VAT, and set a maximum before the sale. |
| Forgetting the buyer's fee | Check the platform's current fee for the price band you expect to pay, and add assurance, storage and transport. |
| Skipping the history check on a "clean" car | Check finance, write-off and stolen markers and the MOT history on every car. |
| Assuming the grade covers everything | Read what the grade or assurance product covers and how long you have to claim. |
| Leaving cars on site after the sale | Arrange collection straight away. Storage charges start after the free period, and some platforms expect contact with the seller within a day. |
| Buying cars that suit someone else's forecourt | Check the retail rating and days to sell for your location, and buy what sells for you. |
When you buy from another business, you are not buying as a consumer, so your comeback depends mostly on the seller’s terms and any assurance you paid for. When you sell it on to a consumer, the Consumer Rights Act applies to you in full, which is another reason to check cars properly before you buy.
How Haswent helps
Haswent helps you value cars before you buy and see what they really cost once you have them.
- Online appraisals let customers send photos, video and answers to your questions from their phone’s browser. When AutoTrader is connected, the appraisal shows AutoTrader’s retail, trade, part exchange and private values, and you can request a CAP HPI valuation (chargeable). You enter your offer and an expiry date, the customer is emailed, and if they accept, Add to Stock creates the car in stock.
- CAP HPI valuations can be run on single cars, or on a pasted list of registrations and mileages, under Stock > Valuations, which is handy for an auction catalogue. They are charged per vehicle and need switching on by us.
- Stock management adds your preparation costs to the purchase price to give a stand-in value, and shows days in stock, AutoTrader valuations and retail rating for each car. You can run MotorCheck history reports with your own MotorCheck account.
- Stock funding records agreements with any funder and reads in your NextGear Capital loans, so funding charges show as costs on each car.
Sources
- BCA Buyer app listing (App Store)
- Car Dealer Magazine: Aston Barclay sites rebranded under BCA (July 2026)
- Motor Trader: BCA integrates all five Aston Barclay centres (July 2026)
- Manheim: auction services, Simulcast, buying costs, buying process and SureCheck
- Central Car Auctions: buying
- Dealer Auction: about us, home page and buyers
- Motorway for dealers and dealer terms
- Carwow auctions for dealers and Carwow: sell my car
- CMS: Cox Automotive and Auto Trader Dealer Auction joint venture
- Motor Trader: Carwow acquires Wizzle (June 2021)
- AutoTrader Retail Check
- NextGear Capital: Central Car Auctions
- HMRC: using the VAT margin scheme for second-hand vehicles
- HMRC: buying second-hand vehicles using a VAT margin scheme
- GOV.UK: check MOT history
Frequently asked questions
Where do car dealers buy their cars?
Most UK used car dealers buy from trade auctions such as BCA, Manheim and Central Car Auctions, online trade marketplaces such as Dealer Auction, and consumer-sourced platforms such as Motorway and Carwow, where private sellers list their cars for dealers to bid on. They also buy part exchanges and cars direct from the public, often through an online appraisal on their own website, and trade cars with other dealers.
What is Motorway for dealers?
Motorway runs online auctions of cars listed by private sellers, and dealers bid on them. Each car has a description and photos, and proxy bidding means you pay £1 more than the next highest bidder up to your maximum. You collect the car yourself or use Motorway's delivery service, and you pay Motorway a purchase fee for each car you buy.
Is Dealer Auction the same as Manheim?
No, but they are related. Dealer Auction is an online trade marketplace run as a joint venture between Cox Automotive and Auto Trader, formed in 2019. Manheim is Cox Automotive's auction business, with physical auction centres and online sales. Manheim's former online remarketing division was one of the businesses put into the Dealer Auction joint venture.
What happened to Wizzle?
Carwow bought Wizzle in June 2021 and used its technology to give sellers offers from multiple dealers. When we checked in September 2026, the Wizzle website redirected to Carwow's sell my car page, and dealers buy those cars through Carwow's dealer auctions.
Can anyone buy at a trade car auction?
Trade-only sales and online bidding tools are for registered trade buyers. BCA's buyer app is only for registered BCA trade buyers, Manheim's Simulcast is only open to the motor trade, and Central Car Auctions asks for photo ID, a motor trade insurance certificate and a utility bill to open a trade account. Some auction houses also run sales that the public can join.
How do I work out how much to bid on a car?
Work back from the retail price you expect to sell it for. Take off preparation, transport, warranty, the buyer's fee, funding costs, your target profit and any margin scheme VAT, and what is left is your maximum bid. Set it before the sale and use it as your proxy bid, then take more off if the car is likely to be slow to sell in your area.
What fees do dealers pay at car auctions?
Most auctions and online platforms charge the buyer a fee on top of the hammer price, usually set by the sale price of the car. You may also pay for assurance products, storage after the free period, transport and VAT where the car is sold with VAT. Fees change, so check each platform's current fee schedule before you bid.