We are only paid from money you would never have had.
Nothing up front. Nothing at all unless we beat your benchmark. Above it, the extra is split 50/50, and every dollar of that extra is value that did not exist when you were standing in the dealership.
No statutory warranty
Dealers price statutory warranty risk into every trade offer, and on luxury and European cars it can run to thousands. We sell your car on consignment for you, and in Queensland that sale carries no statutory warranty. So that discount never comes out of your price. How it works
Three ways it can go
Including the one that doesn't work out.
Based on a $30,000 benchmark. Illustrative only, your figures depend on your car.
It sells well
$3,000 more than trading in.
It sells modestly above
$1,250 more than trading in.
It does not beat your offer
No fee, no listing cost, no obligation. You are free to go and trade it in, though be aware your original offer may have expired by then.
What is included
Everything, and it is all on us.
There is no menu of extras and nothing that gets added at the end. If the car does not beat your benchmark, we have simply spent our own money on it.
- Professional photography and vehicle presentation
- Listings across the major marketplaces, written properly
- Every enquiry answered and every time-waster filtered out
- Inspections and test drives supervised by us with verified buyers
- All negotiation handled on your behalf
- Finance payout, PPSR clearance and settlement
- Transfer paperwork, disclosures and handover
What you will never be charged
- An up-front or listing fee
- A commission calculated on your car's total value
- Advertising or photography costs
- A monthly or weekly holding charge
- An exit fee if you decide to stop
- Anything at all if we do not beat your benchmark
This is the difference between us and traditional consignment. Consignment asks you to pay someone to sell your car. We are asking for a share of money you would not otherwise have had.
The fine print, in plain English
Things worth knowing before you start.
Your benchmark must be a standalone offer
We benchmark against a written offer to buy your car outright, not a trade figure bundled into a new car purchase. Bundled figures are often inflated, with the difference recovered from the discount on the car you are buying, and no one can beat a number that was never real. Here is how that works.
There is a time limit, agreed up front
Most cars sell in 2 to 4 weeks. We agree a maximum of 6 weeks before we start. If we have not sold it by then, you can take the car back with nothing to pay.
Your dealer offer may not wait for us
Dealer offers commonly expire within days. If we do not beat your benchmark and you go back to trade the car in, the dealer may re-value it. This is the genuine risk of using us, and we would rather you understood it now than discovered it later.
We will decline cars we do not think we can beat
It is not in either of our interests to take on a car we cannot improve on. If your offer is already strong, if the vehicle needs significant work to present at retail, or if you need to be out of it quickly, we will tell you to take the trade-in.
No statutory warranty, and buyers are told
Because we sell on consignment for you, the sale carries no statutory warranty in Queensland. That is why a luxury or European car often does better with us than at trade, where the dealer discounts for warranty risk. Buyers are told in writing before they sign, and there is no cooling-off period on a consignment sale. It only holds while you own the car, and it does not switch off every consumer protection. The detail is in our terms.
Selling on your behalf is a licensed activity
In Queensland, selling a vehicle for its owner is regulated, and the work is carried out under the appropriate licence and a written agreement setting out your benchmark, the split and the maximum window before anything begins.
Common questions
How much does TradeBeat cost?
Nothing up front, and nothing at all unless we beat your benchmark. When we do, the amount above your benchmark is split 50/50, you keep your full benchmark figure plus 50% of everything above it.
It is not a fee taken out of your car's value. It is a share of value that did not exist until we created it. If we create none, we are paid none.
What happens if you cannot beat my trade-in offer?
Then you have lost nothing but a little time. There is no fee, no listing cost and no obligation. You keep your car and you are free to go and trade it in.
We are upfront about the real risk: dealer offers usually have a short expiry, often a matter of days. If your offer lapses while we are selling, the dealer may re-value the car. We tell you this before you commit, not after, and we will decline the job outright if we do not think we can beat your number.
What sort of cars do you take?
Any car, at any price. Cheaper cars sell quickly because far more buyers are shopping for them, and dealers tend to offer next to nothing on them at trade. Utes, four wheel drives, family SUVs, European, prestige and performance cars have the widest gap in dollars, so they are worth doing too.
Luxury and European cars do especially well. A dealer selling one has to carry the statutory warranty, and on a prestige car one repair under that warranty can cost thousands, so they price the risk into your trade offer. In Queensland a car sold on consignment for its private owner carries no statutory warranty, so that discount does not apply.
Who pays for advertising and photography?
We do. Professional photography, the listings and the buyer management are all ours to arrange and ours to fund. There is nothing for you to pay whether the car sells or not.
Before you trade it, TradeBeat it.
Get your dealer offer first. Then give us the chance to beat it. No statutory warranty on a consignment sale, so no warranty discount off your price. If we do not beat it, you have lost nothing.