Just sold my Dec 2016 Skoda Rapid 1.5 TDI Style (MT) at Cars24.
The process was rather painless, but bear in mind that I am a non-confrontational, non-fussy person - I'm self-employed and work from home, so I can afford to waste a few hours when I need to and re-plan my day. If you're the more busy, I-don't-have-time-to-waste kind of person, you may not feel as satisfied as I did.
Timeline:
2nd August
11am - Booked an appointment at Cars24 online at 11am. My appointment slot was anytime between 10am-6pm. The outlet was 10 minutes away from where I live. Got there by 12pm.
12.15pm - After a short and good enough explanation of the process, evaluation begins. Stood with the rep as he did it. They take pictures of everything from every angle and upload them in real time, taking care to move things around and make it look as nice as possible. They also did a paint thickness check across the car, and took a short test drive (under 1km). The whole thing took around 30 minutes.
12.45pm - Back in the waiting room, I was told the car would now be put up for real-time bidding from various dealers and I'd have my quote within 25 minutes. I had my laptop with me and a few emails to send, so got that done. 45 minutes later, I had a quote.
1.30pm - Quote received was at par with the best quote I had received across all platforms, dealers and individuals. 6.75L. I was hoping to get at least 7L (I had long given up on my original target of 8L), but also in a hurry to sell because I need to raise funds to pay for my next car (which I had already booked). Told the rep he needs to do better. He said he'll speak to the dealer with the highest bid and ask them for a final offer. Came back with 6.88L as the final offer, and would not budge post that. I didn't want any further anxiety of pimping my car around, so went for the offer. As explained to me, I would get 6.82L in hand. Cars24 would take a service charge of 5k, and would charge 1k for immediate payment. I opted for this, because again, didn't want to be fretting about the payment coming in for 3 days. In addition, due to an RTO mess-up, my car was listed as automatic on the RC copy instead of manual, I was told they will be holding 10k in reserve in case of any issues during transfer. They assured me that it would not be a problem and was just following protocol. The original purchase invoice says MT, and it would be credited to me in 20 days.
Further, I was told that the deal could not be closed on the same day because the machine to scan for wire tampering and defects in the car was not available, and would be available the next morning. I was okay with that and happy to have the car for the rest of the day to run errands. Also had to pick up the spare key from my parents' place across town since I keep it with them for emergencies.
Bear in mind, your valuation will be 5k less without a spare key for any car over 5L. So the entire process took 1 hour 45 mins, with more to come the next day. As mentioned, I am an agreeable, no-fuss person with plenty of free time and entertainment gadgets in my bag at all times, so this did not bother me.
August 3 (today):
10am - Recieved a call from Cars24 rep, informing me that I can come any time after 12pm.
1.30pm - Reached Cars24, was given RTO transfer documents to start signing them while the final checks on the car were done. All these documents were also uploaded to the server. I was told there was an issue with the automated payment because the name on my RC book was in (name, surname) form but my bank account was (name, middle name, surname), so there was a mismatch and they would have to approve it manually, which took around 15 minutes. I was given all my original documents and invoices back, apart from (obviously) RC, insurance, and manual.
2.30pm - RTO paperwork and checks done. I was told the payment would be done in around 15 minutes. However, 40 minutes passed and no payment. The rep told me that they need to take additional approvals from one of two seniors for purchases about 6L, and neither of those seniors were picking up their phones. Lunch break possibly. I could tell he was quite hassled and shouting at people on the phone to find these seniors and get the approval. I was sitting and killing time reading the manual of my incoming car, so I had something to pass the time. Eventually, received 6.72L in my account at 3.30pm with 3 transfers of 2L each, and one for 72k.
3.30pm - Signing of final documents, customer protection forms and the invoice. Took 10 minutes, shook his hand and walked out with the money in my bank at 3.45.
So, the TL;DR version is
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It's highly unlikely that you can actually sell your car in 1 hour. I completed the sale of my car 28 hours after arriving there
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You will probably have to wait an hour minimum, or come back the next day, so carry some work or entertainment with you, so you're not sitting around fidgeting and getting flustered.
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I got a better price than from anywhere else I had tried over 2 weeks (including TBHP Classifieds, OLX, personal contacts, and a broker). So my conclusion is that if you want to get your car off your hands ASAP, they will give you a fair deal. Not necessarily a great deal, but fair nonetheless. And you can haggle with them for 1-2% increase on the initial quote.
-Carry everything with you if you want the best price -
all car documents, manual, last service invoice, spare key. In addition, a few passport photos, PAN card, Aadhaar card, cancelled cheque copy. They were accommodating enough to accept soft copies of cancelled cheque AND my photographs since I didn't have enough.
So overall, because I'm someone with a chilled out work schedule, and always roam around with my laptop and Nintendo Switch, I found this relatively painless. The staff was courteous and prompt whenever things were in their hands, giving updates themselves every 10 minutes. The waiting area was comfortable enough with water, tea, and coffee available, and I received the money in my bank before walking out.
I'd give it 4/5 overall