Sell my van the Motorway way

Yes, you can! Selling your van with Motorway is just as quick and easy as selling your car, get started with just your reg and mileage.  Dealers will compete to offer their best price and you’ll receive the highest offer from our network. Choose to proceed, and you can arrange free van collection from an address that suits you and the dealer will complete a fast payment.

We work with both specialist van buyers and car dealers who also retail vans.  Both types of dealer will compete to offer you their best price.

There are several places and ways to can sell your van:

• Classified vehicle selling sites — these allow you to find a private or professional buyer, but can charge listing fees
• Part exchange — this may not get you as high a price if the dealer does not want to retail the van
• Using an instant van buyer — the sale may be quick, but you may have to compromise on price for this convenience 
• Motorway — get your van listed on our unique selling platform, sell to the van dealer who makes the best offer and wait for them to collect it from your home. Best of all? You don’t have to pay a penny

The value of your van depends on several different things. When we give you your valuation, we’ll ask you for the following info:

• Reg
• Mileage

Based on this information, just add your contact details and we’ll then be able to give you an estimated selling price based on real-time data from our marketplace where 5,000+ professional dealers buy vans just like yours. There are other things to consider when it comes to selling your van as well, such as:

• Service history
• Vehicle details like bespoke finishes
• Damage and condition
• Legal status

With all these factors, it can be tricky to figure out a final van value, luckily, Motorway does all the hard work for you.

In order to be ULEZ-compliant, your diesel van needs to have at least a Euro 6 emission standards rating. If you have a petrol van, the restrictions are less severe, with just a Euro 4 rating required. If you have an electric van, it’s ULEZ-compliant and you won’t have to pay any charges.

Euro 4 and Euro 6 are ratings within the European Standard framework that are applied to engines. Most vehicles have been built with Euro 4-compliant engines since 2006, and with Euro 6-compliant engines since 2016, but it’s important to check your specific make and model.

It can be difficult to estimate how much you’ll get for scrapping your vehicle. In many cases, it’s simply down to what your chosen scrap buyer is willing to pay you, as scrappage prices are often based on weight of metal. It’s worth remembering that:

• Heavily damaged or unroadworthy vans may not be accepted by scrappage schemes
• Manufacturers tend to only offer scrappage to specific models of a certain age
• Breaking down your van and selling vehicle parts separately may be a better alternative

However, if you’re keen to get rid of an old vehicle for cash, then Motorway works with a scrap buyer who will be happy to help you scrap your van.

There are several ways you can check the emissions rating of your vehicle. Typically, this will be expressed as a European Standard framework (e.g. Euro 4, Euro 5, or Euro 6) and listed in your V5C logbook.

If you don’t find a rating listed there, you can look up your make and model, contact the manufacturer, or use our ULEZ Checker tool to see whether your diesel van is consistent with Euro 6 and therefore compliant with regulated emission zones around the UK.

If your engine is the equivalent of Euro 6 but does not have proof of this rating, you can apply to the manufacturer for a Certificate of Conformity.

Yes, you can sell your financed van. Whether your van is on Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) finance or Hire Purchase (HP) finance, you are able to sell your van on finance.

The first step is to double-check the terms of your agreement, and get a settlement letter from your lender, so you know how much money is outstanding.

We will help you make sure you’re selling your financed van in a way that is consistent with the terms of your finance contract. If you accept an offer from one of Motorway’s over 5,000 verified dealers, they can pay off the finance directly with your lender, as well as paying you any surplus. For more information, read our guide on how to sell your van on finance.

Depending on its age and condition, your van could be worth more than you think. Get started with a free, instant valuation today for a clearer idea of how much money your van might fetch.

If you choose to enter your van into Motorway’s daily online sale, more than 5,000 dealers around the UK will compete to give you their best price for your van. The whole process can be done from home, on your phone, and it’s 100% free. 

Motorway does not recommend selling a van or car without a V5C – it’s an essential document for the smooth sale of a vehicle, and most professional buyers will ask for one. We, therefore, require you to have a V5C in order to sell your van with Motorway. 

It is, however, legal to sell a car or van without a V5C. For more information, read our guide to selling a vehicle without a V5C.

Annual van mileage is highly variable. According to government data for 2019-20, looking at an average of private and business use vans, mileage tends to peak at about 20,000 miles per year in the first three years of a van being on the road. It drops thereafter, to about 14,000 miles per year for the next seven years, and settles at around 7,000 miles per year when it’s more than ten years old. 

So, it’s worth scrutinising the age of the van when you buy it, and thinking carefully about how you intend to use it. If you’re looking to get particularly high mileage out of your van, it might pay off in the long run to invest in a younger model that can go the distance.

The sale of new fossil-fuel engine vehicles, like diesel vans, is going to be banned from 2035 as part of the electric switchover. High-polluting vehicles might also be restricted in Clean Air Zones (CAZ) and Low Emission Zones (LEZ) across the UK, as more of them are introduced. 

However, it is unlikely that diesel vans will be banned from the roads in entirety, even if they become increasingly regulated.

It’s hard to predict the market trends for van pricing, as already in the 2020s we have seen volatility in supply and demand for new and used vehicles, and a new suite of emission regulations across many urban areas of the UK. 

The best way to stay on top of the pricing of your used van is to track its value over time. Our Car Value Tracker allows you to see changes to your van’s value over the last two years, and all for free. Depreciation tends not to be a linear trend, and with Car Value Tracker you can pinpoint the best time to sell your van. 

Generally, used vehicles (e.g. cars) sell without VAT added to the price, since this was paid by the vehicle’s first owner when they bought it. 

However, most vans are bought for business use by VAT-registered businesses or sole traders, and this makes them ‘VAT-qualifying’. When a business or sole trader buys a ‘VAT-qualifying’ vehicle, they can claim back the VAT paid on the purchase from HMRC in their annual VAT return, reducing their overall annual VAT liability for the year.

When a business or sole trader sells their VAT-qualifying van, they can sell it to a buyer for business use, with the same VAT benefit available, as long as they provide their VAT registration number and a VAT invoice (showing the sale price, plus the VAT at 20%) so the buyer can claim the VAT, the same way the seller did.

This means the vehicle can be sold many times without buyers ever paying VAT on it, until such time as it is bought for non-commercial use. At this point, the commercial seller of the vehicle will need to pay 20% of their sale price back to HMRC to settle the vehicle’s VAT. From the buyer’s perspective, this will just mean that the price of the vehicle is slightly higher. 

If you’re selling your van to a professional dealer who is used to buying vans, they will be able to help with the process.

Yes, you can. When you’ve profiled your van, and a Motorway agent contacts you to check through some of the details, make sure you have all your paperwork to hand including proof of any previous keepers (normally on the V5C logbook) and owners of the vehicle. Crucially, make sure you have a VAT invoice available, if applicable and agreed in advance.