Facebook Marketplace or Auto Trader?
Where’s the best place to sell your car online? Here, we compare Facebook Marketplace and Auto Trader.
* All data below is accurate as of 01/02/2023
Who are Facebook Marketplace?
Facebook Marketplace are a platform, similar to Craigslist and Gumtree, from Facebook that allow their users or businesses to list anything from cars to clothes for sale. Facebook Marketplace launched in 2016 and act as a “venue” for buyers and sellers, leaving it to them to sort details like price, delivery and collection.
How is Facebook Marketplace different to Auto Trader?
Facebook Marketplace offer a range of items – from a bed to furniture, cars, kitchenware and beyond.
Auto Trader provide a platform to buy and sell vehicles for a smooth buying and selling experience, and offer a broad range of vehicles from cars, bikes, vans to plant machinery and more.
Auto Trader
On Auto Trader, you can clearly choose the vehicle you’re interested in and search by total price or monthly price. You can also refine your search based on different vehicle specs with over a dozen categories to choose from including gearbox, fuel type and car colour so you can find the perfect car for you. To contact dealers, you can call them or reach out using our platform by texting, sending an enquiry or using live chat.
Facebook Marketplace
Facebook Marketplace displays any and every type of vehicle - ranging from cars, bikes to boats - under one search. You can use filter your search for a particular vehicle type and filter down your search based on basic details such as price, vehicle make, model and mileage. To contact dealers on Facebook Messenger, you can only use your personal Facebook Messenger.
Finding the best deal
Auto Trader and Facebook Marketplace allow users to search by price, vehicle type, condition, make and model, mileage and other filters.
Facebook Marketplace’s search results are usually ‘close to you’, but you can change your location and expand your search.
Refine your search with our extensive filter options
Find the best priced deals
Choice of stock
Facebook Marketplace haven’t made public how many cars are listed on their site.
Auto Trader have hundreds of thousands of listings from dealerships and private sellers.
In addition to used, approved used cars and new cars, we also stock bikes, motorhomes and caravans, trucks, and, plant and farm machinery.
Auto Trader
| Vehicles type | ||||||||
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| Trade sellers | ||||||||
| Private sellers | ||||||||
Facebook Marketplace
| Vehicles type | ||||||||
| Finance available | ||||||||
| Trade sellers | ||||||||
| Private sellers | ||||||||
Valuing your car
Facebook Marketplace don’t offer a car valuation service, though they state that they’ll “suggest a price range based on similar items in your area” if you upload a vehicle.
On Auto Trader, online car valuations are free.
Checking vehicle history
When listing a vehicle on Facebook Marketplace, they ask for a car’s year, make, model and mileage, and transmission. So, the buyer must do a vehicle history check independently.
Before cars are listed on Auto Trader, they have a mandatory basic vehicle check.
Saving and comparing adverts
You can save Facebook Marketplace listings, including vehicles, to your profile.
On Auto Trader, you can save and compare unlimited cars with an account, or save up to four vehicles without one.
Save adverts and never lose a good deal
Compare your saved searches
Get notified when a car of your choice is listed
How do we compare?
How do we stack up against other automotive websites?
* Please note this is a non-exhaustive list.
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Who are Auto Trader?
Offering used cars from private sellers and trusted UK dealerships, brand new cars and more, Auto Trader have over 40 years of experience as the UK’s largest automotive marketplace.
About Auto Trader
We're experts on cars, with over 40 years experience in the automotive industry, so you can count on us to bring you the best deals.
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