Brisbane
Sell your car in Brisbane for more than the trade-in.
Get your dealer offer first. Then give us the chance to beat it. We run the whole retail sale and you keep your offer plus your share of everything above it.
No fee unless we beat your offer · Cars from $20,000 · Greater Brisbane
How much are you leaving on the table?
Tell us your car. We will show what a dealer pays, what it is really worth, and what you pocket.
Enter it and the figures below are worked from your car's actual offer instead of an average.
You pocket an extra
on top of the trade-in price, for no extra work
Indicative only. A guide to the size of the gap, not a valuation, appraisal or offer. Your actual figures depend on your specific vehicle, its history and the market at the time. We give you a real assessment, free, before you commit to anything.
Three ways to sell a car in Brisbane
You can trade it in, sell it privately, or use a service that runs the private sale for you. Trading in is fast but costs you the dealer's margin. A private sale gets closest to retail value but the work is all yours. TradeBeat sits between them: your dealer offer becomes a protected floor, we run the retail sale, and you keep the floor plus 50% of anything above it.
1. Trade it in
Brisbane has one of the highest concentrations of dealerships in the country, so getting a trade figure is easy. What you are buying with that convenience is speed and certainty, and what you are paying for it is the dealer's margin, which has to cover reconditioning, statutory warranty, advertising, floor plan finance and staff before they make a cent.
2. Sell it privately
List it on Carsales or Marketplace and you are shooting for retail value. You are also signing up for writing the listing, taking the photos, answering every message, weeding out the tyre-kickers, hosting strangers at your home, supervising test drives, verifying payment, sorting any finance payout and completing the transfer. Most people start with good intentions and take the trade three weeks later.
3. Give TradeBeat the chance to beat your offer
You get the dealer offer. We take that figure as the benchmark, run the retail sale properly, and split whatever we achieve above it 50/50. If we do not beat your number there is no fee and you keep your car. It is the only one of the three options where the person selling your car makes more money when you do.
Why Brisbane trade-in offers come in lower than you expect
A trade figure is not what your car is worth. It is what your car is worth to that dealer, on that day, at wholesale. It is set by what the trade will pay, not by what the car will retail for a few weeks later on their own lot.
Dealers also weight their offer by what they need. A yard heavy on utes will value your ute conservatively; one short on stock may sharpen up. None of that has anything to do with your car. It is one buyer's position on one day, which is exactly why it is worth testing against a market of many buyers before you accept it. The full breakdown is here.
Not sure the offer you have is fair? Start with what your car is actually worth, or read what to do when a dealer offers too little.
If you would rather weigh every route first, we have compared all the alternatives to trading in, including how car consignment in Brisbane works and what it costs.
What sells well in Brisbane
Utes and four wheel drives are the backbone of the Queensland market, family SUVs move consistently across the whole city, and European and electric vehicles carry the widest gap of all between wholesale caution and informed retail demand. See what buyers look for on your model.
Should you use us or just trade it in?
Trade it in if you need to be out of the car within days, if your offer is already strong for the market, or if the car needs real work before it would present at retail. Use us if you have a few weeks, you suspect the offer is light, and you have no interest in fielding messages and hosting test drives yourself.
We will tell you which one you are. A car we cannot beat the offer on earns us nothing and costs you weeks, so there is no version of this where it pays us to string you along.
Brisbane, at a glance
Free, no obligation. We will tell you if trading in is the better call.
Selling a car in Brisbane: common questions
What is the best way to sell my car in Brisbane?
It depends entirely on what you are optimising for. Trading in is fastest and easiest but costs you the dealer's margin. Selling privately on Carsales or Marketplace gets closest to retail value but means listings, messages, lowballers, strangers at your home and the paperwork.
TradeBeat is the third option: you get a dealer offer as your protected floor, we run the retail sale for you, and you keep your floor plus 50% of anything above it. Full comparison here.
How much less do dealers pay than a private sale in Brisbane?
There is no fixed figure, and anyone quoting one is guessing. The gap depends on the model, its condition and history, how badly the dealer wants that stock, and what the retail market is doing that month. On some cars it is a few hundred dollars. On utes, four wheel drives and European cars it is frequently thousands.
The gap exists because a dealer must recondition, warrant, advertise, finance and staff the sale before they see a dollar. Here is exactly where it goes.
Do I need a trade-in offer before contacting TradeBeat?
It is the best way to use us, because that offer becomes the benchmark we must beat and your guaranteed floor. Without one there is nothing to measure against.
It should be a standalone offer to buy your car, not a trade figure bundled into a new car purchase, bundled figures are often inflated and recovered from the discount on the car you are buying. Here is how to tell the difference.
What does it cost to sell my car through TradeBeat in Brisbane?
Nothing up front, and nothing at all unless we beat your benchmark. Above it, the extra is split 50/50. Photography, advertising, buyer management and settlement are all ours to fund. See the full pricing.
How long does it take to sell a car in Brisbane?
Through us, typically 2 to 4 weeks, with a maximum of 6 weeks agreed before we start. A trade-in is same-day, so if you need to be out of the car this week, trading in is genuinely the better option and we will tell you so.
Can you sell my car if I still owe finance on it?
Yes, and it is very common. We get the payout figure from your financier, confirm the vehicle is clear on the PPSR before settlement, pay the financier directly from the proceeds and pay you the balance. More on selling a car with finance owing.
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Before you trade it, TradeBeat it.
Get your dealer offer first. Then give us the chance to beat it. If we do not, you have lost nothing.