10:42 am, May 8, 2026
Used car auction platform Motorway has started charging sellers a fee to sell their cars in its daily auctions.
The firm told dealers this week that it introduced the fees on May 6 which range from £29.99 to £99.99 depending on the value of the car.
This will be in addition to an optional fee consumers can pay to promote their listings with a ‘paid’ tag to highlight more seller intent to dealers.
Sellers are charged when the deal goes through.
Motorway said: ‘Sellers are clearly informed of the service fee at every stage of their journey, from the valuation through to accepting their offer.
‘By the time your driver arrives for collection, the seller already knows exactly what they’ll pay.’
Motorway said the fee will help them invest more in ‘areas that matter most to dealers’.
The firm added: ‘As Motorway has grown, we’ve built a strong product, supported by our dealer network, that delivers real value to sellers.
‘Introducing service fees is a step towards a more balanced, two-sided marketplace, ensuring the platform is supported by both sides.’
Motorway regularly has more than 2,000 cars for sale in its daily auctions and is still growing rapidly.
CEO Tom Leathes added: ‘Over the years dealers have often asked us why we only charge one side of the marketplace.
‘As Motorway has grown, we’re providing more value than ever to our dealer partners. But sellers are also getting a huge amount of value when they sell with us, not just from the sale outcome, but from all the additional services and support we provide through the journey.
‘So we’ve introduced a small service fee for sellers in return for the service we provide. This is about building a marketplace where both sides contribute, and it enables us to invest even harder in the things that matter to dealers: more stock, more detailed profiling, better buying tools and faster transactions.’
Carwow has responded with an email to customers that promises it will not be charging customers for listing their cars on the rival platform.
Carwow CEO John Veichmanis said: ‘We’ve chosen to keep selling free for our consumers.
‘We believe that reducing friction for our consumer and dealer partners is the best way to deliver you more stock, more variety, and fewer cancellations.
‘Our focus is building a better platform for you and investing in making our stock better, not just more plentiful.’
Carwow added that it will be launching ‘automated listing quality checks’ next week to ‘help improve the quality, accuracy and readiness of vehicles’ listed in the auctions.
