How to bid on a car at Sell Your Car: the sealed bid

At Sell Your Car only verified dealers can bid; no private persons take part. We check your KVK registration, your VAT number and your RDW company stock recognition, so the seller knows every bid comes from a real car business. See what you need on for dealers.

When a seller asks for bids, we invite a number of verified dealers. The invitation shows the car by its plate with the RDW data and the odometer verdict, the mileage, the seller's description and the deadline for your bid. You do not see the seller's name or phone number yet: you get those only when the seller accepts your bid.

Read the seller's description and look at the RDW data and the odometer verdict. You have not seen the car yourself yet, and the description is not an inspection. Check the RDW data with the licence plate check and go through the inspection checklist. Learn more about inspections on pre-purchase inspection. Let any doubts count in the amount you bid.

Decide in advance what the car is worth to you with the fair price check and the valuation tool. Factor in preparing the car for sale, any repairs and your margin. Your bid is the amount the seller receives: nothing is taken off and nothing is added. Write down your maximum and stick to it.

You place one sealed bid. Other dealers do not see your amount and you do not see theirs; there is no automatic bidding and no extension. Until the deadline you can raise or withdraw your bid, but not lower it. A bid that arrives after the deadline does not count: our server time decides.

After the deadline the seller sees all bids, without the dealers' names. The seller chooses one and accepts it, or accepts none; a seller is never obliged to sell. If the seller set a minimum price, you do not see that amount. Either way you get an email.

If the seller accepts your bid, you both get each other's contact details and arrange the handover together. You pay the seller directly by bank transfer, into an account in the seller's name; Sell Your Car never handles the money. Since 1 January 2026 dealers may not pay €3,000 or more in cash: see paying cash for a car.

Record what you agreed in a sale contract and transfer the car together at the RDW, into your company stock: see transfer car ownership. The seller hands over the keys and papers once the money is in their account, and receives the indemnity certificate.