Selling a car privately in Ireland in 2026 is no longer a one-channel decision. DoneDeal.ie still dominates, but Carzone.ie, Cars.ie, Adverts.ie, Facebook Marketplace, We Buy Any Car Ireland and main-dealer consignment all pull from different buyer pools, charge wildly different fees, and expose you to very different levels of scam pressure and unwanted phone calls. This guide compares them on cost, audience, scam exposure, what happens to your phone number, and realistic time to sell.
The Irish Classifieds Landscape in 2026
Irish private car sales concentrate on a handful of channels with distinct roles. DoneDeal.ie is the front door — consistently a top-five most-visited Irish website. Carzone.ie is the auto-only specialist, attracting finance-ready buyers. Cars.ie is a credible third option with Cartell history-check integration. Adverts.ie hosts thousands of motor listings on a general-classifieds site. Facebook Marketplace is the most active free channel for cars under €10,000. Buy & Sell has lost share; eBay Motors sees little Irish use. Instant-buyer services like We Buy Any Car Ireland and main-dealer trade-in or consignment compete on speed rather than price.
€0–€50
DoneDeal private listing range
Free basic tier; paid bumps and featured slots add cost
~10–20%
Instant-buyer discount vs market
What We Buy Any Car and dealer trade-in offers typically cost in value
€0
car-spot listing fee
Free 30-day listings, no commission on sale
DoneDeal.ie — The Default Irish Classified
DoneDeal.ie is the platform every other Irish channel measures itself against. The free tier gives a basic listing — eight photos, standard placement, no top-of-results bump. Paid upgrades range from a single "Bump up" (~€5–€10) to "Premium" feature packages typically €15–€50 depending on package and promotional cycle. Above €10,000, premium usually pays off; under €5,000 the free tier is fine.
Phone number visibility and "is this still available?" volume
The biggest complaint about DoneDeal is the volume of scam and time-waster contact a listing attracts within hours. The platform publishes your phone number behind a one-click "Show number" reveal — but anyone, including scrapers and overseas scam operations, can do that click. The well-known opening — "Hi, is this still available?", often followed by a push to WhatsApp and a "buyer" who can't view but will arrange a courier and overpay — is so common on DoneDeal that the platform's own help-centre articles describe it. Expect several for any listing above €5,000.
What DoneDeal is genuinely best at
- Audience size: Most-visited Irish car classifieds site — unmatched buyer pool.
- County-level search: Buyers routinely filter by county; local listings sell faster.
- History-check integration: Cartell and Motorcheck links from the listing reduce questions.
- Structured fields: Standardised inputs for mileage, NCT expiry, owners and tax band make your listing comparable at a glance.
- Cross-border reach: NI buyers searching Republic-registered cars use DoneDeal as their first stop.
Carzone.ie and Cars.ie
Carzone.ie is Ireland's auto-only specialist. It skews dealer-heavy but accepts private adverts, and the buyers who use it tend to be further along in the funnel: finance-ready and prepared to pay closer to asking. Private-seller pricing is tier-based, typically €20–€60 per listing depending on package and run length. Trivial relative to a €25,000 SUV; rarely right for a sub-€5,000 runabout.
Cars.ie is a credible third option alongside DoneDeal and Carzone. Its strength is a clean comparison interface and tight Cartell history-check integration, which appeals to research-led buyers. Listing fees sit in the same band as DoneDeal's paid tier, and phone-number handling is similar: contact details are published with the listing, and scam-message volume — while lower than DoneDeal — is non-trivial.
Adverts.ie, Buy & Sell, eBay Motors
Adverts.ie is a general-classifieds platform with a sizeable motors section, ratings between buyers and sellers, and a free listing tier — often outperforming larger classifieds for project and enthusiast cars. Buy & Sell has lost share to DoneDeal and Marketplace. eBay Motors is largely ignored by Irish private buyers — cross-border logistics, currency and registration headaches reduce appeal.
Facebook Marketplace — Free, Fast, Noisy
Facebook Marketplace is the dominant free channel for cars under €10,000 in Ireland. The Messenger contact flow is fast — enquiries arrive in seconds. Popular hatchbacks (Toyota Yaris, VW Polo, Ford Fiesta) and well-priced city cars under €8,000 commonly sell within days. The trade-off is signal-to-noise. Lowballs ("would you take €500?" on a €4,500 car), no-shows, and Marketplace-specific scams (courier collection, Facebook Pay deposit) are constant. Above €15,000, Marketplace underperforms DoneDeal and Carzone — the considered buyer is rarely searching there.
Marketplace-specific risks
- Account-age signal: Genuine local buyers usually have multi-year accounts with mutual friends or local activity. Brand-new accounts opening with a courier story are almost always fraudulent.
- Public phone numbers: If you put your number in the listing body, it is scraped and resold within hours — expect cold calls from "we buy any car" outfits and overseas scam numbers.
- Facebook Pay disputes: Facebook Pay favours buyers in chargeback disputes; motor vehicles are excluded from most protection schemes. Never accept it as final settlement.
Instant-Buyer Services and Dealer Trade-In
When you need to be done in a week, instant-buyer services compete on certainty rather than price. We Buy Any Car Ireland operates an online quote + drop-off model — enter the reg and mileage, get an indicative offer, drop the car at a branch for inspection, walk out with funds the same day. The cash offer is typically 10–20% below a four-week private-sale outcome. Main-dealer trade-in bundles the same trade-off into a new-car deal — the "discount" is buried in the negotiation. Consignment (dealer sells your car on their forecourt for commission) sits between the two. Cazoo's Irish operation has wound down; successor offerings behave more like dealer consignment.
Channels Compared at a Glance
| Channel | Typical cost | Reach | Scam exposure | Phone privacy | Time to sell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DoneDeal.ie | Free basic; €15–€50 premium | Largest Irish buyer pool | High — "still available?" volume | Number on listing | 1–3 weeks |
| Carzone.ie | €20–€60 per tier | Smaller; finance-ready buyers | Medium | Number on listing | 2–4 weeks |
| Cars.ie | Comparable to DoneDeal paid | Solid secondary audience | Medium | Number on listing | 2–4 weeks |
| Adverts.ie | Free or low-cost | Strong for enthusiast cars | Low–medium | On-platform messaging by default | 2–6 weeks |
| Facebook Marketplace | Free | Massive — broad Irish population | High — lowballs, courier scams | Risky if in body | 3–10 days sub-€10k |
| Buy & Sell | Free or low-cost | Shrinking; older skew | Low–medium | Often shown | 3–6 weeks |
| eBay Motors (IE) | Insertion + final-value fees | Very small Irish audience | Medium | eBay messaging | Slow — not recommended |
| We Buy Any Car IE | Free quote; ~10–20% below market | Single buyer | Very low | Internal | 1–3 days |
| Main-dealer trade-in | Trade-in discount | N/A | Very low | Internal | Same day |
| Dealer consignment | 5–10% commission | Dealer footfall + listings | Low | Internal | 2–6 weeks |
| car-spot | Free 30-day listing | Growing IE seller community | Very low — buyers identify first | Never publicly shown | 1–4 weeks |
On DoneDeal, Carzone, Cars.ie and most Facebook Marketplace listings where the seller adds a number to the body, your mobile is one click (or one scrape) away from any visitor. Within hours of a listing going live, expect calls from instant-buyer outfits offering 30% below market, overseas "buyers" wanting to ship the car, and scrapers reselling your number into call-centre lists. car-spot is different by design: your phone number and email are never publicly visible, and buyers must submit their own contact details before you receive theirs.
Scam Exposure — What Each Channel Attracts
- The "still available?" opener (DoneDeal, Cars.ie, Marketplace): A generic message with no reference to make, model or price. The "buyer" pushes to WhatsApp, then evolves into courier-pickup, overpayment or IBAN-verification scams. Any opener that doesn't reference a specific feature of your car is a likely scam.
- The courier / shipping overpayment (all channels with public contact): "I'll send €5,000 over asking — pay my courier the difference." The transfer is forged or reversed; the courier payment is gone. A real buyer pays the agreed price.
- The Facebook Pay / PayPal chargeback trap: Payment lands, you release the car, weeks later the buyer raises a dispute and the platform pulls the funds. Motor vehicles are excluded from most payment-protection schemes — never settle a car sale via PayPal or Facebook Pay.
- The instant-buy lowball ambush (DoneDeal, Carzone): Many instant-buyer operations scrape Irish classifieds and contact sellers within hours with offers 25–35% below asking. An offer that arrives before any human has viewed the car is not a serious offer.
How to Decide Where to List
- Under €5,000: Facebook Marketplace + DoneDeal free tier + car-spot. Don't pay for premium placement.
- €5,000–€15,000: DoneDeal premium + Cars.ie + car-spot, with Marketplace as a free amplifier for popular models.
- €15,000–€40,000: Carzone + DoneDeal premium + Cars.ie + car-spot. Skip Marketplace unless the car is a hot model.
- Above €40,000 or specialist / classic: Carzone + Adverts (for classics) + car-spot, supplemented by marque-specific forums.
Tax and Legal — What Irish Private Sellers Actually Owe
A private sale of your own car in Ireland is not subject to VAT — VAT was paid by the original owner. Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) applies only to first-time registrations (typically imports), not onward private sales. Capital Gains Tax is not normally relevant — cars are wasting chattels for CGT purposes.
The legal framework for private sales is caveat emptor. The Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act 1980, which imposes statutory implied terms on traders, generally does not apply between private parties — a private buyer who later finds a fault has limited recourse against you, provided you have not misrepresented the car. Honest disclosure (NCT history, accident history, modifications, known faults) is both legally protective and commercially sensible. Keep a signed bill of sale, notify the National Vehicle & Driver File on motortax.ie the same day, and cancel your motor insurance once keys have changed hands.
How car-spot Fits the Irish Channel Mix
car-spot is built for the specific problems Irish private sellers face on the larger classifieds: published phone numbers, anonymous scam contacts, paid-tier costs on every relisting, and pressure to settle for an instant-buy lowball just to be done.
- Privacy first: Your phone number and email are never publicly shown. Scrapers and "we buy any car" cold callers cannot harvest your number from the page.
- Buyer accountability: Enquirers must submit their own contact details before you receive them — that filter alone removes the bulk of "is this still available?" scams.
- Secure on-platform messaging: Every exchange about price, viewing and handover stays in one timestamped thread, with a clear audit trail.
- AI Vehicle Specification Assistant: Pulls accurate Irish-spec trim, engine and feature data from the VRN so your listing is complete from the first version.
- AI Description Generator: Produces an Irish-market description ready to copy across to DoneDeal, Carzone, Cars.ie or Adverts.
- AI Photo Classification: Orders your photos for maximum buyer impact across every channel you use.
- Free 30-day listings: No upfront fee, no commission on sale. 30 days at €6.50
Free 30-day listing — your phone number stays private, every enquirer identifies themselves first.
Before-you-list checklist for Irish private sellers
7 items
