Fix My Car Advert

Sell the car.
Not a claim.

Paste your Auto Trader advert. You get back a stronger version that reads like someone with nothing to hide — and every claim you cannot back marked as a gap to fill rather than quietly repeated in better prose.

Top up once No subscription about 28p — never more than 40p — unused store credit stays in your balance A change is another go — it costs pence too

Four phrases do all the damage.

"Full service history." "Only 42,000 miles." "One owner from new." "Twelve months MOT, no advisories." They are the four things every used-car advert says, and they are also the four a buyer can rely on when they hand over the money. A fifth is rarer and worse: silence about a write-off category.

Which is exactly why an enthusiastic rewrite is dangerous here. Ask any tool to make an advert sound more confident and it will reach for those four phrases, because that is what confident car adverts sound like. If it writes one you never supplied, it has manufactured a claim in your name and left you holding it. So this one works the other way round: it strips what it cannot trace back to you and tells you which document would let you say it properly.

The five it will not write for you

Mileage. Not from the year, the price or the dashboard photo. The reading and where it came from — the odometer today, or the last MOT and its date. Buyers check it free at gov.uk/check-mot-history, so a figure that disagrees with the record is the worst kind of surprise.
Service history. Stamps, dates, mileages, main dealer or independent, and when the cambelt was done. "Some history" never becomes "good history" on its way through.
MOT. An expiry date, not "long MOT". Advisories volunteered are a trust signal that costs nothing; advisories omitted are the thing that gets found.
Keepers. The V5C records keepers, not owners, and the two get muddled constantly. It comes from the V5C or it does not appear.
Damage and write-off status. Categories A and B, and S and N, which replaced C and D in October 2017. Unfussed will not claim a car is clear, and will not imply it is not.

What a fix looks like

As supplied

2018 VW Golf 1.5 TSI Match — £9,995 ono. Beautiful car in immaculate condition throughout, drives faultlessly. Full service history, low mileage, one owner, long MOT. Absolute bargain, first to see will buy. Cash on collection only, no timewasters.

What comes back

2018 (68) Volkswagen Golf 1.5 TSI EVO Match 5dr, manual, petrol — £9,995. Recorded mileage [MUST SUPPLY: current odometer reading]. Service history [MUST SUPPLY: how many stamps, the date and mileage of each, main dealer or independent — only call it full service history if the book is complete at VW's intervals]. MOT [MUST SUPPLY: expiry date and any advisories — free at gov.uk/check-mot-history]. Condition: [ADD FACT: each mark and where it is]. Happy for you to inspect it yourself or bring an AA or RAC check. Payment by bank transfer or in person at a bank.

Nothing there was invented to replace what was removed — not even a fault, because balance is not achieved by making one up. The advert got shorter and more specific, and the last two lines do more for a cautious buyer than every adjective that went.

Before you pay.

Why did it delete my "full service history"?

Because that phrase has a specific meaning — a complete record at the manufacturer's intervals — and a buyer can act on it. Unfussed never states a mileage, a service history, an MOT date, a keeper count or a write-off status you did not supply. Each one comes back as [MUST SUPPLY] naming the document that proves it: the V5C, the service book, the MOT certificate. Give it the stamp count and the dates and it will write the claim for you.

Can it confirm the car is HPI-clear or has no outstanding finance?

No. Those are check results, not adjectives, and Unfussed has run no check — it only reads the advert you paste. It will not assert that a car is finance-free or has never been written off, and it will not assert the opposite either. What it does is put the question on your list of things to resolve before the advert runs.

Am I a private seller or a trader, and does it matter?

It matters more than anything else in the advert, because satisfactory quality, fitness for purpose and the whole consumer-protection regime apply to a trader and not to a private sale. If your advert is ambiguous, Unfussed asks rather than assuming: it will not add warranty, finance or part-exchange wording, and it will not label you private either.

Should I really list the scratches?

Yes, and Auto Trader's own advice says the same. A used car with no disclosed marks reads as careless or evasive, and the buyer finds them at the viewing anyway — after driving across town, in the mood that follows. Specific and located beats vague: a 10cm scuff on the nearside rear bumper costs you nothing, while "immaculate throughout" costs you the viewing.

What does it cost?

Top up once, then top up again when your balance runs low. This job is about 28p — never more than 40p and spends only what a finished report actually costs, and any balance left stays available for another job. A change is another go at the job, so it costs pence too, same as a first run. A job that fails to generate spends nothing at all.

Other jobs Unfussed does.

Top up once. Jobs cost pence from your balance — see all thirty jobs.

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