MotorLoop is an Australian marketplace where private sellers and dealers list cars, and buyers search them and message the seller directly. Listing a car is free.
This page answers the questions people ask about the site itself — how a listing gets made and published, what the AI drafting tool does, how buyers and sellers talk to each other, and what the virtual plate on each listing is for.
MotorLoop publishes listings; it doesn't inspect the cars or verify the people selling them. Do your own checks before money changes hands — a PPSR search on the VIN for finance owing, write-off and stolen records, and an inspection in person. Treat pressure to pay a deposit sight-unseen, or to move the conversation and the payment off the site, as a reason to walk away; Scamwatch keeps current examples.
FAQs
Is listing a car on MotorLoop free?
Yes. You can create a listing, add photos and publish it without paying, and there's no charge to message a buyer or to leave the ad up while the car sells. Selling privately still has costs outside the site — a roadworthy or safety certificate where your state requires one, for example — and we've broken those down in what it costs to sell a car privately.
Do I need an account to list a car on MotorLoop?
No — you can fill in the sell form with an email address and submit it. A listing sent that way isn't public straight away: it's held for a person to look over first, and you get an email receipt, plus a link to set a password and claim the listing if the address is new to MotorLoop. Once you have an account you can edit the ad, reply to buyers and see it in your dashboard. Signing in before you start is simpler, because your own listings go live the moment you choose to publish them.
How do I create a listing on MotorLoop?
Start from sell my car, add your photos, then fill in the make, model, year, price, kilometres and the other details your storefront asks for. You pick a listing type — for sale, swap, sale or swap, wanted, or showcase — and a template that decides how the detail page looks to buyers, from a plain layout through to a full-width photo showcase. New listings save as a draft, so nothing is visible to buyers until you set the status to Listed. The selling checklist covers the paperwork side of the sale.
What photos should I upload, and how many can I add?
Each photo needs to be at least 1024×768 pixels, so listings stay sharp on a big screen, and can be up to 10 MB. Storefronts accept up to 30 photos per listing, though some set a lower cap, and you can drag them into order — the first one is the cover shot. A 4:3 landscape frame fits the cards and galleries without cropping, so shoot wide rather than tall and keep the car centred. Location data is stripped out of photos as they upload, and storefronts normally stamp each image with the listing's virtual plate.
Will the AI listing assistant write my ad for me?
On storefronts that have AI drafting switched on, you can sign in and hand it your photos, whatever details you have already typed and a few sentences in your own words, and it drafts a description and fills in gaps. It writes into empty fields rather than overwriting what you entered, and everything it fills is flagged so you can keep it, clear it or edit it. Nothing it drafts goes live on its own — publishing stays a step you take. Read the result before you publish, because it is working from what you gave it and can get a detail wrong.
How do buyers and sellers contact each other on MotorLoop?
A buyer opens a listing and sends a message, optionally putting an offer amount in it; it lands in the seller's Messages and both people get an email. The conversation stays on the site, so a listing shows the seller's @handle rather than an email address or phone number — you decide when to share contact details, in a message. A buyer without an account can send that first message with an email address, which creates an account they can claim afterwards by setting a password. Some storefronts also allow public comments and star ratings under a listing, and a seller can switch those off for a particular car.
What is the virtual number plate on a MotorLoop listing?
Each listing is issued a code in the shape ML-ABC-123 that is unique across the site, shown on the detail page and stamped onto the photos as a watermark. Putting that code after our web address opens the ad, which makes it a tidy short link for a text message, a windscreen card or a chat with a mate. If the seller turns social sharing on, the share dialog also builds a preview card carrying the photo, price and plate for pasting into a message or a social post. Because the code is stamped onto the images, a photo taken from the ad and reposted elsewhere often still carries it, though cropping or re-editing can strip it away.
Can I publish a car without it showing up in browse or search results?
Yes — set the listing to Unlisted rather than Listed. It is live, and anyone with the link can open it and message you, including with an offer, but it stays out of browse, out of the storefront's own search and out of what search engines index. That suits selling to a circle of contacts, testing a price quietly, or a car you would rather not advertise publicly. Moving between Unlisted and Listed later is a status change on the same ad, not a new listing.
What can I do on MotorLoop as a buyer?
Search and filter the listings by make, price, kilometres, body type and more, switch between grid, list, panel and map views, and save cars you like to your dashboard. Save a search and MotorLoop emails you when a matching car is listed — alerts can be switched off per search, and each email carries an unsubscribe link. You can also line up to eight cars side by side and compare their specifications. Two calculators help with the sums: loan repayments and running costs, which combine into a rough weekly cost of ownership — estimates for planning, not a quote.
How do I report a listing or a message?
Sign in, then use the flag icon on the listing, or on the message in a conversation. Pick a reason — offensive language, misleading or inappropriate text, or something else, with an inappropriate-image option on listings — and add a note if it helps explain. The report reaches our moderators with a snapshot of what you reported, so it still makes sense to them if the ad is edited afterwards, and you get an email confirming it arrived. If money has already changed hands or you think you have been scammed, report it to Scamwatch as well.