all these new car sales websites, advertised on telly

[Starfighter]

Can we see I tie up where you collect you new car from the same WBAC drop of spot? Effectively a trade in but 2 separate transactions.

[Sheepshanks]

DonkeyApple said:

What they actually bought was a storage and distribution network, with a load of potential stock at distressed Covid prices. They will sell the stock for a nice turn through their website, retain a few strategic physical destinations and sell the rear off at higher prices in the post vaccination market.

It's a land and stock deal rather than a used car lot deal.

Hmm...OK - I was going off a comment I saw that led from them taking over a local (to me) site in Manchester and it was reckoned they were paying hundreds of £K per month in rental for the sites they'd taken over.

[DocJock]

It was a no brainer for them.

Imperial were expanding fast before Covid and had sites as far north as Grangemouth and as far south as Bristol and Southampton. One deal gives them national coverage of sites and a useful amount of stock.

[GR_WILL]

Hub said:

The Mad Monk said:

GR_WILL said:

It doesn’t sound like Carol have that high standards to me.

https://www.cazoo.co.uk/car-promise/reconditioning...

O.K. I'll bite.

Who or what is Carol? Is it a typo for Cazoo?

Is Carol the anti-Karen?

My apologies! I’ve got a real problem with auto correct at the moment

[Terminator X]

loskie said:

you've got to understand that their buyers are soooo busy on instagram and getting their nails done that they just do not have the time to buy a car. They also aren't interested in the quality of the car just what their Facebook so called friends think.

Inevitable end game ...



TX.

[Ash_]

Sheepshanks said:

2otter said:

As others have said, what's the difference between buying an everyday car by Cazoo, et al, and buying anything else online?

I guess the main difference/complication is that most people (I wonder how many?) will have an existing car they need to deal with somehow.

What did you do?

There is the need to sort out the existing car, private sell or PX etc. But also, let's not forget the big difference, when you buy anything "normal" item online, it's new. With online car showrooms, you're buying something 2nd hand. I've bought blind before, not from an online showroom, but dealers when I returned to the UK from abroad. But I did get both cars (one for me and one for my wife) inspected by the AA.

Still not sure if I'd buy 2nd hand online from one of these sorts of dealers to be honest, mainly because I like something a bit different/special and they may not have that sort of car, but also, because I like those sots of cars, I'd be buying older than anything they are likely to have.

[HTP99]

Well Cazoo are doing so well selling their used cars over the web remotely and unseen, they've gone into a local (to work) ex car supermarket, which has changed hands many times over the years, I guess it's a prep centre for their remote online sales as opposed to a showroom!

[old'uns]

My understanding is the bricks and mortar are for collections, buying still online.
As I said on the other thread, 120 single car transporters (50 ordered for next Yr apparently) and 12 multi car covered trailers so no small investment and all cars are owned by Cazoo.
Majority of transporters are at Corby at moment but all the off site centres will have some sited there.
So, cars sold online, MCTs take stock to off site, customer collects or delivery with less miles for the smaller transporters

[funbobby]

anyone one bought a car off them and how did it go?

[fatandwheezing]

Noticed the Red Bulls are now sponsored by Carnext.com. Thought I'd have a browse while waiting for the race to restart. 1 Tiguan for sale and er... That's it. No other cars of any type.

[DonkeyApple]

fatandwheezing said:

Noticed the Red Bulls are now sponsored by Carnext.com. Thought I'd have a browse while waiting for the race to restart. 1 Tiguan for sale and er... That's it. No other cars of any type.

It was a subbrand of LeasePlan and is kaput. They set it up a couple of years ago to take a turn on the offloading of their cars at the end of their first rental period but I'm pretty sure that their ex rental stuff now gets sent to Cinch who obviously offered better terms and probably a quicker route to get the vehicle off their books than trying to do it themselves now that there is a plethora of new competitors in this space and the two largest ones are Currently buying market share so seriously depressing margins for everyone as part of that process.

It says something about margin depression when a business that already controls the asset and has taken three years of rental yield from it can't then make the same margins on the next step as a new business which is having to buy in this stock. It suggests the likes of Cinch and Cazoo are hurling a lot of 'Other Peoples'' money in to remove the incumbents' deal margins. And you can see this at work by the fact that we've all heard of these two new firms over the last few months but we've never heard of the firms doing the same thing for the last couple of years or longer.

Edited by DonkeyApple on Monday 30th November 07:26

[Tomo1971]

It's known that many people would go to their nearest dealer to test drive a prospective lease before committing but would you really want to commit to buying (or the hassle of returning) a car that you may not find comfortable to drive?

Will that mean people try out similar cars locally first but then why not just buy from that dealer anyway?

[Fore Left]

It'll never catch on...

Cazoo makes it's 10,000th delivery, generates revenues of over £150m in its first year

Cazoo raises another £240M, now valued at over £2B

[old'uns]

So it appears I was wrongly informed... Northampton currently being revamped, swanky and stock in yard and showroom.
Can't get a Sprinter car transporter inside though, currently sat in van waiting for rain to stop to fit decals, not a happy bunny

[Sheepshanks]

DonkeyApple said:

It suggests the likes of Cinch and Cazoo are hurling a lot of 'Other Peoples'' money in to remove the incumbents' deal margins.

That should mean that anyone who buys a car from them at the moment would get a bargain (maybe not necessarily cheaper, but better condition and prep) as Cazoo and Cinch's costs are being supported by the money being thrown at them.

[DonkeyApple]

Sheepshanks said:

DonkeyApple said:

It suggests the likes of Cinch and Cazoo are hurling a lot of 'Other Peoples'' money in to remove the incumbents' deal margins.

That should mean that anyone who buys a car from them at the moment would get a bargain (maybe not necessarily cheaper, but better condition and prep) as Cazoo and Cinch's costs are being supported by the money being thrown at them.

Or you match the price, strip out some of the services and then overwhelm with a massive marketing budget. Once the incumbents' client flow has dried up you then whack up your prices to higher than the incumbents were charging before, for less service and just maintain a steady marketing spend.

There's a lot of good timing in these two also. TV marketing is cheap due to Covid and Covid must have significantly boosted the number of potential customers for online car purchases?

The thing about exciting, new and amazing 'disruptive' businesses is that they usually aren't exciting, new or amazing but just the same old model that others have been doing but with a funky name and an overwhelming marketing budget that gives them 12 months or so to just nick as much existing business as possible to kill off the incumbent businesses and if they manage that then they become the new incumbents.

[rossmcs]

Long time lurker.. first time poster

Given dry spell of "good" lease deals - we've just bought a Nissan X-Trail from Cazoo to replace our returned Audi A4 lease.

Went with Cazoo as they were a few thousand cheaper than any nearby dealer stock for a "nearly new" at right spec and condition (based on photos alone). 18 months manufacturers warranty left so who cares where it comes from at the end of the day..

Car turned up as expected at the weekend, and the interior/exterior condition is excellent* - as per photos - *apart from the photographed missing engine cover! (that I queried before purchase and was assured twice they'd sort... they still promise to send a replacement but we'll see.. worst case scenario can be picked up cheap enough vs savings of buying the car elsewhere)

No affiliation whatsoever but I wouldn't rule them out for something 6-18 months old if the price is right and you go in with your eyes open.

Edited by rossmcs on Monday 30th November 14:56

[Sheepshanks]

rossmcs said:

Went with Cazoo as they were a few thousand cheaper than any nearby dealer stock for a "nearly new" at right spec and condition ....

That's what I'd expect - and dealers must be fearing.

Re the engine cover - if it's petrol it might not have come with one.

[rossmcs]

Sheepshanks said:

That's what I'd expect - and dealers must be fearing.

Re the engine cover - if it's petrol it might not have come with one.

Diesel - you can see the holes where it should go (and comparison from other examples of in photos). Perhaps not so obvious to joe public so they maybe thought they'd get away with it...

[320d is all you need]

lord trumpton said:

Bonzo1930 said:

They are aimed at people who want to buy a car but have absolutely no interest in cars or any idea at what they are looking at just as long as they can afford the monthly payment and they think it makes them look good on faceache

That'll be 95% of the car buying public then

Very true but we already had a few seemingly good brands - Carsupermarket or whatever, and Carwow, always seemed to be the go-to?

I suspect these new car sales sites are nothing more than an intermediary advertising platform between dealers and end-customers.

The TOWIE guy really annoys me - He reminds me of Scott Tracy from thunderbirds. Except his strings are connected to his cheeks and stupid fake teeth.