Pre-loved cars, just a click away

Online seems to be the buzzword when it comes to shopping these days, not only globally, but in India too.

Though Indians had their own doubts about the quality of services, they have embraced it in a big way. Second-hand car buyers did not want to be left behind joining this bandwagon and have logged on various options like Quikr, Olx, Carwale, Cartrade, Droom, etc. in order to fulfill their wishes of owning perhaps their first car or the second one.

So, how big is the market as far as online second-hand car buying is concerned? According to experts, the total used car market is approximately three million units and the online part of it constitutes only a small portion of it. Less than one per cent of the total used cars are bought online and the value for it is estimated to be around Rs 1,000 crore.

Focus on best deals

That’s about the market. But what about the consumer? What do these online portals do in order to ensure that the consumers get the best possible deal? “We have several features to help buyers get the best deals for pre-owned vehicles and we encourage consumers to look for the inspected sign against advertisements to ensure that the quality of the vehicle has been sufficiently assessed. Another helpful tool is our Price Meter that helps to evaluate all pre-owned cars available for sale within a certain price range and QuikrCar’s localised discovery module that helps consumers find popular car listings within their area,” Atul Tewari, COO at Quikr & Head of QuikrCars, tells Deccan Herald.

According to Sandeep Aggarwal, founder and chief executive officer of Droom, an online marketplace for used cars and two-wheelers with sellers and listings from 71 cities across the country, the company suggests a value to the consumer. “We have a concept called the Orange Book Value under which we suggest a value for the car. But the final decision ultimately lies with the buyer itself as to what price he thinks is right,” Aggarwal tells Deccan Herald.

That’s from a buyer perspective. But what about the sellers? How can they ensure that they also get the best price possible? According to Atul Tewari, the descriptions and pictures play a very important role in determining the choice of a buyer.

“The seller should give a complete and accurate description of his car and include pictures in the post. Ads with pictures receive over 50 per cent more responses. The seller should also opt for a car inspection as consumers prefer cars that have been inspected. They should also not forget to use Quikr’s maximum selling price (MSP) calculator to ensure that he/she do not overestimate or underestimate your pre-owned vehicle as a good price will bring you more responses,” Tewari says.

Droom, interestingly, has an online distance learning and education programme for educating sellers. “We have an online distance education programme for sellers called Droom University under which we train sellers on how to create listings, how to take pictures, how to price the vehicle right, benefits of auto inspections, warranty and also market insights into the industry,” Aggarwal says.

Fraud prevention matters

Having tackled the issue of getting the best price, let’s look at a big concern which is frauds. So, do these portals ensure measures to prevent frauds?

According to Quikr’s Atul Tewari, the company does take a lot of measures to prevent frauds. “We have built a strong moderation methodology using technology to help determine fraud buyers/sellers. We also spend time educating buyers about what to check before buying the product listed by the seller and in the event that a fraudulent ad is brought to our notice, we delete it and if needed also block the user from accessing the site,” Tewari says.

Droom’s Aggarwal believes that the company’s moves are aimed at ensuring that there are only genuine sellers on its platform. “The seller has to answer 43 questions before listing the product on the platform. Besides this, we have a seller verification programme and also ask the seller to submit a copy of the RC, the service logs of the car as well as a copy of the insurance policy which certainly ensures that the buyer is genuine,” Aggarwal says.

So, everyone seems to be getting the best deal possible. But though the potential for such a market is huge, the volumes do not seem to suggest so. However, the consolidation in the online automobile market with Cardekho acquiring Zigwheels and the merger of CarWale and CarTrade, certainly seems to suggest that a boom in the space can certainly be expected sooner or later.