Volkswagen Financial Services and Daimler Mobility have expanded online used-car marketplace Heycar into the U.K., bringing an inventory of more than 100,000 vehicles across 1,400 dealerships. The U.K. used-car market is valued at $60 billion, and financing is valued at $21.2 billion, according to Heycar.
Heycar’s platform, which launched nearly two years ago in Berlin, partners with select dealers — listing vehicles, with warranties, that are less than 8 years old with fewer than 100,000 miles. In Berlin, the company has an inventory of 400,000 used cars from more than 4,000 dealerships.
Also read: Used-car marketplace raises $13M in Series A funding
“The U.K. used car industry works inefficiently for consumers and dealers,” Heycar Chief Executive Mat Moakes said. “Buying a used car can be like a lottery — you don’t know what you’ll get.”
Plus, European dealers are typically “burdened with rising fees for listing used cars online, squeezing their margins without a guarantee of leads or sales,” Moakes added. To that end, the Heycar online platform is ad-free and doesn’t charge dealers a listing fee. However, after the “launch phase,” the company will charge on a lead-generation basis, the company noted without providing a timeline for the launch phase.
Volkswagen Financial Services secured Daimler Mobility as a partner and investor for its used-car platform late last year. Daimler Mobility holds a 20% stake in Mobility Trader Holding GmbH, which operates the Heycar platform in Germany via subsidiary Mobility Trader GmbH.
Daimler Mobility also holds a seat on the advisory board of Mobility Trader GmbH and as Heycar expands beyond Germany – the captive will hold one seat on the advisory board of each additional international subsidiary, according to VWFS. Both companies have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.
