Online used-car seller Car Harmony is expanding its “breadth of offering” by listing wholesale vehicles, provided by one of its current partnered rental companies, on CarHarmony.com, said Craig Nehamen, the company’s co-founder and assistant vice president of strategy and corporate development at parent company Westlake Financial Services.
Los Angeles-based Car Harmony, through a partnership with Midway Rent-A-Car, is able to list cars to its online inventory for consumers to purchase, but those cars are still with the rental company and not in Car Harmony’s physical inventory, Nehamen said. Car Harmony also purchases used cars from Avis, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, and Hertz to supplement its physical inventory. The used-car seller is “in talks” with one of those three rental companies to begin listing wholesale vehicles to its online inventory on CarHarmony.com, “which will then further broaden our selection beyond physical inventory,” Nehamen added.
The biggest challenge for Car Harmony “is figuring out the best way to source and buy cars, and coming out with more relationships with rental companies and wholesalers,” he added.
Additionally, Car Harmony hired Frank Quintiliani in June to serve as its wholesale manager to buy inventory at auctions. Quintiliani ran a dealership for more than 10 years, and he has purchased for other groups since, Nehamen said. “He is set up as a contractor, but he is only buying for us. We also buy cars in-house and may soon bring on another wholesaler,” he added. It’s harder to buy cars without boots on the ground at an auction or wholesale location, Nehamen said, “and [wholesale managers] will help us buy a little deeper there.”
Nehamen, together with other Westlake executives, co-founded Car Harmony in November 2015. Through the new platform, customers choose a car online, have it delivered, test drive, and keep it for a three-day trial, within a 30-mile limit. Car Harmony offers consumer financing through its parent company Westlake.
