In the contemporary world where every single person is running after something or the other, the personal mode of transportation is becoming increasingly significant. Human beings are living a very hectic life wherein they don’t even find time for themselves. That is why people have begun investing in vehicles for their comfort. Cars are no exception. Cars are an independent and convenient means of transportation that not only save time and energy but are also considered best for daily commutes and short errands.Cars24 is a great option!

Nowadays, people prefer to buy used cars as one gets almost all the benefits in a used car that one would expect from a car which is brand new. Do you want to know about a platform that serves you with this facility? Let’s find it out.

ABOUT CARS24

All those who love cars or are planning to buy cars must have heard about India’s largest used car buying platform, Cars24. With a presence in more than 128 major cities in India, Cars 24 is a tech-enabled used car disruptor. It is known for buying and selling used cars at the best price possible with proper expert assistance and advice.

As claimed by the company, the mission of Cars24 is to revolutionize the way used cars are transacted in India. Cars24 aims to make the transaction of used cars efficient and hassle-free for its customers as it abides by a certain set of values and rules.

BUSINESS MODEL

The business model of Cars24 is appreciated in the business industry. It follows the customer-to-business (C2B) model which means that the company buys used cars from dealers and individuals and sells the cars to other dealers. It enables an end-to-end transaction on its own and charges a commission of about 4-5 percent for each transaction that it does.

Cars 24 has a very different approach to surviving in the market as it does not follow C2C (Customer-to-customer) or B2C (Business-to-customer) business model.

Since its establishment, Cars24 has been following an intelligent approach to grow its business in the entire nation. The owner by using Cars24 can sell the car in less than 2 hours by just approaching the nearest cars24 branch. The rest is handled by the company. Cars24 transfers the payment into the seller’s bank account in no time and takes the responsibility for all the documentation and paperwork. RC transfer is also not your headache as cars24 handles it all.

The company sells these cars all across India through its proprietary auction platform to businesses dealing in pre-owned vehicles. That is how cars24’s business model works. This unique model that focuses on supply first is helping the company to earn a name and fame in entire India.

NEWLY LAUNCHED FEATURE: SPACE FOR TWO WHEELERS

Cars24 has recently launched a new feature under which customers can now buy and sell their two-wheelers, including moped, motorbikes, and scooters, and that too in a single visit. The company claims that it saw great potential in the used bike industry. They further claim that the used bike industry is 50 percent bigger than the new bike industry.

Cars24 currently has 210+ branches and it aims to establish the two-wheeler segment in all these branches. As Cars24 believes in making its roots stronger, it wants to offer the newly launched service in the top 15 Indian cities with over 50 branches within the next 6 months.

NET WORTH AND IMPORTANT FUNDINGS

Founded by FabFurnish founders Vikram Chopra and Mehul Agarwal, Cars24 recently raised funding of Rs. 77.58 crore from its Singapore parent Global Car Group, revealing filings with the Ministry of Corporate (MCA). This Gurugram based company has an equity value of Rs. 3,809.08 crore ($548 million).

If we go deep into its worth, Cars24 raised a lot of money in the year 2018. It raised $50 million from Sequoia Capital and its existing investors. At that time, its valuation was estimated at $250 million. If we compare the valuation of both the years then it is evident that Cars24’s business model is very effective and is efficiently contributing to the company’s growth.

In October 2019, Cars24 closed a $100 million equity financing round from a clutch of new and existing investors, including Unbound, the London based investment firm. It was founded by Shravan Mittal, director of Bharti Global. Moore Strategic Ventures, a New York-based investment firm has also joined the Singapore and Gurugram-based company’s cap table.

Unbound and Toronto-based KCK Global who are the lead investors in the Series D round (a fourth stage in the Seed Stage Financing cycle) have put in an estimated $25 million each in the company. Apart from this, other institutional backers include Sequoia Capital, partners of DST Global, and the Agnelli Family. The Agnelli Family had invested through Exor Seeds in Cars24. Exor Seeds is a fund associated with EXOR N.V, one of Europe’s leading diversified holdings companies.

CARS24 FINANCIAL SERVICES

Another business development took place in the year 2019 when Cars24 procured a Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to venture into the consumer lending business. The company has formed a new entity called CARS24 Financial Services for the same.

Under this service, the company will facilitate vehicle loans to customers and finance channel partners to help them expand their businesses. This will be a credit-based service and the average ticket size of a loan would be INR 2.5 Lakh- INR 3 Lakh for consumers. For channel partners, eligibility criteria will be different. It can go as high as INR 1 crore depending on the requirement.

COMPETITORS

Competition sharpens the efforts and approach of a company which imparts growth to the business. Have you heard of some important companies surviving in the market like CarDekho, Olx Cars, CarWale, and CarTrade? All these companies are the competitors of Cars24 but the cut-throat competition comes from Olx Cars. Olx Cars are one of the largest good selling platforms that deals in electronics, furniture, cars, and bikes. It serves as a great competition for the company as it is a subsidiary of the leading used products selling platform in India, Olx.

LEGAL TUSSLES: SHUTTING OF OUTLETS IN DELHI

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Even after doing the best planning and managing things in the best way possible, Cars24 found itself caught in a legal tussle with its landlords in 2019. It resulted in the shutting down of stores at various places in violation of lease agreements in the capital city Delhi. The company has received nearly six legal notices from landlords in Delhi for non-payment of rent for months.

Cars24 was also asked by the Delhi High court to not indulge in commercial misappropriation or trademark infringement of the Olx brand. Olx had also alleged that agencies of Cars24 hired by it illegally chatted with sellers and procured their contact details. Moreover, a US-based online trade facilitator also accused the company of illegally procuring the data of its sellers.

Cars24, sometimes also faces the wrath of some customers on social media. Dissatisfied customers tweet about cheating and frauds that the company allegedly does with them. One of the tweets mentions that Cars24 cheated them by not paying three months’ rent and GST pending. It claims that the company is progressing downwards ethically.

Despite the allegations, Cars24 is growing its market presence with each day passing by. The company believes that there is huge headroom for the growth of used cars in India. The company has been following this belief that helps the company to grow.

MILESTONES OF CARS24

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The co-founder of the company Mehul says that “We (the company) have evolved across everything – Business maturity, Processes, People development, etc. One thing that remains the same at the core is our purpose – simplifying transactions of used cars and moving a completely offline industry to an online transacting platform. In today’s world, a startup continuing to deliver what it had set out for, is quite an accomplishment.”

Some of the key milestones of the company include:

Achieving an increase in employees’ NPS every month.
Scaling the presence to more than 10 top cities in India to increase profit.
Achieving branch level breakeven that indicates that the company focuses on sustainability, management, and profitability in the long run.
The formation of values in the year 2016 depicts the company’s focus not only on business but also on its people and culture.

Furthermore, the company also takes pride in the fact that the CEO of the company, Vikram Chopra was featured in the “Super 100- Best Amongst the Rest” of Business India. Cars24 considers it a privilege and desires to achieve more in the upcoming years.

CONCLUSION

Gone are the days when selling and buying a car was considered a laborious process and a timely affair. Cars24 has changed this algorithm forever as one does not need to engage in the tiring process of getting the RC (Registration Certificate) transferred, haggling for the price, allowing test rides, and weeks of engagement with strangers with no surety of cracking the deal. Cars24 is the best platform to buy and sell your vehicles. You just need to visit the nearby store and the rest will be done by the company.

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