Ask HN: Review My Startup, UnloadYourCar.com

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4863489

by swagner11 • 14 years ago

11 11 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Would like to get feedback from the HN readers.

I have founded UnloadYourCar.com. This service helps you get the best price for used car. [Think Gazelle, eBay and Lending tree for cars.]

Primary User: General Car Owners Primary "Customer": Auto Dealers

Enter your car and mileage then up to 20 dealers or private buyers make you an offer. You choose the best offer and get a voucher commencing the agreement.

No hassle going to multiple dealers or time spent posting to all the websites.

Revenue: our primary revenue would come from dealers paying to "bid/advertise" their offer.

Right now, automotive dealers are paying on average $20+/unqualified leads (Autotrader, cars.com). (Personal experience)

The Advertising and Marketing costs per new vehicle sold are $650 (NADA research).

I believe we can command a higher price $250+/lead (after validating consumer use/demand) because this is a "Qualified" Lead/Sale for the dealer.

Competition: Atuotrader, TrueCar, Cars.com, etc.

Would like to get feedback from the HN readers.

I have founded UnloadYourCar.com. This service helps you get the best price for used car. [Think Gazelle, eBay and Lending tree for cars.]

Primary User: General Car Owners Primary "Customer": Auto Dealers

Enter your car and mileage then up to 20 dealers or private buyers make you an offer. You choose the best offer and get a voucher commencing the agreement.

No hassle going to multiple dealers or time spent posting to all the websites.

Revenue: our primary revenue would come from dealers paying to "bid/advertise" their offer.

Right now, automotive dealers are paying on average $20+/unqualified leads (Autotrader, cars.com). (Personal experience)

The Advertising and Marketing costs per new vehicle sold are $650 (NADA research).

I believe we can command a higher price $250+/lead (after validating consumer use/demand) because this is a "Qualified" Lead/Sale for the dealer.

Competition: Autotrader, TrueCar, Cars.com, etc.

dangrossman• 14 years ago

Simpler description: CarWoo (YC S09) for used cars. This is their business model, and there's certainly an opportunity to do the same with used cars. You should probably find out what dealers are paying CarWoo -- they'll likely move into the used car space too eventually.

All I see at unloadyourcar.com is a GoDaddy parking page.

goldfeld2• 14 years ago

I'm not sure how indicative that is, but I have never heard of CarWoo. So that wouldn't make it very clear to me.

swagner114• 14 years ago

Have you used Carsabi or Truecar?

swagner114• 14 years ago

Thanks for the comments. The site is unloadyourcar.launchrock.com a simple sign-up page for now.

ryetoasthumor• 14 years ago

This is actually what AutoRef.com, the startup I'm working with does. While it is similar to CarWoo for used cars, interacting with dealerships about specific vehicles tied to a VIN number is quite complex.

jyu• 14 years ago

It's easier with new cars than old cars because you have an apples to apples comparison. The problem I had with using carwoo is that even after negotiating the price down, showing up at the dealership they tried to add in all these extra bullshit costs.

I think carwoo operates by users paying a fee like $200 or so, and is free to dealers. Dealerships treat it as a source for qualified buyers. carwoo also gives you some basic reviews of the different dealerships and car pricing info based on your inputs.

eduardordm• 14 years ago

Unless you can fix how payment and financing works, it is extremely hard to sell or buy a car online.

This is why carwoo - as it is today - is doomed. Even after you have a deal, you still need to negotiate financing terms and that's when sales tactics come in. The same car can have many prices depending on which bank you choose, apr, etc.

People who pays cash for used cars are the minority.

Explaining why the same car can have many prices: Dealers also make money from banks. They get paid a small percentage of the loan presumed profit, the larger the profit (longer loans) the better. Dealers use that margin to negotiate.

swagner114• 14 years ago

Good pts.

This was born out of personal frustration and gap we saw with the online lead generation services in the auto space.

Dealers wanted a qualified ready buyer. A used car seller (or trade in) wants to know what they can get for it.

If we can make it a guarantee (like Truecar) that you'll get that price when you visit the dealer, then wouldn't you try it and visit the store?

rct• 14 years ago

Hi, I've been researching the car buying space for several years and started the site RealCarTips.com. Here's my take on this:

There's currently a site called RollSale (http://rollsale.com) that's doing something similar to this.

There's also AutoTrade.com Trade-In Marketplace where you can get quotes for your trade-in (https://tradein.autotrader.com)

But the problem I see with this business model is that any quote you get from a dealer for a vehicle they haven't personally seen and inspected will not be a reliable bid.

They can always do a bait and switch after you bring the vehicle in. Now that they have you at the dealership, they can wear you down and convince you to drop the price due to "unforseen" issues. Perhaps the vehicle is not in the condition they expected, or there's some mechanical "issues" and they can't honor their original bid.

I don't know of any dealers that will absolutely guarantee a used car bid sight unseen (unless they bid way below market rate), which isn't good for consumers.

Not saying this business model won't work, it's just hard to get guaranteed bids.

Edit: I may have misunderstood the question, but I'm assuming this is a service where you try to sell or "unload" your car to a dealer.

swagner114• 14 years ago

(In response to Edit) You are correct.

That is the main way to dispose of the car. If the public wants to also make an "offer" they can. But the model is similar to Lending Tree where the dealers bid for your business.

I think that the business-model has to have high conversion for the consumer and dealer.

Dealers are frustrated by "tire-kickers." Lots of wasted money following up on email. We hope to take this up another notch by having a bona-fide consumer walking in with an offer in hand.

I agree the competition can become very stiff in this space.

We're looking to bring in personal data (financial) from Neustar to qualify the seller along with carfax data to verify the quality of the car prior to the bid.

I see having to have some sort of dispute resolution or mitigate that risk like eBay Autos does. Like Gazelle does I believe they have right to modify the trade-in price upon inspecting the gadget.