Bad Experience With Cars24.com


Akash1886

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Cars24: Used Car Selling Service: Experience

Friends,

For selling my 6.5 Year Old CITY IVtec, I had checked out the CARS24 service platform. They have their office in B Block Sector 1 Noida. I had gone there on Sunday but they work as per appointment only. You need to book an appointment in prior to get your car evaluated from their team of experts. So as I went there we are told to book an appointment and were given the same for Monday morning 10AM. We reached their office and were attended by the branch manager there. He informed the process of evaluating the car, the time it will take to evaluate and how the pricing will be done.

Process of Evaluation that I got to know

1) Book an Appointment from their app/website

2) Their team of experts will check the car on 150+ parameter and provide the feedback

3) A test drive on a pre-defined 1-1.5 Kms stretch will be done by their drivers to check the suspension, brakes and engine.

4) They'll take external and interior photos of the car

5) They will feed in all the details of your car in their 150+ Parameter list and further their Industry Expert Panel will give their feedback on the car.

6) Once that is complete the pics will be uploaded on their website/app wherein some registered buyers will bid for the car (pan India).

7) The car's number plate will be blanked and the RC also shall be uploaded.

8) The bidding for the car will last about 30 minutes and after that the highest/best price will be offered.

9) Upon confirmation they'll give an option of instant payment through IMPS that takes 25 minutes and there is a fee as well for that as I remember. In case you opt for payment in 48 hours or so the fee is not charged. The documentation on deal's closure takes about 25 minutes too.

10) They will hold back a sum of 10K rupees until the RTO formalities between the new buyer and old seller are complete. This 10K will be transferred post the RTO formalities which they describe as "PARTY PESHI"

11) They from 01st March 2018 have also added some fee/charge based on the pricing slab of the car. Example: Upto 1L it is 1K, then next slab 3K, then next 5K etc.

Now on listening to this all protocols and procedure I had 2 basic questions for the person who attended me;

1) What is the caliber, knowledge and experience of the driver who shall be testing my car?

2) On what basis does your panel of feedback guys qualify as "Industry Experts"? What is their level of knowledge and how much experience do they have in order to comment on someone's car?

3) During the Test Drive, if the car gets damaged then who will be responsible? Who shall pay for the damage in case the deal doesn't close with you?

I wasn't really satisfied with the answer of the person so bought time from him and eventually refused to deal. I did share with him about my experience and exposure to the automotive field as well and told him that I will consult my team first.

Buddies do share the experiences and views about the Cars24 service in your CITY/State on this thread.

Regards

Akash
 
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Re: Cars24: Used Car Selling Service: Experience

@Akash - There already exists a thread on Cars24 - Here. Most of the members are unhappy with their experience and the dealings. I personally had a harrowing experience with them as well which is mentioned in the same thread.
 

Akash1886

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Re: Cars24: Used Car Selling Service: Experience

@Akash - There already exists a thread on Cars24 - Here. Most of the members are unhappy with their experience and the dealings. I personally had a harrowing experience with them as well which is mentioned in the same thread.
Thanks buddy for highlighting the thread. I was never in favor of selling off my car with all these online sites & portals. I am extremely old school in all this and still believe that the best way to sell a old car is by interacting with the buyer ourselves. Organized or Unorganized, I am totally against paying commission whether it is for selling a car or renting a house.

Regards

Akash
 
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Re: Cars24: Used Car Selling Service: Experience

I am extremely old school in all this and still believe that the best way to sell a old car is by interacting with the buyer ourselves. Organized or Unorganized, I am totally against paying commission whether it is for selling a car or renting a house.
Totally understand your feeling on this, even I think on similar lines. People prefer the dealers in selling the cars only in cases where the car is a fraud one (accidents, odo tampered, fake first owner, etc.) or by people who do not want to spend their time & effort on selling and dealing with the buyers (mostly nagging at times). But personally dealing with prospective buyer is the best method to get real, full value for our vehicle.
I was never in favor of selling off my car with all these online sites & portals.
These days we have quite good websites to get in contact with prospective buyers, like CarTrade, OLX, Truebill, etc.
 
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Akash1886

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Re: Cars24: Used Car Selling Service: Experience

Totally understand your feeling on this, even I think on similar lines. People prefer the dealers in selling the cars only in cases where the car is a fraud one (accidents, odo tampered, fake first owner, etc.) or by people who do not want to spend their time & effort on selling and dealing with the buyers (mostly nagging at times). But personally dealing with prospective buyer is the best method to get real, full value for our vehicle.
Yaar, I ended up selling my car in just 2 days on my own. I started the process on Saturday morning and car sold on Monday and that too with proper value and all documents. I got a quote for my car through their mobile website (by filling all details) for Rs. 2.7L with a rider that *it is subject to inspection. I wasn't interested in dealing with not only them but in general with the car selling online portals. I earned a increase of 10% over the max quote provided by these Car24 guys by selling car myself.

These days we have quite good websites to get in contact with prospective buyers, like CarTrade, OLX, Truebill, etc.
Cars24 was advertised as very fast and easy to deal platform but the actual process isn't as easy. If one loves his/her car or bike it is better to spend time while selling it and make efforts to make it go to the correct person.

Regards

Akash
 
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Re: Cars24: Used Car Selling Service: Experience

Yaar, I ended up selling my car in just 2 days on my own. I started the process on Saturday morning and car sold on Monday and that too with proper value and all documents. I got a quote for my car through their mobile website (by filling all details) for Rs. 2.7L with a rider that *it is subject to inspection. I wasn't interested in dealing with not only them but in general with the car selling online portals. I earned a increase of 10% over the max quote provided by these Car24 guys by selling car myself.
Good you decided not to go with the Cars24. Even I had similar experience, was quoted about 7L by Cars24, for 2013 Oct model XUV W8 which had done merely 32K KMs. Later I sold the car at about 11L by myself, just that I had to spend some and effort in getting it done. They are outright cheaters in my experience.
 
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This sounds a lot like a dealer auction. Quick vehicle turnaround to invited buyers (usually dealers) by maintaining low prices, at the expense of the seller. This way, the dealer can sell at a competitive price while preserving a profit margin.

You can definitely get a lot more money by selling to a private party, but this isn't an awful alternative for people who don't have the time/patience/knowledge to do so.
 
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I tried selling my less than 1 year old Honda City VMT Petrol with them. It is the new facelift model in absolutely scratch-less condition. The price quoted was over 10L on the website. I was okay with that and went for the inspection. The reviewer also agreed that the car is in excellent condition. However there were a couple of discrepancies in their inspection report. First, it said car did not have warranty even though I have a 4 year warranty and that my tyres have less than 50% life when they are just 14k old upsized Michelins. What was pissing off was that the price offered was 7.8L. Even the time pass guys on olx offered me more than 8.5L. Absolute waste of time.
 

Akash1886

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I tried selling my less than 1 year old Honda City VMT Petrol with them. It is the new facelift model in absolutely scratch-less condition. The price quoted was over 10L on the website. I was okay with that and went for the inspection. The reviewer also agreed that the car is in excellent condition. However there were a couple of discrepancies in their inspection report. First, it said car did not have warranty even though I have a 4 year warranty and that my tyres have less than 50% life when they are just 14k old upsized Michelins. What was pissing off was that the price offered was 7.8L. Even the time pass guys on olx offered me more than 8.5L. Absolute waste of time.
Man, that's a real shocker! A straight drop of 2+ Lacs in price between Website & Reality. I think the only aim of Cars24 is to increase the number of walk-ins in there dealership. They have all this thesis in place and 10 types of protocols and processes and in the end quote a ridiculously low price. Can anyone tell how much profit % would they be earning per sale of a used car?

Regards

Akash
 
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Man, that's a real shocker! A straight drop of 2+ Lacs in price between Website & Reality. I think the only aim of Cars24 is to increase the number of walk-ins in there dealership. They have all this thesis in place and 10 types of protocols and processes and in the end quote a ridiculously low price. Can anyone tell how much profit % would they be earning per sale of a used car?

Regards

Akash
The typical profit margin for used vehicle dealers is 10-20% gross. Dealers in India tend to be closer to the 20% due to ongoing growth of the used car market. Based on the figures shared by members above, my best guess is that Cars24 hovers at 20% gross. Despite lower mechanic costs, their net profit margin is likely well under 10%.
 
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The typical profit margin for used vehicle dealers is 10-20% gross. Dealers in India tend to be closer to the 20% due to ongoing growth of the used car market. Based on the figures shared by members above, my best guess is that Cars24 hovers at 20% gross. Despite lower mechanic costs, their net profit margin is likely well under 10%.
Cars 24 sells to dealers only. Not to direct buyers. They have an auction where dealers from all over the country bid for the cars. So those end dealers will keep that margin you mentioned and cars24 over and above that I believe.
 
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Cars 24 sells to dealers only. Not to direct buyers. They have an auction where dealers from all over the country bid for the cars. So those end dealers will keep that margin you mentioned and cars24 over and above that I believe.
Ah you're right, i didn't account for that. Since the final sale price (by the dealer) still needs to be competitive, they would be splitting the overall margin, likely depending on who puts in the work needed to turn the vehicle around.

If it's like a typical dealer auction, where they simply resell in present condition, Cars24 would average ~50% the profit of the purchasing dealer (ie. ~$33% of the overall margin). But because the pricing is prior to consumer sale, and funds flow unilaterally, this would vary greatly.
 
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Re: Cars24: Used Car Selling Service: Experience

Yaar, I ended up selling my car in just 2 days on my own. I started the process on Saturday morning and car sold on Monday and that too with proper value and all documents. I got a quote for my car through their mobile website (by filling all details) for Rs. 2.7L with a rider that *it is subject to inspection. I wasn't interested in dealing with not only them but in general with the car selling online portals. I earned a increase of 10% over the max quote provided by these Car24 guys by selling car myself.

Cars24 was advertised as very fast and easy to deal platform but the actual process isn't as easy. If one loves his/her car or bike it is better to spend time while selling it and make efforts to make it go to the correct person.

Regards

Akash
Just wondering, what portal did you use for selling your car? I am in process of selling my old car back in India. Not very keen on using OLX due to it being in news lately!
 

Akash1886

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Re: Cars24: Used Car Selling Service: Experience

Just wondering, what portal did you use for selling your car? I am in process of selling my old car back in India. Not very keen on using OLX due to it being in news lately!
Hi Akash, I did not use any online portals to sell my car. I wasn't really interested. My car sale was party-to-party deal. The buyer gave me the price I expected in open market and did documentation properly. I would suggest, in case you want to sell your car, appoint a family member / friend to close the deal with genuine buyers without involvement of the middle men or any online site.

Regards

Akash
 
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I had a similar experience with CARS24 2 years back. They were offering a price lower than the price i was getting as buy back for new car.....
 

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