How Cars24 Uses Technology to Simplify Car Selling and Buying

Introduction

The automotive vehicle industry has witnessed a massive transformation over the last decade with websites in the process of reorganizing the purchase and sale of vehicles. Purchase and sale of used cars formerly had inefficiency, vagueness, and time wastage in the former mode. Purchasers and sellers were left with going through newspaper ads, neighborhood shops, or word-of-mouth recommendation, which formerly wasted their time and offered no assurance. The internet revolution has solved all these issues, and Cars24 has led the way in using technology to make the process easier and more streamlined.

Cars24 is a revolutionary online platform that has transformed the used car industry by making the selling and buying process easy and convenient and secure. With the power of technology, i.e., machine learning, AI, and data analytics, Cars24 ends the agony of selling cars in the traditional way. Apart from providing the cars priced on the dot by the website, secure transactions done, and fast payment, the website provides the legal procedure and papers done professionally as well. This has set Cars24 at the number-one position of car sellers and buyers in the millions.

In the present article, we will observe how Cars24 is utilizing technology to revolutionize the user experience in so many ways like instant valuation, live online auctions, fraud protection, and convenience in documentation processes. Going through these technology features, we can observe how Cars24 has revolutionized the industry standards and has become the future of the used car business.

Company Name	Cars24 Services Pvt. Ltd.
Founded	2015
Founder	Vikram Chopra, Mehul Agarwal, Gajendra Jangid, Ruchit Agarwal
Headquarters	Gurugram, India
Industry	Automotive, E-Commerce
Business Model	Online Platorm  for buying & selling used cars, bikes, and scrap vehicles

Source: Business Today

Table of Contents

S. No.	Car24’s Technology to Simplify Car Selling and Buying
	The Traditional Challenges in Car Selling and Buying
	How Technology is Used by Cars24 to Make Experience Smoother
	The Effect of Cars24’s Technological Advancements
	Technology Developments in the Future in Cars24
	Conclusion

The Traditional Challenges in Car Selling and Buying

Prior to Cars24 and other such websites, it was a time-consuming and hit-and-miss process with numerous steps such as searching for potential buyers, price negotiation, and completing long forms in order to sell a used vehicle. It was equally challenging to buy a used vehicle due to fear of being duped, lack of any car history, and inability to ascertain the fair market value of the vehicle.

Some of the biggest issues with past used car sales were:

1. Price Lack of Transparency: 

It was never simple to put a price on a used car. They sold and lost, or priced and waited, and their cars sat on the lot for weeks. There was no simple way for consumers to know if the quoted price was reasonable, with no way of valuation. No market forces forced the prices, and accordingly unstable and more or less unclear price expectations would be formed such that either party would find it difficult to negotiate.

2. Rude Process: 

It took ages to dispose of a vehicle via the classical means of advertisement, local workshops, or verbal recommendations. The vendor would wait for weeks or months before he would receive a prospective buyer who would quote an acceptable price. Once it had a buyer, there were several rounds of negotiation in finalizing the price and hence further delays. For the consumers, having a good-priced and good-condition used car meant that they had to visit several dealerships and test drive several cars and hence making it time-consuming and cumbersome.

Source: The Business Rule

3. Unverified Sellers and Buyers: 

The largest risk of vintage car selling, perhaps, was meeting directly the bogus sellers or buyers. Sellers never had a clue about the prospective buyer being genuine, financially qualified, or window shopping. Buyers never knew the seller had informed them correctly about the vehicle’s history, title, or concealed defects. This generated a culture of fraud, misrepresentations, and buyer-seller disputes.

4. Bureaucracies and Slow Work: 

Collecting the car was surrounded by a lot of legal procedures such as change in ownership, de-registration on the part of the previous owner, registration as the name of the new one, change of insurance, and completion of formalities through government. Earlier used to do all that by them all going in groups to Regional Transport Office (RTO), lengthy paperwork procedure, and repetition of accomplishing all formalities. Both of the dealers had contractual liability on vehicles sold from defective title transfers, and customers were experiencing delays in receiving legal notice of ownership.

5. Danger of Payment Forgery: 

Payment security was also a concern in conventional car sales. Cash payment was not safe because of the danger of forged money, robbery, or non-payment after acquiring the vehicle. Bank checks and bank transfers were also unsafe since customers would send no payment or a bad check. Payment insecurity frequently endangered dealers, and car selling was extremely uncertain.

Source: Opportunity Track

6. Seller’s Uncertainty Unreliable Vehicle Inspection and History: 

It was extremely difficult for the buyers to get the actual condition of a used car. The sellers would barely give information such as accident history, engine repair, or odometer tampering. There was no standard process for a clean vehicle history report and, hence, the buyers could not make the correct decision. Buying the car in unawareness of its actual condition has been used to lure mostly repair and maintenance expenses by the buyers in the long run.

7. Market access and coverage limitations: 

The sellers had restricted access through the usual avenues of exposing for sale a restricted number of home buyers. This forced them to lower levels where, on the basis of non-competitive offers, they were forced to sell at discount prices. Consumers were also restricted from purchasing specific models of cars or well-preserved vehicles because their option was only within private owners or local dealerships. Being unable to reach a national market was inefficient pricing and restricted the buyer and seller’s horizon.

How Technology is Used by Cars24 to Make Experience Smoother

Cars24 has embraced advanced technology solutions that facilitate end-to-end car buying and selling. A few of the most promising technology innovations which make Cars24 a market leader are discussed below in detail.

1. AI-Based Instant Car Valuation

One of the biggest strengths of Cars24 is that it has an AI-based car valuation system. It provides a fast and fair market value for a used car based on the following number of factors:

• Model, make, and variant of the vehicle
• Manufacturing year
• Odometer reading
• Overall condition of the vehicle
• Demand-supply trend in the used car market

The artificial intelligence technology uses hundreds of thousands of transactions to calculate current values and gives sellers real valuation, not an estimate of what some vintage car might be worth. The site guarantees the seller they get the highest price available and corrects for market trends.

Source: TechCrunch 

2. Online Auction Site for Highest Price Discovery

Cars24 has implemented an online auctioning system whereby the registered customers all over the country can place their bids on a car belonging to a seller. The steps involved are as under:

• The seller puts up his vehicle on the Cars24 website with limited information and photos.
• The vehicle is put through an online live auction process where there are thousands of dealers who place their bids against each other for the vehicle.
• The highest bid goes to the seller, and they have the option to reject or accept the same.

This auction model assures the highest price of the automobile to the sellers and provides a fast and fair mechanism for the buyers. The multiple dealers bidding for one automobile are better suited for price discovery.

3. Payment Processing Instantaneously

Payment timing is the biggest problem for car sellers. Cars24 resolves the problem by providing instant and secure payment options. The money reaches the seller’s bank account instantly as soon as the transaction process gets completed, giving a hassle-free experience.

The facility removes the context of payment frauds and delayed transaction issues, giving vendors convenience.

Source: Cars24

4. Easy RC Transfer and Documentation Handling

Ownership transfer is perhaps the most hurtful aspect of selling a vehicle. Cars24 eases it by handling all the documents pertaining to it, including:

• Transfer of RC (Registration Certificate)
• Insurance transfer
• RTO (Regional Transport Office) documents and deregistration

This renders the seller immune to any legal problem after selling their vehicle. The company keeps the sellers updated about the progress of the process of change of ownership so that maximum transparency and reliability is ensured.

5. AI and Machine Learning for Detection of Frauds

For the safety of the marketplace, Cars24 employs AI-based fraud protection mechanisms. These mechanisms monitor the trend of transactions, verify the seller and buyer accounts, and detect suspicious trends. This facilitates easy blocking of fraud transactions and provides a safe platform to all the users.

The fraud checking system searches for spoofed accounts, abnormally suspicious bid patterns, and car description mistakes. The website gets lesser exposure to fraud postings, identity thefts, and scams due to this.

6. Trouble-Free Pre-Owned Car Purchase with Cars24 Reconditioned Cars

Cars24 also has a vehicle procurement center for second-hand vehicles. It places used vehicles extensively in the market after reconditioning them. They undergo the process of:

• Professionally deep inspecting and certifying cars
• Repair using new repair methods
• Disclosure list with complete history of cars

This ensures buyers are secure in terms of the reliability as well as the quality of cars purchased. Buyers even compare various cars on the platform, cross-verify reports, and make smart buying decisions.

7. User Convenience by Mobile App and AI Chatbots

Cars24 mobile app and AI chatbots enable user convenience by providing:

• Live bid and hassle-free valuation of vehicles
• Sellers and buyers are provided with real-time support
• Reminders of pending documents can be easily accessed
• Easy-to-read FAQs and support availability

The whole process is more convenient in the app because of which individuals can sell or purchase cars from home. 24/7 there are AI-supported chatbots available which walk the customers step by step through different processes, which solve their issues at one go.

The Effect of Cars24’s Technological Advancements

With these new-age technologies, Cars24 has revolutionized the used car market in numerous ways:

• Reduced Transaction Time: What previously took weeks can now be accomplished within hours.
• Transparency: AI-powered valuations and digital auctions offer true prices.
• Security: Anti-fraud technologies offer a safe and reliable platform.
• Seamless Experience: Paperwork automation and money transfer on the spot guarantee inconvenience-free car selling and buying.
• Sophisticated Pricing Mechanism: Online auctioning offers competitive prices to the sellers and actual cars at affordable prices to buyers.

Technology Developments in the Future in Cars24

As the business is increasing with Cars24, the business also considers other technological developments like:

• Blockchain for Ownership Transfer: Offering tamper-proof history and speedy transfer of ownership.
• AR/VR for Virtual Car Inspection: Offering virtual car inspection by customers using virtual technology and reducing physical visits.
• AI-Based Personalization Enhancement: Offering users preference and behavior-based personalized suggestions for enhancing the user experience.
• Used Car AI-Predictive Maintenance: Using AI to analyze the vehicle wellness reports and forecast potential maintenance issues so that the appropriate buying decision could be made.

Source: Medium

Conclusion

Since the world has come to the era of the digital revolution, where technology has revolutionized every sector, Cars24 has dominated the pre-owned car industry. With the help of artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science, and safe payment gateways, the company has done away with the shortcomings of traditional buying and selling of automobiles. It has managed to make the platform efficient, transparent, and also providing the customers with maximum convenience.

As Cars24 expands, the future for the second-hand car industry seems bright. With advancements like blockchain-based ownership transfer and AR virtual car check-up, the website is sure to continue breaking the rules in industry standards. With its customer experience focus and technology adoption, Cars24 will remain a pioneer in online car buying for many years to come.