New online player joins automotive sector

A new online marketplace for used cars has launched today in the UK claiming it is on a mission to bring greater trust and transparency to the sector.

heycar.co.uk launches with an inventory of over 100,000 listed vehicles from nearly 50 brands across 1,400 dealerships. It is partnering with selected dealers and only listing vehicles that are under eight years old, have less than 100,000 miles on the clock and come with a warranty.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) puts the value of the UK used car industry at £50bn. The UK used car finance point of sale market is valued at £17.6bn by the Finance and Leasing Association.

heycar intends to provide a greater customer experience by allowing users to search for and find their used car, complete with a finance quote, in a seamless online journey.

CEO Mat Moakes said, ‘The UK used car industry is worth £50bn, yet it works inefficiently for consumers and dealers. Buying a used car can be like a lottery, you don’t know what you’ll get. Existing websites are often cluttered with ads, eroding consumer trust. Dealers are burdened with rising fees for listing used cars online, squeezing their margins without a guarantee of leads or sales.

‘We’ve developed heycar to solve these pain points. We’ll offer a simpler, more effective solution for both used car buyers and dealers. Our site will be ad-free, improving transparency and consumer trust. heycar won’t charge dealers a listing fee, encouraging them to display all their best quality stock. After the launch phase we will charge on a lead-generation basis, guaranteeing a win-win for our dealer partners.’

Matt heads a leadership team which also includes Karen Hilton, who manages the heycar dealer relationships. The new chief commercial officer has over 10 years of automotive experience and three years in leadership roles at the disruptive start-ups carwow and nested.

heycar launches in the UK market following the brand’s foundation in Germany in 2017. Since then, heycar has built up an inventory of over 400,000 quality used cars from more than 4,000 dealerships in Germany.