Emily Hurwitz is an advertising supervisor from San Francisco and she doesn’t like buying cars from traditional dealers, and she prefers buying cars from online platforms which unite car sellers and car buyers.
Recently she has bought a 2012 Volkswagen Tiguan through such a platform and is really happy with the purchase. What does she say about car dealerships? Well, she’s not very impressed with them in a few words, because she somehow is convinced they will swindle her. “You’re talking to a guy who’s sizing you up. It’s a very overwhelming situation, and you feel like you have to be on top of things and on guard”, she says. Although most online sites merely refer consumers to dealers, these companies are aiming to disrupt the industry by skirting dealer markups and promoting what they see as a better buying and selling experience.
People prefer car web-sites like RepoKar.com partly because the prices are set and the process is much quicker. The industry is big business; more than 38.5 million used cars were sold last year at an average retail price of $19,189. By contrast, 17.2 million new vehicles are forecast to be sold this year. Used car prices are still widely expected to soften, and it’s not going to kill the dealership business. But within the next three years only the strongest will be able to keep up with the online car business.
