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Techies 2009 - Best Remarketing System: Autoquake
Date: 25 August 2009
In the BusinessCar technology awards, a remarketing company using the internet to sell cars direct from fleets and leasing companies to the public was always going to stand a decent chance, and so it has proved. Autoquake is working with 11 of the top 20 leasing companies, and claims 350,000 unique visitors to its website every month.
The firm has bypassed the wholesale route to market by making cars available to the public on its website via at least 40 high-resolution pictures, and claims it enables cars to be sold within 20 days of being listed.
The website uses technology developed in the travel industry to control pricing dependent on demand and claims to provide higher returns for fleets disposing of cars.
Coming later this year are a pair of new innovations to enhance the Autoquake offering. Firstly, is the development of a pre-order system where fleets or lease companies can list a car ahead of it being defleeted, in the hope that a used buyer can be found before the car has even left its previous owner. That will join an affinity system for companies to have their own version of the Autoquake website to offer used cars to their own employees.
Although only small in volume at the moment, it will be interesting to see if the company can continue to use its web approach to gain ground in the disposal sector dominated by the two big players of BCA and Manheim.
Both those two companies also put together inseparably high-calibre entries for their Live Online and Simulcast systems respectively, proving the traditional auction house isn't going to sit back and let a new entrant encroach onto its territory, and that the internet and technology have a place to work alongside the physical sale and remarketing model.
