U.K.-based used-car marketplace Motorway has unveiled two new features free to dealers.
It has launched an Instant Match feature that provides sales leads to dealers for cars purchased on its website to reduce the time it takes to sell those cars. It aims to combine its own users with those from Total Car Check sites, a business it recently acquired.
Website visitors from Total Car Check are able to log what cars they are searching for on Motorway and dealers will be sent those leads once the buyer collects the car they have bought. It is a method to combine both audiences to help dealers sell stock faster and to sell to consumers in a new way.
It is also launching a Trade Sales feature, Motorway Trade, that allows dealers to sell their part-exchange or older vehicles directly to other dealers.
Both new products are being tested initially by a small number of dealers before they are fully rolled out in early 2024.
Motorway CEO Tom Leathes told Car Dealer Magazine that the company has no plans to sell cars and will continue to operate only as a used car marketplace, supporting dealers by matching demand with supply.
He said the Instant Match feature is an attempt to reduce what is normally a 30-50-day process from acquiring a car to selling it down to just a few days. This increases stock turn, improves margins and expands the options dealers have for selling stock.
Leathes said that dealers will still collect the cars they have bought and prepare them for sale, but the sales leads will be provided far sooner. Dealers will be under no obligation to sell the cars to any of the leads provided by Motorway, but if they do, they will potentially be able to sell without needing to market the vehicle.
Motorway Trade allows dealers to use the same technology consumers use to list their cars, to advertise their part exchanges. The trade cars will be listed by Motorway’s 5,000 active dealers in daily sales and labeled as ‘trade’.
Only the dealer who buys the car will be charged. Leathes said that trade selling has been the most requested service from Motorway’s dealers in the last few years.
In October, Motorway published its 2022 financial results. They revealed revenue more than doubled to £41.2 million but operating losses more than tripled from £12.5 million to £43.6 million ($52.6 million U.S.), though Motorway said this was expected and “in line with investment plans”.
