22 Oct
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Andres Lozano V. Co-Founder @Intelimotor
If you are in the business of buying and selling pre-owned cars within Latin America, it is extremely important to understand that there is a unicorn armed to the teeth trying to monopolise the industry and leave you without a market.
You probably know who I'm talking about, it's everywhere, or at least that's how I perceive it as I am bombarded daily with their ads and emails, trying non-stop to buy my car and/or sell me something.
Their name is Kavak, and rest assured, they want to put you and all pre-owned dealers out of business; their CEO himself says he is "eradicating fraud and insecurity from an industry that is broken".
In this article I will ask the questions that, in my opinion, all dealers facing Kavak should be asking themselves today, in order to help them identify the best ways to compete against "the unicorn" and ensure the continued growth of their business.
Do you think Kavak is the best place to buy and sell a car?
That's what they say, but I'm not very convinced. I have seen many bad reviews and complaints about the service offered by the unicorn... however, we must recognise that they have many competitive advantages. Is it because of the almost 2 billion dollars they have raised? I think so.
That money bought them many things, such as the largest used car inventory in the industry, luxurious facilities in different cities and countries, massive advertising campaigns, and a committed team of thousands of talented people in many areas such as marketing, software engineering, customer service and more, who work with priority on improving the UX or "User Experience", referring to the user experience.
From the moment the customer is aware that Kavak exists, throughout their buying or selling process, and even after the transaction, everything that happens in between is known as the user experience. Kavak has put a lot of effort into this, offering added value with user-friendly and agile processes. No matter whether it is a purchase, a sale, or a credit application, simplicity of process is a priority for Kavak, and that is why many are now opting for the unicorn's services.
Do you have the same or better technology than Kavak?
If not, unfortunately, your business is going to face many challenges, as Kavak is leveraging its digital infrastructure and resources to offer added value that few others can currently offer; this is why we see the unicorn growing exponentially.
The reality is that the pre-owned car dealer that doesn't react quickly is going to become irrelevant and obsolete over time. Kavak is not going to disappear, nor is it going to slow down its pace of innovation.
One of the most important technologies for Kavak is its quotation engine. This is the section on their website where a customer can come to quote their car, receive an offer and sell their car.
Many dealers have not stopped to look at it, but this added value offered by Kavak is essential to their business model. First, because of the volume, it would be impossible for them to quote and buy so many cars without a technological tool such as their quoting tool. Second and, in my opinion, more important: for a customer to be able to receive a purchase offer automatically from the comfort of their home is a very beneficial value-add. This results in a very good experience, and therefore a higher conversion rate for the unicorn, which, again, drives growth.
"The pre-owned dealer looking to to compete against Kavak has to evolve to being able to offer the customer the same added values."
Andres lozano V., Co-founder @Intelimotor
Want to compete and beat Kavak?
Kavak may be very relevant and intimidating at the moment, but what the unicorn doesn't know is that there is another player called Intelimotor that has created the best technological tools to optimise, automate and grow the pre-owned dealer business, or in other words, its competition. And when I say the "best tools", I am not exaggerating. Intelimotor's tools are 100% better than Kavak's, we can prove that without any problem, we know how the unicorn operates, and its technology, although advanced, lags behind that of Intelimotor.
Intelimotor, for example, within its wide range of solutions, offers a fully customisable Quote Tool, which operates better than Kavak's, as it integrates with all digital pre-owned car marketplaces and other data sources (which the unicorn will never be able to obtain) to give the dealer the ability to quote and purchase cars from its website as Kavak does. This tool, in fact, is completely free, as Intelimotor believes that the best for everyone is a decentralised marketplace, not a monopolised one as Kavak is trying to do.
At the end of the day, the pre-owned dealer needs to offer the same added values as the unicorn if he wants to compete. The Quoter is an excellent first step, and it will only take them 5 minutes to do what it took Kavak years and millions to do, but the reality is that the journey will not stop there. To really compete they will have to do much more, and it all starts with their infrastructure and technological resources. The good news is that at Intelimotor, we give you all that, so in reality, getting to where the unicorn is, is much simpler than you might imagine.
That's all for today, we hope this information will be of value to you.
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