Car-sales website steps up a gear

The price guarantee ensures that owners will definitely sell their used cars, while a “car-matching service” promises to quickly match sellers with the right buyers.
The company said it was confident that it would be able to achieve 800-unit sales by the end of the year thanks to “directly tackling people’s pain points” and simplifying the process of selling used cars.
CEO Napol Chaisilwattana said the used-car market in Thailand had long had two main problems.
“Firstly, buyers and sellers don’t usually trust each other and are afraid of a rip-off,” he said. “Secondly, Thais – especially women – have little technical knowledge about cars. So, there are always concerns about being cheated.”
Napol said the upward trend had been going on since September 2016, when the first batch of participants in the government’s tax-benefits scheme for first-car buyers fulfilled their obligation to keep their vehicles for five years.
“As these participants look for vehicle replacements, the number of used cars in the market is rising, pushing prices down,” Napol said.
“In the current economic conditions, used vehicles prove attractive to people who wish to be cautious about their spending. At the same time, automakers are introducing new models more frequently. So, people with purchasing power are prone to buy new cars more often than before.
“In the past, they may have waited four to five years before getting a new car. But these days, people may buy again just because their old model gets a minor change. In the face of such a trend, more relatively new used cars are entering the used-car market than before.”
Napol said that used vehicles provided alternatives to people who wanted a car but had a limited budget. 
“The used-car market is also good for people who are fascinated with a specific model but fail to buy one when it is first launched,” he said.
“It should be noted that many consumers feel there is no need to spend more on brand-new vehicles. To them, used cars home-use vehicles in good conditions means significant savings and a logical choice.”
Napol said that consumers clearly wanted reliability, trustworthiness, transparency and safety in selling and buying used vehicles. 
“Carmana, therefore, seeks to deliver the right used car to interested buyers and offer them comprehensive support services. Carmana.com provides Thailand’s first customer to customer one-stop-service platform for used cars transactions.”
He said the price guarantee programme was a revolutionary concept that, for the first time, would guarantee that a customer’s car was sold within 30 days at a satisfactory price.
“They will get the price that is higher than the general buying price,” he said.