7:19 am, March 13, 2023
Used car supermarket group Big Motoring World says it has bought a fleet of delivery vans previously used by online rival Cazoo.
Boss Peter Waddell told Car Dealer he had bought at least 70 car delivery vans once owned by the troubled online business as he looks to expand his car buying service.
Waddell is ramping up his rival to the Cinch-owned platform WeBuyAnyCar.com – dubbed BigWantsYourCar.com – which he launched in 2021.
The vans are a crucial part of his plan as he offers to collect cars bought via the platform from customers’ homes across the country.
‘We have about 70 vans at the moment but I want 300 in the next three months,’ Waddell told Car Dealer.
‘We’re scaling up from buying 100 cars a day to 250 and getting traction.’
Waddell’s growth comes at the same time Cazoo is cutting back. It is closing 15 customer handover centres across the country and making a swathe of job cuts this week.
Cazoo splashed out millions on a fleet of delivery trucks and vans as part of its plans to ‘revolutionise car buying’, but it is drastically scaling back its plans in a bid to cut costs.
Waddell said his car buying service differs from rivals as it guarantees the price it gives customers in advance and won’t later haggle them down.
He plans to either retail those cars at his car supermarkets or trade those his business doesn’t want on via a recently signed deal with auction house Manheim.
Big Motoring World currently has five car supermarkets and will shortly be opening a sixth in Wimbledon.
Consumers using the BigWantsYourCar.com system enter their reg and attach pictures of their car. A ‘real person’ gives them their best price and it is guaranteed for seven days.
If it’s accepted, Big sends one of the new trucks to collect the car from the customer’s home. The firm uses the slogan ‘no fuss, no faff, no fees’ and wants ‘any car under 10 years old’.
Conversely, WeBuyAnyCar.com asks customers to bring the cars to centres dotted around the country where the car is assessed further by a specialist. They often then chip the price first offered online down further.
‘We do it totally different,’ said Waddell. ‘We collect from their door and pay within two minutes – then take the car away. It’s the total opposite to WBAC.
‘There are no charges for same day payment either and we stick to the valuation we give over the phone. That’s why people are selling to us.’
Waddell has been a vocal opponent of Cazoo since it launched. He eventually set up online only used car rival Carzam but that was placed into voluntary receivership last year.
Cazoo has been contacted for comment.
