Online used car aggregators & their illusion of transparency

Here's the other side of the story and why I have withdrawn from all their subscriptions.

BHPian asit.kulkarni93 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello,

I see the forum flooded since the last 2 days on reviews of spinny, cars24, Olx autos (earlier cashmycar) & gaadi.com. I just thought of sharing my experience with some of these aggregators. I was an active channel partner between 2016 to 2020 with many of them. I can tell you the other side of the story now that I have withdrawn from all of their subscriptions and limited my used car business to help to close friends and family.

The Standard Model:

A- The seller of the car

B- Aggregator

C- Dealer

D- Buyer of the car

The working model for all of them is more or less the same. 'A' approaches 'B' to sell their car. 'B' has an auction portal where the car is listed after inspection. 'C' bids for the car along with other dealers and the highest bid is offered to 'A'. Upon closing the transaction, 'C' eventually sells the car to 'D'.

Now how does it make a difference:

1. Fancy offices, tablets, personalised merchandise & educated staff costs money. Investors money can't sustain them for long. Fake bids are put during the auctions to jack up the prices. The seller gets the same price but the buyer pays at least 20% more because of this nonsense. Previously the used car market was running on a 10-12% margin. Today the difference in some cases is as high as 35%.

2. Do You really think covid has caused a sudden spike in demand for used cars? This demand was created by these aggregators. How on earth is it justified to pay 4+ lakhs for an 8-year-old swift diesel? These hot sellers remain unsold with dealers for months if they don't find a bakra. These cars are re-auctioned and another bakra dealer gets hold of it. Aggregator earns during this process too. Finally, the car is sold off either to a bakra or at a loss.

3. The same aggregators have started selling cars under their own banner now. The so-called certification is a joke. Let me give you a few examples-

• Rapid Diesel AT was listed. A friend's colleague was keen on buying it and the car was sent to a known FNG. Coincidentally, I was there for some work and started checking the car. The suspension had a high rating and the car was crashing on every other pothole. The representative said it's a bushing issue, shouldn't cost more than 5k. The car needed a full suspension overhaul. Something was suspicious about the car and later we realised this was a flood-affected car.
• Someone had picked up a Kwid AMT for their wife to learn on. The aggregator in this case had a 5/7 day return policy. Upon inspection, we realised this car had it's boot replaced & the boot floor was horrible repaired. Upon confronting the representative, he said this ain't accidental. I told him to show me your report again and I am sending a similarly repaired alto to your place, let's see how you evaluate it. When we told them to pick up the car, a revised price was offered and 30k were returned.

4. Let's talk about legalities. I had picked up a Rapid. This was financed from VW finance. The NOC was pending. I had paid in full for the car awaiting pick up. One week went by and there was no revert. I finally lost it and asked them what went wrong. There was no reply. Finally, I walked into a VW showroom and showed the RC copy to the concerned person. He mentioned a pending 1k fee was not paid hence the NOC was not sent. The owner was sitting abroad hence not reachable on call. In another instance, I had returned an i20 because they couldn't manage the bank NOC even after 26 days. The staff has 0 knowledge about the legalities involved.

5. RTO is becoming digital every passing day and it's a big hazard to the working model of these companies. There have been cases where the people from the aggregator's office have goofed up documentation and these cars were blacklisted by the RTO due to the issues found with signatures or OTP registered numbers. Once blacklisted, the registered owner has to be present at the RTO to solve the issue around the black listing.

6. Please do not go by the letters given to you by these aggregators during the handover of the vehicle. These letters are useless if the vehicle is involved in a mishap. Supreme court ruling states the same thing. Be it a dealer who buys or the aggregator who keeps it for sale at his store, the legal liability is with you. One such incident had happened with a fellow Bhpian in Pune whose sister had exchanged her car for a new car. This particular dealership had an aggregator auctioning cars that came in for exchange. Her car was sold off to a dealer outside Pune. This car changed hands within dealers and finally was offered to me by someone who had just picked it up but lost his job. Upon checking the car, I felt it was known and checked the RC. The surname was known and I spoke to my friend who was furious to know that the car had travelled for more than 6k km and had accumulated 3-4 traffic fines. After selling off the car, I shared the updated RC with him. It's purely based on luck that your car gets transferred. A dealer will lose a max of 5k from his deposit if they don't transfer the car.

7. Mis-inspections: A Brio that I had picked up had a worn-out clutch which wasn't mentioned in the report. I pointed it out and a technician came with me for a trial. He said sir the car is reaching 120kmph, clutch Kaha Kharab Hai. This issue was escalated and I came to know about the level of stupidity that goes on at these places. I had a winning bid for a Celerio ZXi(O). I specifically was keen on picking it up because of the (O). Checked out the car and realised it was a normal ZXi. My RM- Big deal. It's a ZXi, that's sufficient. The customer won't know anything. I had a bit of argument and the car was taken back. Vento TDi's ACC had its fan speed rotor broken. The approved amount for any ACC work was 5k. The new unit was available for 37k and used one for 19k. I was told 50% money would be adjusted but nothing was done till the time I cancelled the subscription. Found a car with CEL on at the yard. Told the supervisor about it and he said you take it to the appropriate place for scanning and let me know. As soon as I found the error, I complained about the portal and I was told why did you take the car out. Our supervisor is equipped to check everything. It took me 6 hours to make the person on call understand how and why scanning is important. These people have hired anyone for the business. There are barely 4-5 efficient and knowledgeable people at these stores.

8. I had made it very clear that I am not paying for any car till I verify the history. This created a big issue and I was told to work like other dealers. Eventually, this was agreed to I eventually found a clause in the agreement mentioning no return of the vehicle if found meter tampered. I refused to sign and finally a mail was sent mentioning the return of the vehicle if it hasn't left the yard and if there was an issue found in the history.

To conclude, Anyone, selling their cars:

First, try to sell off the car to an individual. Yes, it involves hassles but it keeps you safe from unnecessary legal trouble. If you are in hurry, visit a used car dealer. Especially the ones who have been in business for a considerable time. You can get a good deal and one point of contact to ensure the car gets transferred. If you still wish to deal with these aggregators, then please make sure your papers are in place and in case you are in a different state then make sure you get paid in full. These people are notorious for calling you to the registered city's RTO or cutting a considerable amount from your balance payment. Most people give it up citing travelling hassles. With papers in place, there is no need to visit the RTO unless there is a goof up.

If you are buying a car: I always advise this to anyone before proceeding with any deal- verify the service history. Get the chassis number and verify the history. These aggregators call these cars certified but they do not take any guarantee for any meter tampering. Please take help from a competent mechanic or reach out to someone knowledgeable to evaluate a car. Do not trust these blind 100 and 200 point certifications. They are useless in most cases. Before making any payment, If the vehicle is hypothecated please make sure a proper bank NOC is available. Please do not make payments on the basis of a loan closure letter. If the actual owner has other pending dues with the bank then they won't be issuing the NOC. You are stuck in such a scenario. Please make sure while the transfer process is on, you get the OTP on your number from mparivhan. This is important when you sell the car in the future. A car that has trouble around suspension or clutch is better than a car with badly painted panels or poor workmanship during accidents. Please double-check the tyre manufacturing month, brand and size. I was once sold a car with 3 185/70 R14 tyres and one 185/65 R14 tyre.

With technology becoming a part of our life at every step, it becomes easy but it comes at a cost. And it's not always about the cost but legalities and ethics too. Do not fall prey to the fancy stuff, The business is still not as clean as it is portrayed. In this post, I have used the word "aggregator" even when sharing particular incidents because these practices are standard across platforms.

PS: As I was typing this thread, I was getting a bulb changed in my Figo and there walks in a guy asking the speedo sensor to be removed. It was an Xcent bought by an aggregator. It was being driven down to another city 700 km away.

Here's what BHPian Viraat13 had to say on the matter:

Unsavoury and honestly, unsurprising.

Well done for bringing to light something that I've always suspected about these organisations.

Here's what BHPian doxinboy had to say on the matter:

Thanks for this post. This is the beauty of this forum, while a recent thread celebrate the arrival of organised players in the used car market, you brought in the hidden side that is not visible to buyers or sellers. Certainly an eye-opener.

Here's what BHPian Varun_HexaGuy had to say on the matter:

Being in this field for quite some time now, I know how dirty this business actually is. I've burnt my hands with all the aggregators in one way or another. Now I've given up my dealer subscriptions of the same simply because of all the reasons stated above.

There was this one time I'd acquired a Hyundai i10 from Cars24. Car was given a 4-star rating in all areas. Looked clean in pics too. Won the bid and closed the deal. Two days later, the car was delivered to my place. The first thing I went on to see was the entire front end was restructured. The job done was pathetic as well. The car was involved in a major accident. The exterior report has a four and they didn't upload pics of redone suspension towers and badly repaired aprons. Drove the car for a kilometre. Realised the front suspension needs work. None of these was mentioned in the inspection report. Long story short, after a week of back and forth, the car was taken back and the money was refunded.

Coming to the point of paperwork, I've not seen anyone as lax as these blokes at work. I'd bought another i10 at a different point in time. The car was clean this time around. But they didn't really bother to cross-check the paperwork. When I received the car, they simply dumped all the paperwork with me and left. Although all the transfer forms were signed at appropriate places, these idiots didn't bother to cross-check the owner's signature from the RC card and the transfer forms. The seller had signed the transfer forms in English while the signature on his RC card had a signature in Telugu. Something as basic as cross verifying the documentation can't be done right by these guys. This didn't end here. The RC smart card delivered to me was a duplicate. It was a card, but not a smart card with a chip. RTO won't accept this during the ownership transfer. Again, after endless conversations with the appropriate authorities, the aggregator offered to buy the car back. I gladly gave it back as I was in no mood to run circles around the RTO for sorting out the paperwork.

Not only that, they've royally screwed up the market. People quote insane figures for their used cars that sometimes it makes more sense to buy new than buy used.

Also, make hay while the sun is still shining bright. Those who are on the lookout to sell their cars, please give these aggregators a try. They sometimes offer a ridiculously good price that no individual buyer in the market would offer. They only make sense in cases like these. Rest, they're no different. All well kitted up on the outside, dysfunctional and unorganised to core on the inside.

Here's what BHPian 2000rpm had to say on the matter:

Thanks for the thread. I have seen a few threads praising these platforms also.

However, being someone who understands the used car market in and out (I have bought 7 cars used). Also have worked with the used vehicle division of an Indian OEM. Below is my view

Used car aggregators are only useful if you are pressed for time (as a buyer or as a seller) OR as a buyer, you are not technically savvy (which a large portion of the Indian crowd is). If you don't fall under the two criteria above, it's best to do your own research which is becoming more and more difficult, because all platforms have removed the Individual vs Dealer button in filters. (Check OLX or Quickr).

This market is getting organized, and not in a good way.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.