German used car marketplace launches online service in the UK

A new online marketplace for used cars has launched in the UK today (August 14).

heycar.co.uk is on a mission to bring greater trust and transparency to one of the UK economy’s biggest retail sectors.

The brand is aiming to do through the creation of a user experience for consumers and dealers, launching with an inventory of over 100,000 listed vehicles from nearly 50 brands across 1,400 dealerships.

heycar has partnered with selected dealers and only lists vehicles that are under eight years old, have less than 100,000 miles on the clock and come with a warranty.

Speaking at the heycar launch event in London, CEO Mat Moakes said: “The UK used car industry is worth £50bn, yet it works inefficiently for consumers and dealers. Buying a used car can be like a lottery, you don’t know what you’ll get.

“Existing websites are often cluttered with ads, eroding consumer trust. Dealers are burdened with rising fees for listing used cars online, squeezing their margins without a guarantee of leads or sales.”

He added: “We’ve developed heycar to solve these pain points. We’ll offer a simpler, more effective solution for both used car buyers and dealers. Our site will be ad-free, improving transparency and consumer trust.”

According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), the value of the UK used car industry stands at £50bn. The UK used car finance point of sale market is valued at £17.6bn by the Finance and Leasing Association.

heycar is being led by CEO Mat Moakes, who joins the new business from a role as managing director of Centrica’s digital venture, Local Heroes.

Managing heycar’s dealer relationships, Karen Hilton joins as chief commercial officer with over 10 years of automotive experience and three years in leadership roles.

With heycar launching into the UK market, it follows the brand’s inception in Germany in 2017. Since then, heycar has built up an inventory of over 400,000 quality used cars from more than 4,000 dealerships in Germany.

heycar is a brand owned by Mobility Trader Holding GmbH, whose shareholders are Volkswagen Financial Services and Daimler Mobility.