The United Kingdoms largest online used car retailer has entered administration today.
AutoQuake.com had claimed to be the biggest retailer of used cars online in the UK but have now appointed restructuring experts MCR to oversee an administration order and to look for a possible buyer.
The site promised to sell a vehicle for at least 10% less than any other car supermarket, advertising that they sold over 1000 vehicles every month which they had sourced from car leasing companies. However official figures show that AutoQuake was struggling to sell this number in a year.
Dermot Halpin, AutoQuake.com CEO said:
“We came into the market and punched totally above our weight online.”
When asked the reasons behind the demise of the company Mr Halpin said:
” It’s because of the way we approached customer acquisition – it was entirely online, we bought demand inline with inventory, we had acquisition costs of around £90 per vehicle, compared with around £300 per vehicle for our competitors.”
The firm saved money by avoiding costly showroom and costs and salesperson salaries with the website offering over 40 pages of every vehicle and the option to arrange a test drive.
Experts have said that although there is no concrete evidence Tesco may be interested in adding the business to their portfolio.
Source – Which.co.uk
