by Jackson McNeill
July 28, 2015
Most people hate used car salesmen. And that’s exactly what Vroom is banking on. Based out of Texas, this online dealership is trying to change the way people buy and sell used cars.
Investors, meanwhile, are already taking notice. Vroom announced this week that it’s just raised $54 million in Series B funding from investors Catterton, General Catalyst Partners, and accounts managed by T. Rowe Price.
The $54 million comes on top of another $19 million raised from individual investors earlier this year, including NFL half of famer John Elway and former Blockbuster CEO Steve Berrard. In total, the startup has raised $108 million since it was founded in 2013.
So why are investors so excited?
In short, Vroom makes it really easy to sell and buy used cars online.
To sell a used car, users simply take a few photos of their vehicle, enter its VIN number, and answer a short set of questions. Vroom’s website then generates a cash offer in a matter of minutes, which is good for seven days. If the user accepts the offer, the company picks up the car and writes the seller a check. If done right, selling a car is almost as simple as ordering at a restaurant or buying a book on Amazon.
Buying a car is even easier.
Users can scroll through and select cars on Vroom’s website. All of the cars are inspected and refurbished by Vroom, and their full cost is made clear right up front, including tax, title, and license fees. Vroom also maintains a strict no haggling rule.
When a user actually buys a car, Vroom delivers it, free of charge, within two to four days. The buyer then has 7 days to try out the vehicle. If they don’t like it, they get an immediate refund, and Vroom picks up the car, free of charge.
The idea is to make buying and selling cars easy, while cutting out the discomfort of dealing with a haggling salesman.
“We want these transactions to be made truly in a matter of minutes,” CEO Allon Bloch said. “We’re trying to create the opposite experience of going to a dealership, where you have to negotiate the price and there are all these hidden fees.”
Well, this just makes our Friday! #vroomlove #tgif pic.twitter.com/zzSRSqtNid
— VROOM (@vroomcars) June 12, 2015
The company already does about $20 million in sales per month. Bloch is hoping that this new round of investments will allow them expand their facilities and reduce vehicle pickup and delivery times, making them even more popular with consumers.
It should also help them beat out competitors.
TrueCar, AutoTrader, and Cars.com already help millions of people buy and sell used cars online. Unlike those sites, however, which merely connect buyers to sellers, Vroom actually manages its own vehicle inventory, and handles the transactions itself. Vroom also hopes that by inspecting and refurbishing its vehicles, buyers will have more confidence in its cars than cars from similar websites, where the quality of the car usually depends on the stranger who’s selling it.
A few other dealership startups have had similar ideas. CarMax, Beepi, and Shift, for example, already require that the cars on their sites to go through a set of rigorous inspections before they can be sold (although none of them do refurbishing like Vroom).
For now, it’s hard to know which of these companies will come out on top. One thing is for certain, however: investors believe that the way we buy cars is destined to change, and soon. With any luck, the awkward tradition of haggling with a used car salesman may soon become a thing of the past.
Topics: Small Business, Startups