New competition: CARS24 has launched in regional Victoria, aiming to change the way people in the country buy cars.
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Since early this month, residents in regional Victoria have been able to access CARS24, a wholly online used car buying website.
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The plan is to provide regional consumers with the same accessibility to vehicle options as those in metro towns and cities.
CARS24 chief customer officer Erin Williamson said people in regional areas could be “limited when it comes to choice to get a new used car”.
“Local dealerships are definitely part of the community but we just want to offer an alternative for customers without them having to leave home — completely done online,” she said.
CARS24 operates from Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, and Ms Williamson said the company had a “massive footprint” and did not need on-the-ground physical operations when servicing places such as regional Australia.
“[However] we only use trusted third party delivery partners in regional areas and we follow up with communications to the customer to make sure that they're comfortable and happy with their car,” she said.
“Along with market research and understanding trends and using digital data to understand what the local market is after, we really listened to our customers.”
New way of buying: Through an app or website, a car can be bought in less than 10 minutes.
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But it is a “new way of buying”, and there are concerns that people in country Victoria may not want to spend more than $20,000 on a vehicle if they have not seen it in person.
Mathieson Motors salesperson Damian Weppner said people who “like to buy cars, like to buy them hands on”.
“Would you buy a car without driving? What happens if you drive down the road and you just go ‘I just don’t like it’?” he said.
“It could be like a smoker's cough smells like — you know, like an ashtray — you're never going to get that.
“We're a lot more cautious in the country ... how we spend our money ... when it comes to vehicles and stuff like that.”
Mr Weppner said it could also be harmful for local car dealerships if vehicles were bought from a website.
“I don't think it's good, obviously I think they should be supporting local dealers,” he said.
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