Technology has changed the shopping habits and the needs of the customers. It has changed the way people have started looking up for things and purchasing small daily products to big purchases like buying selling cars online and so on.

In progressive times, companies that deal in used cars buy sell have set up their own cars buy sell mobile applications for the convenience of their customers. Classified companies have launched apps that connect the buyers with the sellers, or look at the used cars that are available on the app along with its price and specifications. It also gives them access to confirm the price of the cars along with the number of years it has been used. Other specifications about the model, average speed, etc. are all mentioned in the app itself.

Sellers, who want don’t want to go out looking for a buyer for their used car, can upload a picture of their vehicle on the app and quote a price. These apps have become a platform where the sellers meet the buyers and they strike a deal. Negotiations are a big part of the deal and the two can mutually decide upon a price.

Why Invest in Car Buy-Sell  Mobile App Development  – Market Size & Stats

Although the market for used cars has increased in the past 10 years, there has been a decline in the market for new cars. People are preferring to buy pre-owned cars that are displayed on the app at beneficial rates.

According to the report of Indian Bluebook, in the year 2018-19, approximately 3.6 million units of new cars were sold, while the units sold and purchased of used cars was somewhere around 4 million.

number of cars sold worldwide

Taking both into consideration together, take a look at the cars sold between 2010 to 2020 according to a Statista report.

The automobile industry is expecting a downfall in the sales of car units this year. It is estimated that a total of 59.5 million units will be sold in 2020, which will be a 20 percent decrease than the regular sales.

Take a look at the sales of used cars in the United Kingdom from 2014-18:

Sales volume of used cars
used car dealers in the US

A look at the graphical representation of used car dealers in the U.S. from 2000-25:

Also

  • There will be around 287.3 million cars in the US by the end of 2020
  • General Motors has the most cars sold in the US – 737,279 in Q3
  • There are approximately 17 million cars sold in the US every year, including 2019
  • $117,942,000,000 is the size of the used cars market in the US

How Car Buy-Sell  Mobile App Works

The automotive industry has been growing in the past few years. It has not only drawn customers by offering the latest products and services each time but has also helped companies earn good money. The automobile industry is seeing a boom as the apps that act as a platform bringing the sellers and buyers together on a common platform are doing quite well.

Although there are several business models that help the organization earn money, we will throw light on two commonly known models:

1. Aggregator app

This feature of buying and selling brings both the buyer and the seller on a common framework. The seller will have to post an ad of his car along with its pictures and details. Later the car and its specifications are reviewed by the customer, who makes up his mind to either buy it or not.

2. Dedicated app

This is not a standalone business, but a marketplace where the seller posts about his car and purchases it from him. The car enlisted under the categories is posted by the seller himself.

Also read: How to develop a mobile app for eCommerce?

Advantages of the Car Buy Sell Mobile App

For the Dealers

  • They can easily manage the booking that has been received by them through the app for their services.
  • The online medium allows them to book a time slot for a buyer to take the car on a test drive. This also helps them to gain the trust factor in the customers.
  • Without wasting any time, and without letting the user lose interest in a car they like, the dealers can easily and timely respond to any sort of queries raised by the users.
  • It is easy to get feedback from the customer on the car through an app. There is a separate section of feedback, where the customer can write what they liked about an app’s services.
  • There are secured payment gateways associated with these apps which makes them reliable and secured.

For the consumers

  • A user’s first worry is the price a seller might quote for his car. Through the app, they do not have to worry about it as they will instantly get the quote for their preferred car by the seller.
  • The buyers do not have to go out in the market looking for cars and hopping from one showroom to the other, as they can compare the prices of all cars from the comfort of their homes.
  • Since a lot of people get their cars listed for sale on such apps, it gives an advantage to the buyer to select from a number of options available.
  • Consumers can not make purchases and talk to the dealers, but can also book a test drive for themselves. Just like in the case of new cars, consumers can now take a test drive of the used cars as well, that is up for sale.

For Automobile Industry

  • The online and offline integration of the car’s inventory can be easily done through the app.
  • Another main advantage that the industry draws is that they can attain benefits by providing roadside assistance and extending warranty services to the owner of the car.
  • To make it a secure transfer, there have to be certain checkpoints through which the car passes until it reaches the space of the app.

Car Buy Sell User Time Online

Third-Party Sites and Mobile Apps Are the Most-Used for Online Car Shopping

3rd Party Car Buy Sell Apps

Online Car Buying Consumer Habits

  • 77% of people still use a desktop as the primary platform for online car shopping. (Cox)
  • There is a 52% increase from 2018 in multiple devices/mobile usage to look up vehicle prices, photos, or details on specifications. (Cox)
  • 80% of website visits from buyers are for third-party car sites, 46% for dealership sites, and 27% of visits are for the OEM site. (Cox)
  • 80% of shoppers visit at least two websites during the shopping process; the average number of sites visited is 4.2 (Cox)
  • Among those visiting multiple sites, 65% start their search with a third-party site and 58% end with a third-party site; 32% end at the dealership site. (Cox)
  • Consumers between 18-34 (18%) are more open to online car buying than consumers between 35-54 (9%). However, 81% still prefer to purchase or lease in-person. (ThinkNow)

All these stats helped the mobile apps to open floodgates for possibilities of the striking car buy-sell deals online. Going further, we will read about the market stats, benefits of such apps, advanced features, and the team required to develop such apps

Top Car Buy Sell Mobile App Across the World

Top Car Buy-Sell Apps

Car Buy Sell Mobile App Features  (General)

Buy Sell Car App Features

Advanced Features to Consider while Car Buy-Sell Platform Development

1. Sign up/Login

car sell app social sign in

Like all other apps, these apps require the customers to fill in their information and make their username and password, before proceeding to make a deal. This feature allows the users to easily sign up on the app with the use of anyone of the social media accounts. They would not have to put in all their details again, once they sign up with their social media account, all their details would automatically be updated in the back end.

2. In-app camera

This is one of a kind features, which enables the users to directly click pictures of their used cars from the app itself and post them up there. A used car buying and selling allow a total of either 10-15 images, which covers the interiors and the exterior of the car. These images would help the buyer make up their mind about buying the car.

3. Push notifications

It enhances user engagement, keeping them updated about all cars coming in on the app. Giving them a sense of belonging, the admin can also send push messages to their users if they are offering any discounts, running any promotions, or giving any lucrative offers.

4. CRM (Customer Relation Management)

One of the most important things that any app developer should be careful about is offering the best experience to their users and maintaining a relationship with them. This feature is one of those that. Along with all these things, the CRM also manages the data of customers, newsletters, and analytics, making sure that the details are all secure.

5. Online comparison of cars

A user looks for the most competitive price of a car in the used car market. Therefore, it is an important feature in the app, which not only allows them to compare the price of the cars available on the app, but also spot differences as per the cars’ mileage, specifications, etc. This feature also makes users’ experience healthy in the long term.

Also read: How to develop an eCommerce website?

6. Integration of chatbot

Personal assistance is the key to winning your customers’ hearts. Therefore, it is important for a used car selling and buying app to have integrated chatbots to help users if in any case, they get stuck while using the app.

7. 3D view of the model

With technology advancements offering so much, the app should make the most of it and offer a 3D view of the car’s interior and exterior to the users. The potential buyer is able to move his cursor in all directions to look at a better picture of the car.

8. Loan calculator

Car loan calculator

One of the major worries of a car buyer is the amount of EMI he will have to pay on the purchase of a car. However, this worry can be put to rest as the apps come with the feature of estimating the monthly EMI’s making it easier for the buyers to make up their mind about the car they want to purchase.

9. User car valuation tool

To make a user sure of the money spend to be worthwhile, this feature gives them insight into the average cost of the car, depending on its condition. It also helps them evaluate the price according to the model of the car, total kilometers covered by the car till that time and its brand.

10. GPS Tracking

This feature enables the buyers to get in touch with the sellers near them. So without wasting their time and effort on people who are out of their reach, they will come in contact with only those, who can easily be reached.

11. Real-time analysis

This feature helps the admin in tracking the number of cars that are put up for sale and the number of cars that have been sold on the app.

12. Schedule an appointment

Under this feature, a buyer and a seller can book an appointment and can meet at a common place to discuss about the car. The buyer can also demand a test drive during this meeting. This is also for those, who would like to see the condition of the car before making the purchase.

13. Roadside assistance

The app developers or the admin take up the responsibilities of the buyer’s care, bought from the platform. The admin provides roadside assistance to its consumers if at any point in time their car breaks down at some location.

14. Loyalty programs

Customers are of the utmost importance to any organization, irrespective of its size. Therefore, to retain them and make them loyal customers, an app offers special loyalty programs to them.

15. Car Buy Sell Web application

Not everyone might be comfortable using the app or have that much space on their phone to accommodate the app. Therefore, the used car buying and selling companies should have their web applications as well, accessible from all sorts of devices.

16. Management of the ads

All apps get paid for allowing ads to display on the users’ screen while using the app. However, if a customer or a user wants to avoid looking at these ads, he can customize the preferences according to his choice and can get rid of unnecessary ads that are not of their concern by any means.

17. Compare Car Models

car comparison

This is one important feature that allows users to compare different car models to make the best-suited choice under their budget.

18. In-App Chat & Call

Customers users can directly call or chat with dealers for various queries like car models, discounts, and negotiations.

19. Document Scan & Upload

sell car online

Every car deal consists of considerable paperwork and this feature can really help both customers and car dealers by allowing in-app document scanning and upload option.

Car Buy Sell Mobile App – Monetization Opportunity

  • Features Listing: Admin can offer Location-based featured listing to dealers on a price tag.
  • Commission: App owner gets a fixed percentage from a car dealer on a car booking.
  • Ad management: App owner can sell advertisement space to marketing companies or to a brand directly.
  • Brand promotion: With a large footfall a car buy sell app is a best suited to promote any automobile brands thus attracts great offers regarding the same
  • eCommerce Integration: Car buy sell mobile can further build more monetization opportunities by integrating automobile ecommerce store.
Hire eCommerce developers

What team structure required for developing a car buy-sell mobile app

There is a lot of hard work and endurance that goes behind building a real-time app. The regular updates and maintenance are the work of experts who have experience of several years in the industry. Take a look at the app development team, that works on building such interactive car buy-sell mobile apps:

  • Front end developers
  • Back end developers
  • UI/UX designers
  • Android app developers
  • iOS app developers
  • Project manager
  • QA professionals

Also read: How to develop a Car Rental mobile app – Cost & Features

Cost of developing a used car buy/sell application

The cost of developing a car buy sell mobile app depends on the team that is behind the development of the app. Along with that, the functionalities and complexities also matter a lot. The complex the app, the higher the amount, and vice-versa. Since there are already a lot of Car buy sell mobile apps that are already doing so well in the market, the startups will have to think something out of the box that makes them stand out of the crowd and offers their users offers that they can’t refuse.

A company can either employ a team of mobile app developers to help them at a later stage as well, staying in proximity to the other teams. However, keeping the cost of app development nominal, companies can also opt for freelancers who are charged on a daily or hourly basis, This is specifically for those companies that are not looking forward to offering a lot of features in their app initially.

If you are looking forward to developing a healthy app including a lot of features, then you must consider the following time taken for the app, and the pricing would follow accordingly:

  • API development (90-120 hours)
  • Admin panel development (150-200 hours)
  • UX/UI (60/80 hours)
  • Dealer panel development (350-400 hours)
  • User panel development (350-400 hours)

Following is a rough estimate a used car buying/selling app would cost

  • User registration and profile $ 4,490
  • Filters and lists $ 4,060
  • Maps integration $ 1,340
  • Vendors/Products profiles $ 3,680
  • Cart and Payment System Integration $ 2,800
  • Wishlist / Favorites $ 1,260
  • Comments and Ratings $ 1,600
  • Push notifications $ 4,170
  • TOTAL MVP Cost: $ 23,400

Companies can be hired to assist you during the process of the entire mobile app development. These companies provide experienced and skilled personnel for your car buy-sell app development, along with the assistance that once needs initially.

Have you ever wondered how much it would cost to develop an app for iOS or Android?

Conclusion

It can be challenging to develop a car buy-sell mobile app that is user-friendly and informative. One should keep in mind the needs of the users before making any additions or subtractions to the app. In today’s time when people are buying and selling household items on such platforms, cars are bound to be one of the major attractions, as users can strike better car deals from the comfort of their homes. It can be quite a task to choose a mobile app development team for your app, but once you hit the right chord, there is nothing stopping your app from achieving success.

With everything coming online and apps becoming the new thing everywhere, it is bound to cater to the success of the automobile industry as well. A car buy sell mobile app does not only help the users get a better picture of the car and the minute details of it in form of images and 3D videos but also helps them make better decisions with the help of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) staff.

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Author

CTO at Emizentech and a member of the Forbes technology council, Amit Samsukha, is acknowledged by the Indian tech world as an innovator and community builder. He has a well-established vocation with 12+ years of progressive experience in the technology industry. He directs all product initiatives, worldwide sales and marketing, and business enablement. He has spearheaded the journey in the e-commerce landscape for various businesses in India and the U.S.

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