Carsite

Carsite.co.uk is an e-Retailer of ex-fleet vehicles for major branded fleet disposers. The vehicles listed are c. 15-20% less than normal dealer forecourt prices. Carsite works in partnership with the Fleet to Street disposal channel Auto-online in order to list the vehicles.

History and Business Model

Carsite was founded in 2006 as a safe place where nearly new and used fleet cars could be sold directly to the retail public, cutting out the dealer. They list cars which have their V5s present, a full service history and are HPI history cleared.

Within each listing there are usually around 25 photos of each car along with the results of an RAC inspection and test drive, along with an HPI check.

If a buyer decides they wish to purchase a car they pay a small handling fee which removes the car from sale. They are then invited to one of Carsite's handover centres where they can check and inspect the vehicle they have chosen. The fee is refunded if the car is not as described.

Fleet world magazine described Carsite as 'a new online-only method for disposing of fleet vehicles that's targeted directly at retail buyers. The website makes it quite clear that it's not a car dealer to avoid confusion and features testimonials from previous buyers' [www.fleetworldgroup.co.uk]

Locations

Carsite has two handover centres, where the buyer goes to collect their chosen vehicle. One is in Thurleigh, Bedfordshire and the other in Bruntingtorpe, Leicestershire.

Carsite's head office is based at the Sussex Innovation Centre (SInC), Falmer, Brighton.

Ebay and Awards

Ukautosite is the eBay shop of Carsite. In 2007, UKautosite won the first ever eBay motor seller of the year award.

Female Friendly

A recent survey by What Car? revealed that on average women can be charged up to £544 more than a man for a car in a showroom. [What Car Magazine, January 2007] Carsite has received press, in light of this, stating that it is a good place for women to buy a car free from such discrimination. Keeley Knowles, a journalist for the Beds on Sunday newspaper wrote an article about the female friendly nature of Carsite. She wrote; "Attention ladies, believe it or not you can now buy a car without being ripped off or feeling intimidated by all the technical jargon" [Bedfordshire on Sunday, 29.7.07] and also that Carsite's "aim is to promote empowerment and equality for women" [Ibid.] and then goes on to quote from Carsite handover agent Chole who works at the Thurleigh handover centre. Chloe says that "I love my job because all of my clients love the Carsite way of a positive car buying experience, and for us women - it's the experience that matters as well as the price that counts." [Ibid.]

Carsite also has a sister site called GalsCarGuide.co.uk which offers practicle car buying experience, especially aimed at women. It was recently listed in Company Magazine which says that "Thanks to www.galscarguide.co.uk, a new website that helps women buy a car with confidence, you don't need to worry about getting ripped off again." [Company Magazine, April 2007]

References

External links

* [http://www.carsite.co.uk/] Carsite
* [http://www.buyacarguide.co.uk/] GalsCarGuide