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Founder Sam Morgan said the company did not expect to make much money from the new cars part of its website, which would be an extension of its used car market place. “The more value we can provide consumers on the site generally, the more they will come back and sell their car when they need to,” he said. Trade Me would make some money from selling “display” advertisements on the site, priced similarly to the cost of newspaper advertisements.
It would not get a cut on the sale of cars by dealers, and people would not be able to buy directly through the site, but they are able to book test drives directly through the site. The site would reinforce growth in used-car sales, Mr Morgan said. “Last year we facilitated the sale of over 117,000 used cars, or about one every five minutes.
We’re the number one place that Kiwis look to for used cars and want to repeat that success in the new-car market.” Trade Me gets 20,000 used-car listings a month from individuals and twice as many from car dealers. In the year to August, about 50,000 new cars were sold in New Zealand, slightly more than for the same period last year. The Motor Industry Association expects about 100,000 new cars to be sold this year.
Buyers can search Trade Me by make and model or by vehicle type, and compare information such as carbon footprints, fuel efficiency and crash test ratings. Up to 20 new cars can be compared at once and people could compare new car prices with those of used cars. “Once the consumer has found the car for them, they can book a test-drive with their local dealer,” Mr Morgan said. The new site also connects to car reviews and information on car reliability.