Getting a car is like getting into a marriage or a relationship. You want to be sure you are not getting into the wrong one, says Lou Odunuga, CEO of Betacar.ng
Indeed, not a few people can testify to the problems and heartaches that come with getting the wrong car that spends more time at the workshop than in your garage. Though many car dealers claim to only sell the best quality cars to their customers, only a few actually stand to guaranty the quality of the cars. Betacar.ng is one of them.
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As a guest during the weekly Nairametrics Business Half Hour show, Lou Odunuga, CEO of Betacar.ng narrated that the business had been born out of the personal experience of the hassles people go through to get a pre-owned vehicle.
Some years back, his cousins had requested he helped get a car for their father who was celebrating his birthday, and that was when it dawned on Lou that there was hardly an automotive e-market place where he could check out all the vehicles owned by a dealer before setting out, and so he ended up spending several days just checking out the cars the dealers had.
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“Another really pressing challenge was that there was no standard price, so I would get prices ranging from 10 percent difference to almost double, with everyone claiming that was the price. There were also a lot of shady and shifty dealers looking for a way to make money off you and sell you a car that is not entirely good,” he explained.
Being a mechanical engineer himself, Odunuga thought up the betacar concept as a solution to this.
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How betacar.ng solves the challenge
As an e-automotive dealer, betacar.ng has an online place where prospective buyers can check out the cars before leaving their homes, so they could decide at once if they found what they wanted. Overtime, it has now developed into a hybrid platform where buyers can carry out their entire transactions online, offline, or a mixture of both.
The team also ensures that all vehicles go through a thorough diagnosis and a 200 point check where they are certified to be fit for sale. This is about the singular part of the business that gives it an edge over competition.
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“Several dealers can insist to you that they are selling you good cars, but not many will stick out their neck to guaranty you the quality of the car and this is where we stand out. Amid several car dealers, you are not just looking for access but you want good quality. We see car buying like a marriage or like a relationship. You don’t want to buy a car or get into a relationship with a car that takes your peace of mind. Customers keep coming back because we stand by the cars we sell,” Odunuga says.
The company makes its profit from getting cars at the best sourcing price, passing it through the right processes before selling at a competitive price to customers.
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As part of its moves to make car purchases stress-free, the company in 2019 launched the Betacar financing option that allows buyers to adopt a flexible payment plan and get a car without having to sacrifice other life necessities.
As a young startup, Betacar.ng has not yet opened up to investors, but has funded its operations thus far from personal savings and partnerships as “the plan is to start small and grow big”.
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After pulling through the pandemic challenges which crashed car sales due to economic uncertainties, Betacar.ng has bounced back and continues to move towards becoming a big player in the automotive space.