What is Cazoo? Your complete guide
Launched in 2018, valued at US$8 billion three years later, before collapsing in 2024, Cazoo is now owned by Motors.co.uk. Here's the lowdown on Cazoo's spectacular rise and fall.
- Find out about Cazoo's meteoric rise...
- ...and its calamitous crash-landing
- What does Cazoo's future hold?
Cazoo was one of the UK's largest online used car dealers which enjoyed enormous growth after it was founded in 2018. Once described as the Amazon of used cars, Cazoo's shares were listed on the New York Stock Exchange, valuing the firm at US$8 billion in summer 2021 — yet within three years the business collapsed and its assets sold on.
Although at its peak Cazoo had 22 showrooms across the UK, its main business operation was selling cars online. While most websites listing used cars for sale aggregate thousands of models being sold by scores of dealers nationwide, Cazoo bought and sold cars itself.
Each was checked over by its team of trained mechanics at a 55-acre site in the Midlands, maintaining a stock of 1500 second-hand cars at any one time to reduce holdups in the buying process.
This allowed Cazoo to promise customer deliveries within 72 hours of purchase, delivered to their home or place of work in truck with full corporate branding.
Cazoo offered facilities to buy cars using Hire Purchase (HP) and Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) finance agreements and would also part-exchange your old car if you were looking to trade it in.
All of Cazoo's cars came with a 90-day warranty if the manufacturers' own one had lapsed, roadside assistance and a full MoT for those over three years old. Plus, if a customer wasn't happy with their car during the first seven days, Cazoo would collect it free-of-charge and provide a full refund.
Cazoo's marketing strategy was excellent ensuring a high level of brand awareness with expensive television adverts complementing campaigns placed in print and online media, in addition to high-profile sports sponsorships including various football clubs, Welsh Rugby Union, horse racing, The Hundred cricket tournament, golf's PGA European Tour and World Snooker Championships.
Following a merger with a shell company run by a hedge fund manager, Cazoo's prestigious NYSE listing was confirmed in August 2021, complete with that eye-widening valuation. Only further success was coming Cazoo's way — or so it seemed.
What happened to Cazoo?
Buoyed by its successes in the UK and the NYSE listing, Cazoo began expanding its operations into Europe, with a presence in France and Germany before the end of 2021, followed by expansion into Italy and Spain in early 2022.
These were not markets those running Cazoo had a wealth of understanding about but the distraction of establishing its EU foothold, together with the British used car market taking steps back towards the way it operated before the Covid-19 lockdowns, caught it off guard.
Additionally, in April 2022, a BBC Watchdog investigation called into question the quality of Cazoo's 300-point vehicle check after it emerged that three vehicles had been sold to customers with serious and obvious faults.
A redundancy programme was announced to slim-down its UK staff numbers in June 2022, followed two months later by confirmation that Cazoo was ceasing its European expansion with immediate effect, resulting in a further 750 redundancies there.
Large-scale job losses, in addition to the initial expense of establishing Cazoo's brief European presence and buying vehicle stock for customers to buy, are very costly making investors nervous.
Such was the scale of the stock market concern about Cazoo's financial stability and business strategy that its share value crashed to the tune of 97%. Alex Chesterman, the entrepreneur who established the company in 2018 left his role as its CEO in January 2023.
Sadly, this didn't remedy the company's ills. Further redundancies and the closure of 15 showrooms were announced in March 2023, followed a year later by confirmation that it intended to abandon its car-selling business model and instead become a used vehicle listing website — 728 more redundancies were confirmed.
By 21 May 2024 Cazoo had entered administration, with the remaining 208 staff members' jobs at risk. What remained of its car buying and selling operations were bought by G3 Vehicle Auctions and the Constellation Automotive Group.
Cazoo's newly established online marketplace, together with its brand name and trademarks were snapped-up by Motors.co.uk.
What's next for Cazoo?
Although the Cazoo name will continue to exist it is far less likely to be as prominent as it has been. Its various sponsorship deals have been terminated as they were with the original company which no longer exists.
So far, Motors.co.uk has been relatively coy with its plans for Cazoo now that it owns the brand, save from confirming its intention to make it a mobile-first online marketplace and automatically giving its existing car retailer customers a presence on the site.
Exactly when this fresh take on Cazoo will come to fruition remains to be seen — so far its website, complete with 'powered by Motors' sub-branding, is essentially a different way of looking at the used cars already listed on Motors.co.uk.
Where else can I buy a car online?
The vast majority of car manufacturers and dealers provide an an online sales function, often with delivery included, allowing you to buy a car and have it sent to you without leaving the house.
It doesn't suit everyone as many people still prefer to see a car in person rather than relying on photos alone, but post-Covid it's become a mainstream option, and is commonplance where buyer and seller are located hundreds of miles apart.
Buying both new and used cars online is easy with dealers and online marketplaces, such as our sister site heycar.com, enabling customers to search models with a variety of filters including price, fuel type, transmission and trim level as well as various others.
Scroll though the array of potential cars you're presented with and when you see the one that meets your needs the best simply click to start off the purchase process.
Once you have paid a deposit to secure the car, you will be asked details about whether you intend to buy the vehicle outright or apply for car finance. Once submitted and approved, you can then arrange for delivery of your car, the whole process typically taking two to three working weeks.
