Company which criticised the motor trade as dinosaurs, now wants to make money from selling dinosaur's cars

What could possibly go wrong?

That's a bit of a shame, as I quite liked their approach. I'm not convinced this is the end. They have a track record with Zoopla doing well despite Rightmove being better in pretty much every way. If nothing else, it will hopefully encourage Auto Trader to raise their game - it has lost most of the private market, so certainly has room to improve.

Online car seller Cazoo has fallen into administration, after slashing hundreds of jobs as part of a heavy restructuring.

The company has appointed administrators from Teneo, who will seek to sell off Cazoo's remaining marketplace business.

That went well didn't it?

That went well didn't it?

Is the market facing a flud of used horse boxes/car carriers?

I think that's all happened - I've seen a few with the branding removed on the motorway.

This bit never sat right with me:

The platform allowed shoppers to buy, part-exchange and finance vehicles entirely online. People could order while sitting on the sofa, and the vehicle would be delivered to their home in as little as 72 hours, with a seven-day returns policy.

A car isn't like a stereo or TV or other commodity that you can quickly and easily return.

Considering the price:

I wouldn't buy a car I've not test driven (especially as I'm 6 foot 4).

What if there are dings or other cosmetic issues? Misleading service history?

I wouldn't want to spend time and money arranging insurance, only to have the hassle of cancelling or changing if I don't like the car.

I would have reservations buying blind as it were for anything more than a year-old car and where the seller had to guarantee it was effectively in pristine condition, or at the very least any issues were thoroughly documented, reflected in the selling price and that had no impact on the long-term viability of the car (including corrosion resistance).

For older cars, luxury and higher performance ones, I definitely want to see them in person and test drive them - even if they were to be a long term buy, I'd want peace of mind it was in the condition stated in the blurb.

Many sales photos these days are not high-def enough to spot every blemish / flaw, plus I suspect some cars are palmed off knowing that the previous owner was either a heavy smoker or owned a (no offence intended) smelly old dog and you'd need to sit in it to know (despite any 'thorough valeting').

Similarly where some less scrupulous dealers conveniently forget to give a photo of seats / carpets that show significant signs of wear / abuse from 'heavy use' (figuratively and literally), or heavily worn pedals hiding clocking.

At least with the car supermarkets you do have a showroom to look at them, and if you're really eager, can pay around £100 to have a car transferred to your 'local' showroom rather than having to drive half way across the country.