Private sellers have begun to sell their cars on the new online car auction Autorola. The days when the ordinary consumer had to accept their prices offered by the local car dealer are over. With the new car auction Autorola, private car sellers can raise their selling price by offering their cars to the whole UK market - and with a few clicks of the mouse. Autorola has come to the UK after four years of success in continental Europe.

The site has been operating less than a year and a half in Denmark, where Autorola originates. Since then the company has established new auctions in Germany, Austria, Holland and Sweden. Now the time has come for the UK market and the people behind the auction say they have a clear strategy.

‘We are going to make money for our customers by helping them to better prices. We know how to help the private seller to find exactly right buyer who is willing to pay the best market price for the car, which is one of the reasons that we have been successful in our other markets,’ says the UK manager Lena Kamstrup Kjær.

The person putting the car up for sale sets a reserve price, and the guide description form makes it easy to describe the car in detail. ‘It is crucial that cars are accurately described, and we have really put in an effort to make the description form easy to use for our users. A better description helps to achieve a better price,’ explains Lena Kamstup Kjær.

Autorola has a manned customer centre to handle any questions that might occur. The launch of the UK auction brings the total number of employees for all of the Autorola auctions up to 44. The managing director, Peter Grøftehauge, who funded the auctions together with his brother, Martin Grøftehauge, expects that the total number of employees will be close to 60 this time next year.

Autorola makes it possible to find the specific car dealer who has a customer for the car being put up for sale and therefore can pay a better price and still make money. ‘We have only achieved the market position that we have in continental Europe because we have created a system that benefits both buyer and seller. A targeted purchase of cars at Autorola makes it possible for the dealers to go even closer to their own selling prices and still make more money for their dealerships,’ says Lena Kamstrup Kjær.

It costs £100 to £225 (inc. VAT) to sell a car on the auction, but other then that the Web site is completely free to use and a fee is only charged in the case of a successful transaction. It is only car dealers who are allowed to buy on the auction, while both companies and private people can put their cars up for sale.

Posted: 09|30|05 at 7:48 am. Filed under: UK News.