Revamping the Ride: A Journey of Enhancing Car Selling Experience for Cars24

Picture this: You’ve been cruising the roads with your faithful car for a solid 8 years. Together, you’ve conquered winding highways and tackled rugged terrains, creating memories that will last a lifetime. But now, the time has come to part ways with your four-wheeled companion. The only problem? Finding the right value for your car has become a daunting challenge. Despite your best efforts, potential buyers seem to undervalue your trusted steed, leaving you feeling frustrated and stuck.

One day, while idly browsing through the app store, you stumble upon the Cars24 app. Intrigued, you decide to give it a shot. Little did you know, this spur-of-the-moment decision would change the way you sell your car forever. As you explore the app, you discover a world of possibilities — from seamless car valuation to hassle-free selling processes. What started as a simple download soon turns into a game-changer, allowing you to bid farewell to your car with confidence and ease.

Problem Statement: Enhancing the Car Selling Experience at Cars24

Primary Business Goal: The primary business goal of the project is to enhance the overall car selling experience on the Cars24 platform. This includes improving the efficiency of the selling process, reducing the time it takes for customers to sell their cars, and ultimately increasing customer satisfaction and trust in the platform. The aim is to create a seamless and user-friendly experience that encourages more customers to sell their cars through Cars24.

Duration: 14 days

Let me directly show you the results before I start talking about the processes.

Want to skip over the exploration and research and directly jump to tasty designs? Click here*

Knowing the Industry

I realized the importance of understanding the used car market to gain deeper insights into the problem statement. What I discovered was truly remarkable. The Indian used car market is projected to grow at a staggering CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 19.5% until 2027. According to a report by Research and Markets, the market size is expected to reach $90 billion by 2026. With over 5 million pre-owned cars sold in India every year, it’s clear that selling a used car can be a daunting task.

The used car market in India has taken the spotlight in the slowly growing automotive industry. In the past year alone, the demand for used cars has surged, with over 42 lakh buyers (Source: CRISIL). Just a few years ago, the ratio of new cars to used cars stood at 1:1.2. Today, that ratio has shifted significantly to 1:2.2, meaning that for every 10 new cars sold, there are 22 used cars available for sale in the market.

In the financial year 2008–09, the estimated sales of pre-owned cars were at 37 lakhs. Fast forward to 2018–19, and the projected sales have skyrocketed to 62 lakhs, estimated to be worth Rs.1.62 lakh crores. This surge in sales is accompanied by a notable shift in consumer behavior, as the average holding time of a new car has dropped to just 3 years, down from 5–6 years earlier. This shift indicates a growing preference for the used car category among first-time buyers, opening up a plethora of options for them

Assessing the Current Selling Flow

Behind the scenes: Assessing the Flows

My first order of business was to dive into the current selling flow and explore the various paths available to users. It quickly became apparent that there are two primary avenues for users to sell their cars:

1. Inputting the car’s number: If the user enters their car’s number into the app, details such as brand, model, year, and state are automatically populated. The user can then input the kilometers the car has driven and its current location. Following this, the user receives a very rough estimate of the selling price of their car
2. Selecting Car brand: Another method for users is to manually select all the details of their car, from the brand to the location. After this, users receive a list of 17 questions about their car, which they can fill out to receive a quote.

The 17 questions is only limited to users going through the “Selecting Brand Options” as it is a new feature being tested out, this was introduced so that users can get a more accurate price while selling their vehicle.

Secondary Research Begins

I took a fresh approach to desk research this time, aiming to uncover potential user issues with selling their cars on the platform. My method? I delved into the depths of the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, Reddit, and Twitter to see what users were saying about the Cars24 platform.

Scouring through app reviews, forum discussions, and social media posts, I gained valuable insights into the pain points and challenges faced by users. This approach not only provided a rich source of user feedback but also helped me identify recurring themes and common frustrations. Armed with this knowledge, I was better equipped to address these issues and enhance the selling experience for users on the platform.

Some insights along with my assumptions that I got from these were :

Different price being quoted

Assumption: Users might be biased towards the condition of their car, when physical check of the car happens the condition might be different which leads to a lower price being quoted to the user.

Issue with Inspection Scheduling

Assumption: Users expect a smooth and timely inspection process and may perceive the platform negatively when appointments are missed or rescheduled frequently.

Lack of Post-Inspection Contact

Assumption : Users may feel anxious and unsure about the status of their car sale when they do not receive any communication from the platform or inspection executives after the inspection is completed.

🕵️Looking at the Competitors🕵️

Cars24 faces competition from two major players in the market: Spinny (formerly known as Truebil) and Car Trade. To gain a deeper understanding of the selling flow and user experience offered by these competitors, I conducted an in-depth assessment of their platforms.

Behind the scenes: Looking at the competitors

I wasn’t done with Secondary research you know, it wasn’t a linear process for me. Over the course of 14 days whenever I wanted to gain more insights, I would hop into doing secondary research to gain more insights.

✨Talking to the Users✨

Now that I had a little bit of insights and some assumptions I went ahead to talk to a few users who have sold their either through Cars24 or some other websites. I noted down the tasks I wanted the users to go through and also some questions to gain a deeper understanding. The age demography for the Current flow user testing was for individuals aged between 30 and 25 years old.

Due to the shortage of time I could only conduct interviews with 3 people, ideally I would have like to interview 5 to 8 users, thankfully the 3 people I interviewed were of different age groups.

Scribbling my ideas

With a whirlwind of thoughts and ideas swirling in my head, I eagerly grabbed a pen and paper to bring them to life in the form of wireframes. It’s amazing how sketching out interface elements can turn abstract concepts into concrete plans. It’s like giving shape to a vision and setting the stage for a user-friendly design.

A few behind the scene look at my wireframes

My Solution

Enhanced Selling page of Cars24

Let's start off with the design decisions made on the Sell Page:

1. To enhance the user’s focus and streamline the process, I redesigned the card layout by prominently featuring the option to input their car number. This design change ensures that users can quickly receive a quote for their car, reducing the time needed to navigate through the process.
2. I decided to limit the display of car brands to the 5 top-selling brands in India. This adjustment aims to create a smoother user experience by reducing decision fatigue and allowing users to quickly select their brand without feeling overwhelmed by too many choices. Additionally, enlarging the cards enhances visual prominence, drawing more attention to the available options and further facilitating ease of selection.
3. To make the selling process feel more personal and trustworthy, I decided to move the customer reviews section just below ‘Why Cars24.’ This way, users would be able to see positive feedback right away, which could help build their trust. I also added user photos to the section, making it more relatable and friendly. These changes aim to create a more engaging and user-friendly experience.
4. I introduced the' Enter your phone number' feature to cater to users who may not be as comfortable with technology. This addition allows users to easily seek assistance from a Cars24 representative to help them through the car-selling process. By providing this option, we aim to make the selling experience more inclusive and accessible to users who may prefer or require human assistance. Cars24 already had a floating action button that had the same function but while testing the current flow with the users they were not able to discover it.

Selecting Car Brand Flow

Design decisions I took in this flow:

1. I enhanced the user experience by adding a ‘Car Details’ section at the top of the card. This allows users to easily view the options they’ve selected at each step of the process. This decision was based on the usability heuristic of recognition rather than recall. In the previous design, users would have to navigate back to the section to review their selections. With the new design, all information is displayed at the top of the card, keeping users informed and allowing them to navigate if they need to make changes easily.
2. I implemented an AI chatbot banner that guides users through the 17-question flow, helping them obtain a more accurate quote for their car. This addition enhances the user experience by providing a seamless and interactive way to gather the necessary information for the quote. The chatbot acts as a virtual assistant, simplifying the process and ensuring users can easily navigate through the questionnaire. This feature not only improves the accuracy of the quotes but also adds a level of convenience and efficiency to the selling process

One of the insights that popped out of both secondary and primary research was that there was a discrepancy between the price quoted on the platform and the price quoted after inspection, the 17 questions flow was introduced so that users could answer these questions and get near-accurate pricing(this assumption was validated by Jeevanshu Narang who is a Product Designer at Cars24).

Selecting Car Number Flow

Through this flow, the user can add their car number and details like the owner’s name, brand of the car, the name, the year it was purchased and the RTO code would be automatically filled as this data is linked to the vehicle registration plate. From here the user needs to fill in a few details like the fuel type, distance in the odometer, the location where the car is located, and when the user wants to sell their car.

When the users have scheduled the inspection they will be able to keep track of the inspection status through the ‘Inspections scheduled page’ which they can access through ‘My Cars’ in the navigation bar. Detaills like car’s inspection, final price and car pick up and payment will also be

In this flow, I have also given the users the option to go through the Quigo-24 bot so that they can get a near-accurate quote for their car. This is not present in the current flow.

✨Presenting Quigo-24✨

Through my research, I discovered that the extensive questionnaire could potentially deter users from completing the process. To address this, I proposed a more conversational approach to reduce drop-offs. Users are more likely to stay engaged and complete the questionnaire by making the interaction feel more natural and engaging. This approach improves user retention and enhances the overall user experience, making the process more enjoyable and user-friendly.

Here are a few decisions I took:

1. Users have the flexibility to choose the option that best fits their car. If they make a mistake and select the wrong option, they can easily correct it and continue with the flow. This design ensures a smooth and user-friendly experience, allowing users to navigate through the process with ease.
2. The questions are asked linearly, in the current flow the questions being asked were haphazard and while conducting user research I observed that it made them irritated.
3. After the user answers all the questions, Quigo will assess the car’s condition and provide a value estimate. If the user schedules an inspection, the Cars24 representative will value the car within this estimated range, provided that the car matches the condition described by the user.

Why does it look so familiar?

To create a familiar experience for users who are accustomed to spending time on other apps, I drew inspiration from existing mental models, adhering to Jakob’s Law. This approach ensured that users would find the Quigo-24 interface intuitive and easy to navigate, as it aligns with their existing expectations and interactions from other applications.

— — — — — — — — — — — — --And that's all folks! — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

I hope you liked this case study! I would like to thank Jeevanshu Narang (Product Designer at Cars24) for guiding me on this project his feedback helped me a lot and @10kdesigners for giving me the opportunity to work on this.

I am all ears and seeking your critical feedback, so let me know what you think!

I am actively seeking Product Design roles reach out to me at anshul672@gmail.com or say hi to me on LinkedIn.

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