Fishing with… HelloCars
In the ‘fishing with…’ series, we spend a little time getting to know some of the amazing start-ups that choose to call Fishburners home.
One such team is HelloCars - a startup that’s created a marketplace offering a new way to buy and sell cars online. We sat down with one of the founders, Michael Higgins, to find out more about the business following their recent winning presentation to Fishburners’ Friday Night Pitches.
Congrats on your win! Could you run me through the product? What’s your elevator pitch?
Sure! HelloCars is a new way to buy and sell used cars completely online. Customers can transact securely, conveniently and without the hassles of a dealer or the risks of a private sale.
We offer cheaper prices than dealers because we don’t have their overheads. Also with a fixed price there’s no haggling. We eliminate the bad bits about buying cars.
There’s two sides: if you’re a seller, you type your car make and model into our website and get a ranged quote online. If you’re happy with that we schedule an inspector to come look at your vehicle, and then we list your car on our site. Simple as that.
Sellers are guaranteed to get at least $1,000 more than they would from a dealer — generally more like $3,000 more. The sale is also guaranteed, because if it’s not sold in 30 days, we buy it ourselves.
If you’re looking to buy, we eliminate all the worst aspects of going to a dealer or buying second hand. No one says “I’m excited to talk to a used car dealer today”. They’re excited to get the car, but the experience around buying the car is not fun.
Each vehicle we list has had an exhaustive 230-point check by us — more than NRMA does… Instead of a test drive, we give buyers a seven-day money back guarantee. And your car is delivered direct to your door with a bow on top!
What inspired you to start HelloCars?
I worked in both the manufacturing and dealer side of car sales, and I thought “there’s gotta be a better way”. It should be an exciting and easy process for the customer but a lot of the time it isn’t.
Is it fair that someone who just wants a car but isn’t particularly good at negotiation should pay more for a car than someone else? Sadly the phrase ‘dodgy dealers’ is an aphorism for a reason.
Tell me about your team?
HelloCars started with me and my older brother Paul, who’s my business partner and co-founder. We’ve grown in the past few months and are now fortunate to have a great team working with us. We have two developers Alex and Jarek who’ve done a fantastic job getting our platform up live. We have Melissa our marketing manager, who we actually found inside Fishburners. We have Chris and Dan in our customer service team. We also have our yard manager Alf and our two vehicle inspectors Mike and Ali.
You launched recently? How did the launch go?
Really great. Actually, unexpectedly our first customer who bought a car from us was a 72-year-old! We thought buying a car online sight unseen was going to be a big barrier, even with the seven-day money back guarantee we offer. But this guy just thought that’s how cars are bought nowadays. That was really exciting and encouraging for us. Since then we’ve been selling cars well, which is fantastic.
Customers selling their cars like the fact that they don’t have to leave the house or meet potential buyers. We do everything for them and they get to keep driving the car while we sell it for them. Selling a car privately can be an intimidating process for some, and a hassle for most. We take those factors out of the equation.
What’s next for HelloCars?
Because we need physical facilities in each city we operate in, we’re a little bit different to the typical tech startup who might launch nationally or globally right away. So we’re Sydney only just now, and our next step is moving into some other domestic markets like Brisbane and Melbourne.
What’s the ask right now / what are you looking for?
What we’re really looking for is feedback, to get our site out there to as many people as possible, and for people to learn about us and the HelloCars concept. So, please check out the website hellocars.com.au and tell your friends!
Also, if you know someone who’s thinking of selling or trading in their car, tell them to get a quote from us first, they will get more money for their car. And if you’re looking at buying, we are going to be cheaper than a dealer.
When did you join Fishburners? And how has Fishburners helped you?
We joined in January 2016. Fishburners has been amazing. This will sound corny so please don’t laugh at me, but it’s opened this new world of possibilities for me.
Coming from corporate it was a real eye opener. You’re working in an environment surrounded by people who are helping and supporting you. We have also partnered with several businesses and individuals in Fishburners to help us launch which has been a big help.
Surrounding yourself with like-minded people has been the biggest benefit for me.
Also, getting honest feedback from the group is a huge thing. Family and friends often say “that’s great”. But people at Fishburners will say “that’s great, but have you thought about …”
For more…
Check out HelloCars at hellocars.com.au.
Fishburners is Australia’s largest startup space, dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs. Find out more about Fishburners at fishburners.org, and for more you can follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
Interested in Fishburners? Check us out at our next Friday Pitches. RSVP at our Meetup page.
