After launching at the end of 2019, Cazoo starts 2020 with an advertising campaign

Cazoo, the online vehicle retail platform, only just launched at the end of last year touting its online effort, financial backing, and an effort to add transparency to the car buying process. 

Cazoo is the latest venture from CEO Alex Chesterman, the Founder and CEO of ZPG, which owns digital brands like Zoopla, uSwitch, PrimeLocation and Money.co.uk, which was acquired for £2.2bn in 2018. Prior to that, he Co-Founded LoveFilm, which was sold to Amazon in 2010 for a reported £200m.

Cazoo has big backers. On launch day it announced a further £25m of funding, taking the total to £80m. That’s a lot of investment and shows confidence in the prospects for the business.

The website was launched with over 1,500 cars in stock. At the time of writing it had grown to 1,800. Prices of cars on Cazoo are fixed, buyers can finance a car online and have it delivered and there is a seven-day money back guarantee. It also does trade-ins.

Cazoo is not another intermediary taking a cut of margin. It owns the stock it has on its site and the preparation and processing and imaging side is handled by BCA’s vehicle preparation site in Corby, Northamptonshire. BCA already provides these services to franchised and independent dealers. In 2018, for example, it was awarded a five year UK de-fleet contract with BMW UK. The site at Corby is industrial in scale.

In June this year BCA signed commercial partnership agreements with Cazoo for its vehicle logistics, refurbishment and disposal requirements. BCA also provides part exchange disposal services for Cazoo using the BCA Consumer Appraisal and DealerPro product set, as well as its imagery solutions from AutosOnShow. Cazoo did not disclose the length of the contract but said it regarded BCA as a “long-term strategic partner.”

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