Type Private Founded 2009 Area served United Kingdom | Industry Internet Founder Reg Rix and Louis Rix | |
Headquarters Manchester, United Kingdom | ||
RACcars.co.uk was launched to the motor trade on 16 May 2013 following an acquisition of the original netcars.com business in February 2013, an online motoring portal for buying used cars.
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Background
Netcars was founded in 2009 by brothers Reg and Louis Rix. The brothers began work in the automotive sector with their father's car dealership, Rix Motor Company, in Warrington. They are also co-founders of an on-line car finance brokerage based in Manchester, Carfinance247, which was fined £30,000 in 2016 for sending 65,000 spam text messages. Reg senior, the boys' father, had been involved with a number of other similarly named organisations which had failed, prior to establishing Rix Motor Company. In 2010, Netcars secured an investment from Airtours founder, David Crossland, which prompted the company to re-launch to the motor trade in December 2010 and to consumers in March 2011.
The business re-launched to consumers with a celebrity car convoy in Trafalgar Square on Tuesday 8 March 2011. The event, which positioned 'the cars as the stars', saw five classic television cars, KITT, Ghostbusters Ecto 1, The General Lee, Del Boy's Three Wheeler and the Batmobile, create a convoy through Pall Mall, past Buckingham Palace.
In February 2013, the business was purchased by the RAC.
Website
RAC Cars (formerly Netcars) launched with the strapline 'the safer way to buy a used car' based on providing reassurance of the RAC brand and careful selection of dealers on the website.
Netcars was the first automotive classified website to offer the used car market the Google inspired 'payment by results' billing model, where dealers can list their entire stock for free and only pay when they receive an enquiry through the Netcars website. Private sellers are also featured on the website.
The business now offers both listing and payment by results models.
Through the website, users can search for cars under a number of different criteria, including make and model, location of the seller, price, fuel type, body type, colour, mileage and engine size. The website's additional Car Advisor function also allows motorists to leave reviews of models they have previously driven and ask other reviewers questions or advice about future purchases.
Dealer Manager
In July 2011, Netcars launched Dealer Manager, an online portal that allows trade sellers to track and monitor results and manage their account, once stock has been uploaded.
Awards
The company picked up a highly commended 'Special Achievement' award in Car Dealer's Power Awards 2011, for its 'no contracts' and 'payment-on-results' charging policy.
Netcars has also been awarded the title 'Best Online Car Sales Portal 2011' by the Institute of Transport Management (ITM).