03 April 2012

Tesco Cars has stopped taking new orders and is closing the business after exactly a year in operation.

In a statement on the firm’s website Tesco said: “With effect from 3rd April 2012 we have decided to close the Tesco Cars business and are no longer accepting orders from customers.

“We started Tesco Cars in good faith and we always aim to do a good job for customers. However, following a review of the business model we and Carsite, our partner, have decided that we cannot offer customers a satisfactory range of vehicles and as a result, have decided it is right to close the business.”

Tesco Cars was born following the purchase of Carsite from owner Douglas Rotberg who stayed on with Tesco to run the business. Many industry experts questioned how Tesco would make a success of used car retailing.

At the time of the launch Andy Higginson, Tesco’s chief executive of retailing services, said the site has been designed to provide a “convenient, easy and safe” alternative to traditional used car forecourts. He said that the cars will be around 20% cheaper than forecourt-sold cars due to low overheads.

“It is about following the customer into areas of spend. It is a £24bn market and we will have a tiny proportion of it,” he said. “We can bring trust. A lot of people find it intimidating with the hard sell. There is no hard sell here.”
 

Tags: Carsite, Douglas Rotberg, Tesco, Tesco Cars, used cars