WeBuyCars aims to double the number of its buying stations and has set its sights on establishing outlets in Bloemfontein, Richards Bay and eMalahleni (formerly Witbank) and Middelburg in Mpumalanga.
The buyer and seller of pre-owned cars has established vehicle “supermarkets” across a number of cities. The company recently added 10 new stations, referred to as buying pods, where vehicle owners can get their cars evaluated and sold to the company, bringing the total number of pods to 93. It has expanded capacity at George, Polokwane, Johannesburg, Riverhorse Valley in Durban, and Gqeberha.
It has opened supermarkets in Rustenburg with a capacity for 300 vehicles. Before the end of the year, it will open three supermarkets in Vereeniging with parking bays for 550 vehicles, in Lansdowne in Cape Town with a capacity for 1,300 vehicles, and in Montana, in the north of Pretoria, which will accommodate 1,300 vehicles.
“The gaps we are seeing and the areas we are looking to expand to next are Bloemfontein, Witbank and Middelburg. We are seeing increased activity. Having a retail outlet or supermarket in that node will make sense,” said WeBuyCars chief strategy officer Willem Klopper.
“We also want to have a better solution in KwaZulu-Natal. We have three supermarkets, and the two in Durban are close to each other, so having a larger and more prominent solution there will make a lot of sense. Opening in Pietermaritzburg has alleviated some pressure; a solution in Richards Bay will go a long way in solving that.”
Klopper said that “increasing the footprint in important regions enhances the ability to serve the growing demand we are experiencing and capture additional market share”.
He said the new supermarkets and pods “place us in a strong position to be able to handle our target volumes, expand our national reach and drive our next chapter of growth for business”.
WeBuyCars has set a goal of buying and selling 23,000 vehicles a month by 2028.
It sold 91,392 vehicles in the six months to March, up 13.5%. The company bought 92,339 cars and bakkies from consumers, up 12.9%. The average age of cars sold is about 10 years.
Over the past seven years annual compound growth rate of pre-owned vehicles was 0.9% while new vehicles have been declining. Last year pre-owned vehicle registration was 1.7-million while that of new cars was about 600,000.
CEO Faan van der Walt said 15% of all vehicles, or about 2,000 vehicles a month, are bought by the company at the pods. “The plan is to have 200 pods over the next three to four years,” he said.
The idea is to be in every town so the service is readily available for all consumers and within big metros for customers to be within 10km of a buying pod.
— Faan van der Walt, WeBuyCars CEO
Van der Walt said the least busy pod sells between 20 and 25 cars a month, while some sell as many as 100.
“The idea is to be in each and every town so that the service is readily available for all consumers, and within big metros for customers to be within 10km from a buying pod.”
The company pursues the acquisition of vehicles that are in high demand, reliable and sell quickly. Bakkies continue to be in demand, especially for small business owners, he said.
The company is also focused on third-party sales — selling vehicles on behalf of financial institutions and other corporates. It has partnered with Capitec Bank, which has set up mini-branches at nine WeBuyCars supermarkets to help customers with opening loans. Klopper said Capitec was their biggest banking partner — “We do more than 600 vehicles a month.”
WeBuyCars said that in the six months to March it experienced buoyant pre-owned vehicle trading conditions driven by numerous factors, including positivity about the favourable election outcome and the formation of the government of national unity, lower inflation, three consecutive 25-basis-point repo rate cuts since September 2024, improving consumer confidence and an injection of cash into the economy from the two-pot retirement system.
Group revenue increased 15.2% to R13.1bn. Core headline earnings rose 26.4% to R508.2m, the company said.
“WeBuyCars is well on its way to its target of selling 23,000 cars a month by financial year 28,” said Anchor Capital’s Stephan Erasmus. “Lower interest rates and a better finance platform, along with a recovery in new vehicle sales, should increase sales, especially for financed vehicles.
“While political changes and new global trade rules create some uncertainty, WeBuyCars is in a strong position to gain market share. Its data-driven pricing, easy digital process and focus on simplicity set it apart.”
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