Matt Wright’s Used Vehicle Marketplace, Cars4Us, Sells for $120M

According to Cars4Us, many customers have purchased vehicles through the platform, a well-known car marketplace in Australia. But many customers would be shocked to hear that just six years ago, the company, which currently reports selling hundreds of vehicles a week, consisted of four people and a seven-car warehouse.

The company’s founder, 33-year-old entrepreneur Matt Wright, says it didn’t take long for the business to surpass its competitors.

“When we started, the largest online car buying company was buying 60 to 70 cars a week,” he says. “We got there within 60 days,” Wright says the company buys several hundred vehicles each week and generates substantial annual revenue.

One might wonder what powered the company’s quick ascent. The simplest answer is that it improved the car-buying experience on several fronts. Once Cars4Us switched from a wholesale-only company to one that regularly handled trade-ins, Wright says the company began offering trade-in amounts he believes were higher than those offered by many conventional dealers.

Modern buyers are increasingly drawn to digital operations. Although the company has a Brisbane showroom and several trade-in locations, customers can browse inventory, get financing, and schedule free vehicle valuations online.

Buying a car is often stressful, and Wright has found that taking steps to alleviate that stress draws in new customers and helps retain current ones.

“Typically, when you’re trying to buy a car, it’s a Saturday, you’ve got four dealerships written down, and you spend an hour at each dealership, driving between each one,” Wright says. “It’s an onerous process.”

That’s why he designed each facet of Cars4Us to be as quick and friction-free as possible for anyone looking to trade in a vehicle or sell it for cash: same-day quotes, inspections, and payment are available. Those looking to finance a car can do so through the website, and most receive an application decision within 24 hours.

Cars4Us also creates a unique continuity between the online and in-person purchase experiences.

Customers don’t want to pick out a vehicle online and drive to the dealership only to find that it’s already been sold. That’s why the website gives them the option to reserve a specific vehicle for 48 hours with a fully refundable $500 deposit. If they get to the warehouse, test drive the car, and change their mind, they get their money back.

The company’s warehouse in Brisbane holds 1,000 vehicles, making it a sizable used-car warehouse in Australia. Wright notes that due to frequent vehicle turnover, the warehouse often operates near capacity.

Once a customer does make a purchase, they can benefit from an in-house warranty and six months of free roadside assistance.

Wright has poured six years into growing Cars4Us, routinely working 80- to 100-hour weeks. Now, that effort has paid off in a big way. He recently sold MCT Automotive Group, the parent company of Cars4Us, for $120 million. The buyer is a Japanese car manufacturing giant that will continue to build the brand.

So what is Wright planning to do now? At least for the next couple of years, he intends to stay with the company to help facilitate the change in ownership. But while many people with $120 million would retire, Wright wants to continue as an entrepreneur.

“I’m fully committed to Toyota Tsusho for a couple of years,” he says. “But I’m certainly not contemplating a life that doesn’t involve running more businesses, running my own businesses.”

Even as he plans to move on, Wright is still hoping that Cars4Us will continue to grow. Even with the company’s expansion in recent years, Wright believes it still has more to achieve.

He believes the business could become a major retail site on the East Coast and a significant car-buying operation in Australia. “But it really does have a lot more potential than that,” he says.

Miles Advisory acted for the seller.

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