Car sales disruptor widens choice for Australian new car buyers

For CEO Damon Rielly, filling a gap in the market as the only online player dealing exclusively with new cars has underpinned CarExpert’s growth since launching in 2020. Successfully tapping into Australia’s rapidly evolving new car market has taken them into the AFR’s Fast 100 list of companies and fuelled ambitions for expansion into South-East Asia.

Potential buyers can connect with dealerships via the website, with CarExpert earning a “lead” commission either after a sale or for simply bringing buyer and dealer together. There is also a premium offering, “CarExpert Concierge”, which effectively manages the whole process for the buyer.

“Someone comes to us looking for a car but they don’t want to deal with a dealer, we’ll take care of it for you,” Fallah says. “Do you need finance? Do you need insurance? We find them the car they want, find them a good price; basically, hold their hand the whole way through.”

Around 1.1 million new cars are sold in Australia annually, with traditional brands facing unprecedented competition from new players such as GWM (Great Wall Motors). More than 60 brands are now fighting for a foothold here, with another 10 expected to arrive over the course of the next year.

Australians’ evolving new car tastes

GWM’s head of marketing Australia and New Zealand, Steve Maciver, has worked for American, Korean, Japanese and now a Chinese automotive manufacturer and predicts the line-up of brands that currently lead the market is about to be subject to change unlike anything he has seen.

“And it’s going to be a good thing for consumers because, ultimately, it offers more choice,” Maciver says. “We’re seeing people more than ever being prepared to try new things in the market, understanding there are brands that are offering something very appealing outside of the traditional brands.

“What CarExpert do very well is provide an independent, trusted, third-party voice that really helps customers on that path to purchase to try and narrow down what they’re looking for.”

Fallah was destined to play a part in an automotive revolution. Just nine when his family fled their village on Iran’s war-torn border with Iraq, one of his earliest memories after emigrating to Australia was seeing a Lamborghini Diablo and thinking, “Wow! What do I have to do to own one of those?”

Now, he owns “way too many cars”, he says, having fulfilled that childhood Lamborghini dream. “Cars are my genuine love and passion – it’s real, it’s there, it gets me excited. And the business side of this, too – it’s addictive to run a business that’s doing well.”

The 2019 sale for more than $60 million of his start-up business, CarAdvice, which predominantly had a data and media focus, paved the way for CarExpert. It was recently valued at more than $90 million, backed by the likes of Perth billionaire and car enthusiast Laurence Escalante.

Turbocharging growth

Unlike his previous business, CarExpert goes down a transactional path rather than focusing on media revenue, with the brand’s rich data sets providing high-value information to aid buyers in making one of the biggest purchases of a lifetime.

South-East Asia presents a real opportunity, and is familiar territory for CEO Rielly, whose industry experience includes five years running the ASX-listed Icar in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. New car sales in Malaysia alone are forecast to grow by 10 per cent year on year.

“For us to expand our market share once we own the new car space here – and we’ve got a lot of growing to do – over the next couple of years we’ll be looking to South East Asia for those massive growth opportunities,” Fallah says.

“The beauty of our business is we don’t care what car you buy. It doesn’t matter to us. That allows us to be very neutral in the advice we offer.

“If we can get you into the new car that works for you, everybody wins – we make some money, you get a car you’re happy with at a good price, and the ecosystem works.”

To learn more, visit CarExpert