CarOnSale: 10 Key Things You Must Know

Overview

CarOnSale is a pioneering digital B2B marketplace revolutionizing the wholesale trade of used cars across Europe. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Berlin, this platform connects professional car dealers and licensed consignors, offering an efficient, transparent, and profitable way to buy and sell vehicles. What makes CarOnSale remarkable is its fully integrated ecosystem that supports every step of vehicle trading—from detailed condition checks and pricing algorithms to logistics and payment processing. This new approach is transforming a traditionally fragmented market and positioning CarOnSale as a leading force in European vehicle remarketing. In the following sections, readers will discover key insights into CarOnSale’s origins, innovative features, market impact, recent funding milestones, and its vision for transforming automotive wholesale.

1. Origin and Founding Vision

Founded in 2018 by Tekin Has, Tom Krüger, Fabian Roth, and Oguz Özgüler, CarOnSale was established to address inefficiencies in the professional used car trade. The founders, having backgrounds in the automotive industry and software engineering, envisioned creating a marketplace that digitizes and streamlines vehicle transactions across Europe. Headquartered in Berlin, CarOnSale set out to replace time-consuming, manual processes with a digital workflow, aiming to build trust, transparency, and profitability between vehicle consignors and buyers. This vision disrupted a market traditionally ruled by offline interactions and fragmented dealer networks.

2. Core Platform and Services

CarOnSale operates a fully integrated B2B marketplace tailored specifically for licensed car dealers and consignors. Its platform offers an intuitive interface to access thousands of vehicles daily through online auctions across numerous European countries. Critical to its service is the COSCheck, an in-depth 75-point vehicle inspection providing detailed condition reports, engine sound and video evidence, and transparent vehicle histories. Additionally, CarOnSale offers end-to-end solutions that include vehicle appraisal, digital contract management, logistics coordination for transportation, and secure payment processing, all designed to simplify the entire transaction cycle.

3. Data-Driven Innovation and Pricing Algorithms

A key differentiator of CarOnSale is its deployment of sophisticated data analytics and proprietary pricing algorithms. Leveraging transactional data accumulated since its founding, the platform provides sellers with a market price algorithm capable of generating accurate recommended purchase and resale prices in seconds. This tool helps dealerships mitigate risk during procurement, especially for vehicles from third-party brands or with potential damage. The algorithm also informs consignors of price-driving or price-lowering factors, aiding in confident, efficient deal-making.

4. Market Position and Geographic Reach

CarOnSale has quickly established itself as a leader in the B2B used car market in Europe, especially in Germany and Austria, and is expanding into other countries including Poland, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Austria, and the Netherlands. It currently registers around 18,000 licensed dealers and handles approximately 100,000 vehicles at auction annually, connecting them with a buyer network exceeding 40,000 active users. This pan-European footprint allows CarOnSale to provide broad access to quality vehicles and secure high bids for sellers while offering buyers diverse options in one centralized platform.

5. Strategic Partnerships and OEM Relationships

The company has forged strategic partnerships with major Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), including a significant collaboration with Mercedes-Benz for remarketing lease returns and demonstration vehicles. These partnerships provide exclusive access to high-quality vehicles directly from manufacturers, enhancing CarOnSale's marketplace differentiation and reliability. By integrating OEMs into the digital trade ecosystem, CarOnSale supports seamless vehicle remarketing that benefits dealers and manufacturers alike.

6. Recent Funding and Growth Acceleration

In July 2025, CarOnSale raised €70 million in a Series C funding round led by London-based venture capital firm Northzone, with participation from existing investors HV Capital, Insight Partners, Stripes, and Creandum. This capital injection represents a vote of confidence in CarOnSale’s technology and business model. The funding will be used to accelerate European market expansion, enhance product and service offerings, and scale the digital infrastructure for seamless cross-border vehicle transactions, all aiming to reach the company’s ambitious target of facilitating one million vehicle sales annually.

7. Technology Infrastructure and Data Integration

CarOnSale’s platform is underpinned by a robust cloud-based technology stack that supports real-time data integration and analytics. Through partnerships with data integration providers like Fivetran and Snowflake, the company automates extraction, transformation, and loading processes for its data warehouses. This infrastructure enables fast access to comprehensive vehicle and market data, supporting advanced features like personalized recommendation engines which analyze buyer behavior to promote relevant vehicles, thereby optimizing sales opportunities and operational efficiency.

8. User Experience and Mobile Accessibility

To enhance accessibility and ease of use, CarOnSale offers an intuitive web platform complemented by a mobile app available on Android. This app allows professional dealers to participate in live auctions, track ongoing bids, access vehicle condition reports, manage invoices, and oversee transport logistics. The mobile-friendly design ensures that dealers can stay connected on the go, facilitating timely bidding decisions and status updates, thereby enabling a truly flexible and efficient trading experience.

9. Comprehensive Services From Single Source

CarOnSale differentiates itself by providing an end-to-end service offering—from vehicle intake and condition assessment to auction execution, transportation, and complaint management—all managed through a single digital ecosystem. This seamless service reduces administrative burdens on dealerships, cuts down delays typical in traditional remarketing, and guarantees transparency throughout the vehicle’s sale lifecycle. Additionally, the platform offers guarantee price options, allowing sellers to lock in minimum prices and reduce sales risk, which has been well received by users.

10. Future Prospects and Market Transformation

Looking forward, CarOnSale aims to continue its rapid expansion across the European automotive wholesale market, which is valued at over €450 billion yet remains heavily fragmented and offline. By leveraging artificial intelligence and further developing its software ecosystem, the company plans to deepen cross-border integration, introduce more advanced pricing and inspection tools, and increase automation in dealer workflows. The ambition is to fully digitize professional used car trading, setting a new standard for transparency, speed, and profitability in the industry.

Conclusion

CarOnSale exemplifies how digital innovation can disrupt and modernize a traditionally opaque and fragmented industry. Founded with a clear vision to bring transparency and efficiency to the professional used car market, the platform now serves tens of thousands of dealers across Europe with a comprehensive, data-driven solution. With robust technological infrastructure, strategic partnerships, and significant recent funding, CarOnSale is well-positioned to continue accelerating the digitization of automotive wholesale. Its ongoing evolution raises a key question for the future: how will the broader automotive sector adapt as digital platforms like CarOnSale redefine vehicle trading and remarketing at scale?