The market for second hand goods is gaining pace and
automobiles are not far behind. An endeavor that once would have meant many
weekends spent in finding second hand car dealers and then checking their
inventory is now transformed to an online marketplace where you have the choice
available at the click of a button. It is also to be noted that a dealer acts
like an exchange and makes commission from both the sides, so there is inherent
friction built into the deal that is eating away hard earned money from the both
the buyer and seller and making the middle man richer.
My first second (!) hand car buying experience was spread
over many weekends of searching the showrooms, keeping track of the models they
had and multiple visits to them before I could finalize something. I am pretty
sure, I ended up paying a little extra due to the commission made by the
dealer, and this is beyond what he claimed he made on the deal. With online
places like quikr next, now a large part of the research can be
done at the comfort of your home and you can talk to the seller directly.
As I had mentioned in past, there was a tendency in our
previous generation to attach a lot of emotional significance to their purchases,
things like my first car, my first something else. And in most cases those
first remained their last ones too, because they were reluctant to sell those
off or possibly they were never able to because they never go the right price
for it. Considering the limited second hand market, they would never find the
price satisfying for their vehicle and then will choose to stick with it rather
than sell it a price that they find insulting for their prized possession. So,
there they were stuck with their old goods forever and cherishing their
emotions around it. Not the case anymore, current generations don’t think much
of replacing “people” in their lives, much less thought would be spared for
things. And no one is looking forward to a life where they develop an emotional
bond with their car and never feel like selling it off. With the options available in the market, it is far more tempting now to sell
your current car at a good price and get a better one at a reasonable price, a
gradual painless process of upgrade!
And with options like quikr next which is a chat based
system, you get a lot of benefits like privacy, ability to keep track of the
discussions and no endlessly interrupting calls. Most of the offices are now following
an open theme for seating (which I find absolutely useless for any creative
pursuit because of the all the built in interruptions, but I digress, topic for
another day), it is very hard to hold a conversation without annoying the hell
out of your co-workers, in such cases, an asynchronous chat based system comes
as a blessing!
As I have said many times before, the world has never been better
for people looking to get things purely for their use without investing the
savings of their lifetime and without sacrificing countless weekends in the
search of a deal.
