Inside the new Weelee Megastore taking on WeBuyCars

From showroom to the road
It’s all about the experience
A shift in buyer preferences
What’s next for Weelee
Weelee Megastore

Used-car retailer Weelee recently launched its first Megastore in Midrand, Gauteng, looking to dethrone the dominant WeBuyCars on its home turf.

Just over five years since it was established, Weelee has transformed from its original business model of facilitating engagements between sellers and dealers, to becoming the dealer itself, as it saw a gap in the market that was being monopolised by a certain blue-and-orange competitor, said CEO Errol Levin.

The Megastore has been over two years and a “frightening” amount of money in the making and it is situated a stone’s throw away from one of WeBuyCars’ largest showrooms, not making any excuses for why it’s there.

We paid the Weelee a visit to find out how the company aims to leverage the Megastore and make itself a household name in the business-to-consumer space.

From showroom to the road

Weelee works in a similar fashion to its main rival but with a crucial distinction. Where WeBuyCars buys just about anything that comes through the doors, Weelee takes a more curated approach and only purchases the finer examples.

Levin explained that when a seller brings their ride to the Megastore, a Weelee buyer evaluates the vehicle from top to bottom on an electronic checklist, and also scans its history for any insurance claims, salvage codes, or notable damages that might have occurred and for whatever reason can’t be picked up by the naked eye.

The odd fender bender is acceptable in Weelee’s book if it has been repaired professionally and it will disclose this to the car’s next owner and adjust the price accordingly, but if there are any serious problems like rebuilt titles, the car is sent on its way and no agreements are signed.

Levin said he wants his customers to come back to the Megastore, not because they are angry, but to purchase another car, and the best way of guaranteeing this is to focus on buying the good ones from the get-go.

A Weelee buyer evaluating a potential purchase

After the original owner has said their goodbyes to their ride, Weelee’s new asset is rolled into a valet area where it is thoroughly washed and cleaned to get ready for the next step of its journey.

Once spick and span, the car is delivered to a second set of experienced evaluators to be perused for any issues the original buyer may not have picked up.

It’s not often that they’ll find something serious that was overlooked, but when they do, the buyer is called in to explain why they did not see the problem, and they may then be required to pay for the repair out of their own pocket depending on the gravity of the situation.

Sometimes luck just isn’t on Weelee’s side, as Levin said there have been cases where a vehicle was in good working order when it was sold to them, but in the few kilometres between being evaluated and being washed something terrible went wrong, such as a turbocharger failure, and the company was stuck with the repair bill through no fault of its employees.

The majority of the time, however, the evaluator will only confirm the problems that the buyer initially found and send the vehicle to its next stop, a rigorous mechanical checkup.

ACD workshop repairing new arrivals

Every car at Weelee is taken for an 80-point inspection that is performed by ACD Automotive Services in a pristine workshop on-site, and any necessary repairs are completed immediately and to high standards.

The retailer also has a good partnership with Tiger Wheel and Tyre (TWT), so if any of its cars need new tyres or wheels, it has four TWT-branded stations inside the Megastore that can do anything from replacing the rubbers and repairing chipped rims to installing brand-new alloys, depending on what the car needs.

Weelee has outsourced these important tasks to companies with good reputations so as to ensure high-quality work, and to attract fewer claims of corner-cutting and falsified vehicle condition reports, said Levin.

TWT booth replacing tyres

If no work is necessary, the vehicle is driven to a 360-degree camera booth for its beauty shots that will be posted online, and thereafter it is parked at its dedicated bay for customers to discover.

On average, the time it takes a vehicle from arriving at Weelee to being back on the road in the hands of a new owner is about 13 days, but there are exceptions.

Levin said the record for the fastest sale at Weelee currently sits at six minutes, with the runner-up, which coincidentally happened on the same day, being 13 minutes.

Photo booth

It’s all about the experience

Levin emphasised that Weelee is all about the customer experience and feeling welcomed into a showroom and, ultimately, a purchase.

When the customer enters the Megastore they are greeted by an attractively furnished seating area, a receptionist desk that is ready to answer any queries, and, of course, a massive hall filled with around 800 vehicles to choose from.

If you look closely, you’ll see a few “trees” dotted around the display room that are made from recycled car parts like radiator fans, which complement the facility’s relaxed atmosphere.

There is also a drinks bar operated by Gauteng’s famous Plato Coffee, which, to protect its partnership with Weelee, also serves food.

Levin said he will not have customers go hungry at the Megastore and would only contract Plato if it also served meals, something it has never done, so the coffee maker obliged and spruced up its menu with a number of options.

Plato Coffee

Weelee’s business remains vehicles, though, and to bring a sense of order to its sizeable showroom, it has employed a tech-led system for sorting cars to make the buying experience simpler for its patrons.

Every parking bay has its own QR code that links to a large touchscreen at the entrance. Now, a customer can simply scroll through these listings without having to walk through the entire warehouse, and if they find something they like, the advanced system will direct them to that vehicle within five-centimetre accuracy, said Levin.

Similarly, every car has a digital tablet in its window that displays details like the model and price, but there is more to this tablet than meets the eye.

Levin pointed out numerous infrared scanners hanging from the top of the Megastore’s roof that sense when a vehicle is driven out of its parking bay and will then communicate this to the tablet in the windscreen, which in turn will display that the car is being taken on a test drive, there is a pending finance application, or it has been sold.

The tablets are also capable of displaying different prices, one for Weelee’s dealer partners, and one for you and I, the average consumer, depending on who’s looking at it.

Vehicle locator that finds any car in the Megastore within 5cm accuracy

To stimulate sales and word of mouth, the retailer has started, and will continue, hosting monthly activation events where attendees can win prizes such as a plush car wash or wheel alignment, and if they purchase or apply for finance on a car, there are more valuable awards on offer.

Weelee further makes it a point to celebrate vehicle handovers as it is, in most cases, a joyous occasion.

Coincidentally, as we were touring the Megastore there was a delivery taking place for someone getting their first car on their 18th birthday.

The room was quiet as everyone gathered, and after a short countdown, all the Weelee staff erupted into cheers and claps, up-beat music started playing over loudspeakers, neon lights lit up the delivery area, and a blower machine bellowed smoke around the car as it was unwrapped for its new owner.

Levin said this isn’t just limited to special requests as every handover is done in the same fashion.

New car handover

The hundreds of Megastore staff are well looked after, too.

They have a canteen with table tennis and foosball, coffee machines available on every floor, and there are murals of birds, rhinos, and other creatures on the wall to bring “good vibes” to the often-monotonous office life, said Levin.

Weelee hasn’t forgotten its roots, either, as it has a sizeable base of operations for dedicated liaisons who are in constant contact with Weelee’s long-time car dealership partners to sort out any and all questions and grievances they may have.

Good vibes wall mural

A shift in buyer preferences

When asked what’s popular at Weelee of late, Levin said there have been interesting developments in buyer preferences.

To the surprise of few, the VW Polo is still one of the most popular used cars Weelee sells, as is the Suzuki Jimny, but stalwarts of the industry such as the Toyota Hilux and Fortuner have seen a noticeable drop in demand – which the CEO attributes to a rise in modern car theft and a tough economic climate.

The numbers show that, before Covid-19, the average purchase price of a car was anywhere from R400,000 to R700,000 and large models from high-end brands didn’t have much of an issue finding a new home.

Today, Weelee sells more cars within the R200,000 to R300,000 bracket than ever before, with compact options being the top choice regardless of brand. Levin said it’s not uncommon to have someone with an Audi Q5 come to the Megastore with an aim to trade it in for a smaller (and cheaper) Q2.

Nissan Juke window tablet

A sizeable chunk of the vehicles Weelee transacts on are between five to eight years old and have approximately 80,000km on the clock, so they have suffered the bulk of their depreciation, which plays into the downscaling trend.

He also mentioned that due to the financial headwinds that are facing the bulk of South Africans, premium brands that used to have a death grip on local buyers including BMW and Mercedes-Benz are seeing their sales drop at a consistent rate as more competitive alternatives from China come into the market.

Usually, a dealer had a good picture of which cars coming onto their floor would be in high demand and which ones wouldn’t.

Nowadays, though, the market is completely unpredictable.

After consistent interest rate and petrol price hikes that led to skyrocketing living costs, the pandemic, all-time-high load-shedding, and an increase in thefts and hijacking, Levin said a specific car may be in very high demand and fetch above retail today, and in two weeks’ time, the company would struggle to find a buyer for it.

A view from the CEO’s office

What’s next for Weelee

There are no immediate expansion plans for Weelee considering its biggest investment to date, the Megastore, has only been open for roughly three weeks.

In the near future, it aims to grow into the space that it has built for itself at the new facility and fill up all the parking bays until it bursts out of its seems.

Levin also noted that Weelee is not terribly strong on the idea of establishing buyer pods around the country to move more stock, like WeBuyCars, as these would negatively impact its focus on providing a pleasant and relaxing customer experience.

The company currently employs in and around 200 employees, with 50 buyers on the road to service clients nationwide, and this is expected to continue increasing as Weelee’s footprint grows.

Beyond these plans, Errol said the business will look to gain a foothold in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, but that this is still a good distance down the road.