CarCloud enables users to programme vehicle reminders and store important documents in the cloud, reducing the risk of not having an MOT and eliminating unnecessary filing
A Birmingham startup is looking to transform the car industry after raising £1 million. CarCloud, which hit the investment milestone this summer via follow-on funding, is a digital platform revolutionising the way consumers manage their cars.
Founded by former Porsche MD Geoff Turral and automotive entrepreneur Paul Jewell, the smartphone, tablet and desktop app has attracted 36,000 active users – with 44,000 cars registered – in just six months.
It says this equates to more than £500m worth of vehicles under digital management.
Our customers have been telling us, as they come through the pandemic period, that they expect to use their cars less in the future but value them more, Turral tells BusinessCloud. Too often we hear that car owners feel like they’re being ‘processed’ according to the sector model’s needs, rather than anything approaching theirs.
The huge opportunity is in understanding enhanced data – basically, how car and driver data develops over time. To do this effectively takes a mindset shift from the traditional well-trodden path of ‘owning the customer’ and ‘customer for life’ approaches.
Nobody ‘owns’ customers anymore – in any sector – and building CRM and marketing systems around this outdated concept ends up ultimately driving them away, he said.
CarCloud enables users to programme vehicle reminders and store important documents in the cloud, reducing the risk of not having an MOT and eliminating unnecessary filing. The platform can also be used to check the value of vehicles, with 18,000 searches undertaken in June alone, renegotiate finance payments and search for the best available insurance premiums.
Over the years the cars got pricier and the dealerships looked sharper, but the customer experience hadn’t really changed with the times, says Turral. Porsche customers are early adopters of almost everything, including technology, and they were starting to ask me why they couldn’t manage their cars digitally as they could do with every other costly aspect of their lives.
He said: It’s a question I’ve been fired up to find an answer to for a good few years now.
He adds: Despite the everyday cost of living challenges for the vast majority of car owners, they are still thinking about ‘what next?’ As work becomes more flexible and less secure, and as extended family dynamics become more fluid, people want the flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances by changing their car, without excessive costs or the feeling of being trapped.
He said: The move to EVs is accelerating the complexity around ‘what next?’, as, for most, it is no longer ‘if’ but ‘when’.