Group-buying site aims to bring motorists together

GROUP BUYING online is big business these days. Websites like Groupon, CityDeal and Pigsback.com are just some examples of the hundreds offering discounts on everything from meals to massages based on the principle that a group of buyers carries more buying power than an individual.

Now a Co Clare-based website, Jargul.com, hopes to bring the same deals to new-car buyers. Founded by Pat Keogh, a former office furniture salesman, the website aims to unite new-car buyers with the best price on a new car by grouping together buyers of individual models and offering dealers the chance to offer them their best price.

Users are charged €50 to avail of the service. This is refunded if the buyer doesn’t take up the deal offered, or if they find a better deal elsewhere.

“The site has only been operating for a few weeks, but we are already quite pleased by the response,” says Keogh. “We ask people to do their research and have an idea of the car that they want and then to come on to the site and use it. Say for example they are shopping for a Ford Focus, then they will be grouped with other Ford Focus buyers and collectively they will usually get a better price.”

Trade-ins are, according to Keogh, “tricky” but what the site aims to do is ensure the best price possible for the new car. “It is a good situation for dealers because we are bringing quality buyers to them and it also allows dealers to operate in other areas of the country where they might traditionally not have had any business.”

Back in July it was reported that Chicago-based group-buying giant Groupon had dipped its toes into the car sector, but the response had been poor. There were four takers in the state of Michigan for a deal of $500 off the price of a new car – the state has a population of close to 9.9 million people.

However, in recent weeks similar sites have been launched in Australia, with CarJoy.com and 123cars.com offering customers the chance to buy specific models at reduced prices if enough buyers are assembled.

Darragh Doyle, an online consultant who has had experience in setting up group-deal websites, has concerns about how the model would work here in Ireland.

“The market is very small and experience shows that it is small-ticket items that sell in large numbers on these sorts of websites. It would seem unrealistic that large groups of people would agree to buy the same or similar cars at the same time.”