Kavak: The King of Used Car Sales

The last few years have been some of the most eventful in the automotive industry’s history. For much of the COVID-19 pandemic many used cars cost more than new ones, the prices of new cars hit record highs and there were huge shortages and backorders for vehicles globally. Meanwhile the industry has seen a growing crop of disruptive tech companies attempting to disrupt different parts of the industry including Carvana, Vroom, CarMax on the buying and selling side and the likes of Tesla, Rivian and other manufacturers in the electric vehicle segment. Much of the action and drama in the automotive industry has been taking place in China and the United States, the two biggest automotive markets in the world.

However, people buy, sell and drive cars everywhere and the winds of disruption are also being felt globally. One of the most interesting startups founded in recent years is Mexican startup Kavak which is aiming to disrupt the used-car market in Latin America. The startup was founded as a private company by Carlos Julio Garcia, his sister Lorianne Garcia, and Roger Laughlin. Carlos Garcia came up with the idea when he personally experienced the inefficiencies of the used car market in Mexico. He had tried to sell his own car, and later ended up buying a used car with mechanical problems. At that point, he realized that there were risks inherent to the market due to a lack of…