$1 Reserve Mini Cooper Up For Grabs

$1 Reserve Mini Cooper Up For Grabs As Automotive Joint Venture Launches

Around 400,000 online buyers will be offered the chance to bid on a Mini Cooper with a $1 reserve when New Zealand’s newest automotive market goes live today.

Trade Me Motors is a joint venture between Trade Me, New Zealand’s largest online marketplace, and AutoBase, an Internet-based nationwide car dealer’s network. The joint venture also features partnerships with the Consumers’ Institute and Vehicle Information Reports (VIR).

“From today, the New Zealand car market is never going to be the same,” said Trade Me founder Sam Morgan.

“Trade Me Motors lets private sellers run a classified or an auction and they can keep their car listed until it sells – all for under $20 per car. Sellers get an audited audience of nearly 400,000 New Zealanders and it’s totally free for buyers.”

“To show how strong this marketplace is, we have bought a 2002 Mini Cooper and will sell it through a Trade Me online auction with just a $1 reserve. And you can sell your car for free until September 15th!”

“By creating a single national car yard, we’re going to harness the transparent power of a free market to protect and empower consumers. They can instantly see what’s available nationwide and how it compares. By harnessing Vehicle Information Reports and Consumer Online information, buyers are well informed.”

AutoBase director Hamish Lusk said that his car dealers were excited by the launch of Trade Me Motors.

“Trade Me is a giant online in New Zealand. We have some of the best dealerships in the country. We expect our car dealers to see a significant lift in enquiries and successful sales - it’s the only place to be,” said Mr Lusk.

The latest Red Sheriff online figures for July 2003 show Trade Me had over 398,000 unique visitors and over 93 million page requests. The average time spent on the site was over 14 minutes, the longest of any of the top 20 Red Sheriff websites in July. Trade Me customers ran over 300,000 auctions in July alone.

© Scoop Media