Martin added: “I started working on this with Percayso 12 months ago.
“When I was at CAP, Cazana was a very competitive product; they were ‘noisy neighbours’ and a strong competitor.
“When I then got the opportunity to consult for Percayso, it felt like a perfect fit. The amount of data that is in Cazana is market-leading.”
Percayso purchased Cazana from Cazoo to push vehicle data into the insurance sector. The transition from just insurance to being more dealer-focused has been a smooth journey, according to Lilley.
He says: “The transition from insurance to a more dealer-focused platform has been fairly easy.
“We have been working with some well-known people within the field, like Auto Data Solutions. We got onto Motors quickly, which has exposed the platform to their 6,000 dealers.
“The system was already developed for motor retail; it just needed enhancing. It was good anyway; we just improved it.
“We have an enterprise deal with Motors / Cazoo. We have partners like Experian, and have a few existing partners out there.
“Percayso will still use Percayso vehicle intelligence within insurance. Cazana will then be pushing into finance, lease and motor retail.”
Stock comparison tools for Chinese OEMs
It is no secret that Chinese OEMs are storming the UK market, with high-quality cars and low prices. However, there has been talk that their remarketing infrastructure is not in place.
Percayso has developed a product on the Cazana platform specifically for Chinese OEMs that want to understand how their vehicles are performing in the UK market. This should then inform their choices when creating aftermarket structures.
Martin says: “We are producing ‘stock compare’, which shows Chinese OEM’s their vehicles that are out in the wider used-car market.
“They can see if they are being sold by a car supermarket or a franchised dealer, then compare the pricing.
“This then aims to help them with residual values because they would ideally want to keep the vehicles within their own network. They can also see how long the vehicles are taking to sell.
Martin explains that they have so far created this for one company but emphasises that it can be used for both new entrants to the UK market and legacy brands as well.
“It will be especially useful to new brands coming in, who are trying to protect their residual values from day one.
“There is also utility there for the legacy brands to keep their values as strong as possible, as it underpins the monthly payment systems.”
This product can also work well for fleet and leasing companies as they remarket cars, and may want to know where the ‘hotspots’ are. With this product, they can see franchised dealers that have a lot of one car but not enough of another, so they know where to place their vehicles for sale.
The Chinese OEMs that are coming in are making a conscious effort to understand and familiarise themselves with the UK market, and this is now seeping into the aftermarket space as well.
Martin says: “Most of them have employed industry people from the UK and taken on UK dealers that are already established.
“When you combine that with the data from the Cazana platform, it is a perfect fit. They appreciate how important residual values are for their brand.
“We think we can be used as a primary or secondary source on the retail side.”
The power of nostalgia
The Cazana brand used to make a lot of noise in the market, and Lilley believes that “it makes sense to push a historic brand back out there. It has a good reputation, and it has history behind it.
Percayso is reintroducing the Cazana brand with the goal of industry professionals recognising it and remembering the value it brought to them in the past.
Lilley adds: “If people know what it stood for historically and we have then improved it, people are much more likely to go for someone familiar, rather than someone they think is a new entrant to the market.
“It helps that we have a partnership with Experian and Motors. We have good partnerships with good brands. We now just need to get people re-acquainted with Cazana.
“We have also made partnerships with other companies that work with dealers to get the product out there for dealers to try and hopefully love again.”
A useful tool for fleets
The Cazana platform allows fleets to use its residual value data to understand how to most effectively defleet vehicles and get the best value back. The platform also provides a wider, more transparent breadth of data for companies to use.
Martin says: “Others are providing retail values, but not with the breadth of data that we have.
“We produce a price based on a VRM, but we also give values based on whether a car is being advertised by a franchise dealer or by a car supermarket.
“Also, we provide a trade price, and it shows transparently how the value is reached.
Cazana also provides a used car forecast for leasing companies that are looking to secondary lease their vehicles due to the dropping residual values.
OEMs can benefit from the tools Cazana is bringing into the market, especially with the tools that Martin has helped create for the Chinese new entrants.
Martin says: “The OEM tool, which helps the Chinese brand, will help leasing companies as well.
“It will help leasing companies know where and who to sell to.
“It allows them to see how quickly the retailers are selling their vehicles, so they can place them into the market correctly.
“It has generally been a dealer tool in the past, but when we looked at all the tools we have, there is a lot more we can do with more areas of the industry.”
Cazana has 17 different types of APIs for each of the features, a structure which has been implemented with simplicity and ease of integration front of mind.
Lilley says: “You can get an API for an evaluation or historical evaluation, or just historical adverts; we have over one billion previous adverts and images.
Lilley concludes by emphasising that Percayso has reintroduced Cazana to the market to provide products and services to meet all sectors.
He says: “There is an appetite for an alternative provider out there. We are launching a product that is already really good, but with our enhancements and expansion of the capabilities.”
