Park Jin-hai primarily focuses on K-dramas, entertainment shows and actor interviews. Beyond that, she also pens articles covering the broader arts scene, with a particular emphasis on classical music, dance and various aspects of lifestyle. Since joining The Korea Times in 2013, she has made significant contributions in the realms of hallyu (Korean wave), industry news and international affairs.
MPARK EASYAUCTION makes used car sales easy, convenient
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A Korea Times reporter consults with an Easy Auction manager at a parking lot in front of the newsroom in Migeun-dong, central Seoul, Friday. / Korea Times
By Park Jin-hai
By Park Jin-hai
Buying a car is hard. But, selling it is much harder.
Customers in the used car market ― called “the market for lemons” ― often face falsified information or haggling dealers that try to buy their cars at dirt cheap prices.
The maze-like second-hand car trade system has been simplified with the adoption of an online-to-offline auction system such as MPARK EASYAUCTION.
“The most fabulous thing about this service is the simplicity. All you need to do is to make a phone call to the call center on the day of the auction,” said Lee Ki-young, a spokesman at Dongwha Group, which owns the MPARK Offline used car complex in Incheon. “Wherever you are an Easy Manager will come to you and evaluate your car free of charge. In a real-time auction, you can sell your car around 3 p.m. the same day.”
Although less known, compared with similar services Hyundai Glovis and SK Encar, MPARK EASYAUCTION has been showing strong growth just one year after it started in September last year.
Thanks to transparency and convenience, over 50 percent of the bids were successful in October, up from nearly 20 percent in September 2014, and it is now looking at 60 percent. “This means that nearly six people out of ten trusted the bid price and chose to sell their car,” Lee said.
The number of cars participating in the bids tripled, while the number of successful bids shot up nearly six times during the time, according to the company.
This reporter, the owner of a Chevrolet Cruz compact, wit slightly over 10,000 kilometers on the clock, tried to sell the car through MPARK EASYAUCTION.
All would-be sellers need to do to get started is to make a phone call to the call center (1600-0084). When the call is made and schedule the auction day, the Easy Manager comes and checks the car at the time and place the seller wants.
When the manager arrived at the reporter’s office in Seodaemun, Seoul, he checked the car inside and out, tracing whether the car has been involved in any car accidents. He took pictures of the car and sent them through his smartphone to some 300 dealers the company has as members, while grading the car’s condition.
After half an hour he said that everything was done and the mobile auction process can be viewed real time between 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
Around 1 p.m. a text message from the first bidder arrived with a bid of 10 million won for the Cruz whose price tag at the time of purchase was slightly under 20 million.
Minute after minute, new dealers suggested bid prices. When bidding was closed at 2:30 p.m., a total of 16 dealers suggested prices ranging between 9.9 million and 10.78 million won.
The smartphone screen asked to choose whether to accept or reject the highest bid price.
Although the process didn’t go further since the bid was rejected, the whole process was easy and I felt the service would appeal the most to women who find it challenging to visiting a used car shop, where the seller would often fall prey to experienced dealers.
“One of the biggest advantages of this service is that it is easy and convenient. Customers in the traditional used car market have to drop by dealer after dealer to find the best deal, but still cannot sure they landed on a one,” Lee said.
The manager was kind and his role as evaluator remained as a third party.
Transparency in the bid process was another good point.
Unlike the other similar services that show the highest bid, M Park Easy Auction shows every bid each dealer makes in real-time. “With EASYAUCTION, sellers don’t have to worry about landing on a bad deal,” he added.
Even better, the service is free until you click the O.K. button to sell your car. If you decide to reject the bid price, there is no charge for the service at all.
When you decide to sell the car, within two hours after the bid was closed, only a minimum charge is levied. Depending on the car engine size, a minimum 110,000 won and a maximum 220,000 won, regardless of the car model, is charged for the deal.
As the MPARK EASYAUCTION gains popularity, based on the SNS review and word of mouth, the company expanded its service to Daejeon in February, Busan and Gyeongsang Province in March, and Daegu in April.
The online-to-offline used car auction service currently has over 300 dealers participating. Compared with one year ago when the company first started, the evaluation of a car has become more accurate, adding credibility to the service. Thus the participating dealers tend to accept a company’s appraisal without further consideration of, for instance, depreciation costs, said the company.
One customer, who sold a Kia Forte compact sedan, left a message on its website, saying, “After the deal was made and the car was handed out, there is no risk that the dealer will ask for a cancellation or refund of the purchase, saying they spotted defects later, because it was sold after the Easy Manager’s objective appraisal of the car. No worries at all. It was as simple as selling a smartphone or home appliance.”