Over the years, I have bought great used cars and sold them after 2–3 years. I have always bought directly from sellers and sold directly to buyers. Through this, I’ve met great people and ensured that the cars I bought were well taken care of. Similarly, I’ve felt confident that the cars I sold went to responsible owners.

In recent years, however, this process has become difficult. The main reason is the influx of venture capital money into this space, which has—unsurprisingly—made things worse for many of us. Big, well-funded startups now buy up most of the available used cars, leaving prospective buyers with no choice but to purchase from them. This also forces sellers to sell to these companies.

This wouldn’t have been a problem if these startups offered fair purchase prices and sold cars at reasonable margins. Unfortunately, they lowball sellers by lacs and sell at prices so high that it makes one wonder—what’s the point of even buying a used car?

Online classified sites once offered a refuge. One could post ads and sell directly, with even paid, featured ads costing just a few hundred rupees. But that’s no longer the case. Selling on these platforms is now almost entirely dominated by dealers—the very intermediaries enthusiasts have been avoiding for decades.

Today, there is no safe haven for people like me. 

I’m attempting to solve this with Peercars—a simple website where users can list their cars, contact sellers, speak to them directly, meet in person, check the car, and, if both parties are satisfied, complete the transaction.

Right now, I’m funding this entirely on my own, covering hosting costs and managing the platform. The website is built using readily available tools, and to keep it clean, I personally review and approve new posts after work every day. There are some paid packages right now which came by default with the template which you can ignore and simply go for free listing. In future, if hosting costs or listing approval efforts go beyond what I can manage, I will do a paid plan or maybe a paid plan.

I’ve created this to go back to basics. Not everything needs to be a billion-dollar, venture-funded tech product.