RIYADH, 4 January — A free website has been launched to facilitate the sale and purchase of used cars on the Internet. The site, http://www.Maradh.com, has already received over 15,000 hits in less than a month.
Demand varies from 20-25 percent for trade-ins to a higher figure for sales in the second-hand car market, according to Sami Ahmed, marketing manager of Al-Wallan Est., agent for Hyundai cars in the Central Province.
He pointed out that local regulations and concerns about accurately recorded mileage have caused a downturn in the local market.
Referring to the free website, Musthafa Cheriammad, technical manager, WTCS, told Arab News that "it has completely eliminated the need to visit a used car lot and spend hours trying to find the right car. Maradh.com puts used car purchase and sales at your fingertips."
Thousands of cars have been entered in their database -- 7,000 vehicles for sale in Riyadh alone. Navigation at Maradh.com is easy for a potential car buyer or seller, he said. All the links are available on the home page itself. "For those who want to browse the details of old cars, they can just click on the search button on the home page."
He continued: "The advanced search option is also available for a specific make, model, year and can be limited to one's budget." To advertise, one could register with Maradh.com for free and then click on the options available, for example 'car wanted' or a 'car for sale'.
The visitor can obtain the information he wants in less than five minutes. Over 2,000 users have registered with Maradh.com in less than one month, he said, adding that once a transaction has been completed, the customer could ask for his entry to be deleted. The site also provides facilities to big car dealers and used car exhibition centers to advertise their used cars on this site. They should send an e-mail with the details of the used cars in an attached Excel sheet to data@maradh.com.
As for those without an Internet connection, they could fax their details on 01-2170947. According to the WTCS team, this portal is customer friendly, designed to make browsing easy for beginners.
With the huge demand for used cars, Maradh.com is set to become the most popular and frequently accessed website in the Middle East.
