Publicly traded Autobytel Inc. (Nasdaq: ABTL) has acquired Dealix, owner of UsedCars.com for $25 Million in an all cash deal.
The registrant for the domain name UsedCars.com was CDK Global, LLC and they are a wholly-owned subsidiaries of Dealix. The transaction took place May 21, 2015 according to a press release by Autobytel.
Autobytel is no stranger to premium generic domain names as they also own Car.com.
From the press release:
Dealix provides new and used car leads to dealerships, dealer groups, and automotive manufacturers, and consistently ranks as a top auto sales lead provider in the industry. The company is also the operator of the highly successful car buying site, UsedCars.com – one of the first used car search engines to connect consumers with a nationwide inventory of quality used cars. This site now joins Autobytel’s consumer-facing family of websites, Autobytel.com and the soon to be re-launched Car.com.
The online market for used cars has really heated up lately with many startups jumping in. One of, if not the highest funded is Beepi.com which has reportedly received at least $300 Million of funding. CrunchBase is stating $79 Million in 4 rounds. Beepi was founded April 1, 2013!
There are other startups like Shift.com, Tred.com, Carvana.com and Vroom.com. Vroom has raised $54 Million and had $20 Million in sales in May with projected sales of $300 Million for 2015 according to this Fortune.com article.
Auto1 Group which was founded in 2012, has a $1 Billion valuation and is also involved in the used car market with heavy funding. Drivin is a Chicago based startup in the same market with $10 Million in funding.
I’m sure I missed several more, but you get my point. The used car market is getting a lot of $ put into it, and to note, the majority all riding along on some great domain names!
There is of course the new gTLD’s coming into the space as well with .Car, .Cars and .Auto launching in the Q4 of this year as a joint venture between Frank Schilling Uniregistry and Daniel Negari’s .XYZ.
