Raising the bar on used-car sales

Tanakorn, 34, is managing director of Trustee Car, the operator of www.trusteecar.com, a fully integrated second-hand vehicle buying and selling website aimed at meeting demand from all types of car owners.
“We have spotted an opportunity to raise the standard of the online market place platform for second-hand cars in Thailand. The current offering is way behind the international standard. We believe there is room for improvement in terms of user experience, as well as to provide consumers with a more transparent online market place,” he said.
Tanakorn has benefited from a diverse education since leaving to study at secondary school in Singapore, after which he returned to Thailand to gain a bachelor’s degree in business administration at Assumption University.
It was there that he began to learn his craft, with a strong interest in business and management.
He went on to develop his newfound interest and to fine-tune his skill set in the UK at the University of Surrey, where he gained a master’s in the science of entrepreneurship in 2008.
Tanakorn grew up surrounded by the family business of trading in gemstones, as well as running a mine, and the hands-on family naturally recruited their son into the business.
He learnt the art of selling and buying from his parents, dealing with traders from all over the world and overcoming cultural differences.
Tanakorn actually started the Trustee Car business about a year ago, when he decided to open a website to gather information about the second-hand car market.
“We want major customers to choose our website to search for the cars they want. They have to register with our website and identify their car tents, which will be used to distribute the vehicles. We also know general customers, who can access the site for their dream cars at affordable prices.
“We can track down every car registered with our website, to prevent any loss. This will benefit the whole industry in terms of car quality and there will be no fraud or cheating on our website. This will build trust among customers to use our buying and selling site,” he said.
Regarding the online market place for second-hand vehicles, the managing director said that in the big picture for the future, the company hoped to be able to provide consumers with a transparent market for such a high-value asset.
“We want to make sure that the industry has a standardised platform offering trustworthy assets, and that consumers have confidence in buying a second-hand car without any doubts,” he explained.
The company’s business plan is to stay focused on the local market for the next two years. It wants to establish strong branding, as well as emerge as one of the leaders in the market.
The company will also be expanding its inspection service on a countrywide scale, he said.
“We have spent about Bt10 million in developing the online platform. Another Bt15 million is earmarked for marketing until the end of this year. We forecast generating revenue from early next year.
“There is no plan to expand to neighbouring countries at this point in time. As to members, we want to recruit 2,000 dealers and 100,000 consumers by the year’s end,” said Tanakorn.
“In five years, we hope to have recruited 5,000 dealers countrywide and more than 200 million active users. With these numbers, we forecast that annual revenue will exceed Bt120 million in the next five years,” he added.