- GM announced today that it will start a used-vehicle selling website that it’s calling CarBravo, which will leverage its dealer network and the approximately half-million used vehicles they have in stock.
- Customers will be able to shop online or at a GM dealership, and either way they can shop for vehicles in stock at dealers across the United States.
- GM will use Black Book to arrive at dollar figures and will give “guaranteed online offers” to buy customers’ vehicles even if they don’t buy another one using the website.
- Any questions, please call our Customer Care Team at 630-898-9630 for details.
UPDATE 1/12/2022: A General Motors spokesperson contacted by Car and Driver confirmed that GM’s policy about leased-vehicle returns “remains in place” for 2022. That policy, which started last summer, states that people at the end of their lease terms with a GM vehicle are not allowed to sell it to a company or buyer outside the GM network but must return it to a GM dealer.
It was probably inevitable: General Motors is responding to the huge uptick in used-vehicle prices and the growing popularity of websites that buy and sell used cars, and it’s starting its own site. GM’s CarBravo website is set to begin doing business this spring, and dealers are being enrolled now, the automaker announced today.
The strength of a GM sales website is in the company’s enormous network of some 4200 dealers. As Automotive News pointed out today, those dealers have 400,000 used vehicles in inventory each year, and GM Financial has another half a million. Carvana, which saw 74 percent growth year over year as of late 2021, said in a report that it sold 111,949 used vehicles to customers in the third quarter.
GM said it will offer CarBravo buyers “standard warranty coverage” and trial subscriptions to OnStar and SiriusXM for some vehicles, without giving details. Of course, the company points out that the buyers are welcome to use GM’s Financial unit and its network of service and maintenance facilities through its dealerships.
It’s interesting to consider that in July 2021, citing the global chip shortage and the desire to support its dealers, GM made it the rule that lease holders could no longer sell their vehicles outside the GM dealership network at the end of the term, which should help to bolster the available inventory on CarBravo. We have reached out to GM to determine whether that policy will continue in the future.
Some dealers will offer at-home test drives and home delivery. Customers will be able to buy completely online, completely through a dealership, or a combination of the two. GM also says it will buy customers’ vehicles, relying on Black Book numbers, with “guaranteed” offers, even if they don’t purchase another vehicle from CarBravo. In that, it sounds similar to Carvana and other websites that buy and sell used cars.