Startup of the Week – Carhoots

After buying a property ( for those of us lucky or foolish enough to do so), buying a car is usually the next biggest purchase that we generally make. And when a decision is made to buy a car, be it a first car or simply a new one, it’s never quite that easy is it? We all know that car showrooms and sales people are notorious for their sales patter; that car magazines tend to fall into 2 main categories, concentrating on the latest models with the highest specs or else simply are filled with classified ads listing hundreds and perhaps thousands of vehicles for sale. So what do most of us do? Well, typically we ask someone we know what their thoughts are; be that a parent, a friend or whatever – we generally ask the opinion of someone who “knows cars.” Now however, thanks to our latest Startup of the Week there is another option which makes the whole thing that bit easier again.

Carhoots is a brand new ‘social’ car review and marketplace for both car buyers and sellers.
As a buyer, you can use the platform to  find ‘real’ car reviews from ‘real’ people in ‘real’ time. The Carhoots team source all the opinions, reviews and chat about cars that is happening on all the main social networks, Twitter, Facebook and Youtube and then they collate it together, meaning when you search for a particular make and model, all the news and opinion on that model is together in one place.

As well as opinions though, the site also has a Social Marketplace, gathering together car ads that are appearing on the likes of Twitter and Facebook and making it so easy to search for ads for your chosen car make and model. Sellers can also use their own social media accounts to advertise their own cars via the Carhoots Marketplace.

Like all really good ideas, this is another one of those, “why didn’t I think of this?” ones!

At the moment, since for many of us, money is tight, the decision to buy a car is more important than ever and therefore anything which aims to make that process easier and ensure that we make the right decision has to be a good thing. Next time you are thinking about buying a car, why not check out Carhoots – give your dad or motor mad friend a night off!

If you liked this, why not check out some of our previous Startups of the Week.

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