How to Develop Car Buy-Sell App like Truecar?

The used car market has been gaining pace over the chip shortage going around the world. Be it classics or modern, people are now inclined to buy used cars instead of waiting over a year for a new one. For a majority of the population, cars are a utility, and a car buy-sell app is deemed to be used by them based on current circumstances.  

Gone are the days when people went to dealers to buy used cars. In today’s tech-driven era, when every industry is investing in mobile app development, car selling apps like TrueCar have taken over the traditional approach. TrueCar is an online application available on both web and mobile separately for dealers and users. Through the app built for dealers, they can post their inventory easily, and users can access it through the mobile app built for them.  

If you have been planning to develop a car buying-selling app of your own, you have come to the right place. We will be discussing everything you need to know to get started with the development process. 

How to Develop a Mobile App like TrueCar?    

Step 1: Making a List of Features  

You certainly need everything planned when you plan to develop a car buy-sell app like TrueCar. And it all starts with planning the features you plan to offer in it, as that will be the key factor differentiating your app from the rest. While you can follow the approach TrueCar did and divide the app in two for users and dealers, we can implement that in one app. You need to decide if you want separate offerings or one based on the resources you plan to spend and the convenience of users and dealers.  

• Price Calculator

   Most users step into the market without any real figures in mind, and providing a price calculator can step up the game for your offering. We can include a point-based price calculator, which can be updated based on real-world trends. TrueCar integrates this feature through their certified dealers, who calculate and break down costs based on different factors. 

• Ranking System

  We can build the listing based on maximum benefit for minimum price with all variables calculated. The sorting option would allow users to choose the most relevant parameters. These filters combined can enable users to find what they are looking for each and every time possible. 

• Vehicle Maintenance History
  

  Having a vehicle’s maintenance history available raises a lot of green flags; integrating a system for it can help you achieve popularity and success. The more elaborate we can get on integrating service reports and maintenance records, the better it will be for users to verify the vehicle’s true condition they are planning to buy. 

• New Car Listing
  

  While the used car market is lucrative, you should give users all the options they are looking for. Just like TrueCar, we can build an option to list new cars on your application, allowing users to browse them and buy them instantly, along with incentives on offer. The page includes the entire details of the vehicle as well as the asking price with average mark-up across stores. 

• Sell/Trade
  

  Users can easily upload their car details based on their registration numbers. The local dealers can see the listing and bid on the car based on its merit. The same bids are offered to the user who wishes to sell and can directly sell it to local dealers. We can improve and implement the same feature in your app the way you want it to work. 
  

Step 2: The Development Part  

The primary choice you need to make at this end would be how many apps you plan to create and which platforms you plan to target. You can create native apps for each platform, including iOS, Android, and Desktop (Can be a Web App). If you create different apps for dealers and users, you would need to create a total of 6 native apps, while if you create one that does it all, you will need three apps. You can also choose cross-platform development technologies to essentially bring down your development cost to a great extent. Let’s discuss each of the points separately.   

The decisions you need to make include: 

The Development Type

Native applications: If you choose to go with native applications, you will need to build a separate native app for each platform you target. Native apps offer the best performance and flexibility in any of the possible development options, there are no limitations for features you want to implement and functionalities you seek. If you choose to go the native way, we have some of the best PHP, Java, Swift, and Kotlin developers in-house, ensuring perfect apps all the way.  

Cross-platform application development: Cross-platform application development enables more than just code reusability; it is now almost perfect to be used on as many platforms as you want. This can fulfill your requirement of having apps on both the web and popular mobile OSs. For building six separate apps, you would need to invest much lesser time and cost and they will all work on the platforms you built them for.  

Hybrid app development: Hybrid apps work on different devices across platforms and are based on HTML5 and CSS. They leverage the device’s native browser engine to load the web page In app wrapper in real-time. This is one of the most cost-effective solutions but greatly compromises on features you could implement. If you have a low budget and want mobile apps, this is the option to go with.  

Choosing a Team

Based on the technologies you choose to build your apps; you will need a team of developers and designers. While native will have you hire experts for each of the technologies, you can hire fewer developers if you choose cross-platform technologies. An ideal team is led by a good project manager, along with developers, designers, and testers. You will need to hire each of them through staff augmentation or hire a company like ours to allocate a team for you.  

You will need the following team members:  

• Project manager   
• Developers   
• UI/ UX experts   
• QA and testers  

Read More: Staff Augmentation for Startups

Technology Stack

You firstly need to choose the main development technologies, and after that, focus on technologies to be used on the side. Databases, APIs, and Analytics tools all need to be chosen based on the skillset of the developers you hire. If you choose to hire a team from Matellio, our project managers align the teams based on the technologies you choose and ensure the maximum output can be achieved by them. Making a decision after weighing in everything will not only help you save cost and time but greatly improve the output of the team as well.  

Step 3: Finally, You Need to Figure Out How to Build Your Team

Option 1. Setting up your team  

If you are planning to build your own team, a staff augmentation company can help you achieve the best of both worlds. You can easily extend your own team through it and hire the best developers for the technologies you need. We at Matellio offer staff augmentation services for various popular technologies and let you build the best possible team. Whichever resources are feasible to hire at your location along with augmented staff from our company, will make the most cost-efficient team for your project.  

Option 2. Hire an app development company

If you want to keep your entire focus away from the technicalities of app development, you can leave it to us. We will develop every component of your app the way you require and will give you updates at regular intervals for your feedback. Our agile methodology enables us to provide as much personalization as possible to our clients. If you are planning to get the best app and want it in the least time, we can build it most efficiently with the help of our in-house app development experts.  

Are You Ready to Get Your Own Car Buying-Selling Application?  

We hope you now have a good idea of how to get your own car buying-selling app developed. If you choose to get yours, you should reach out to us for a free quote; our consultants and analysts will offer you the best guidance possible. Right now, could be the perfect time to get a car buy-sell app developed for various reasons. All you need to do is make your decision, and we will take it forward from there.