CarLotz’s new location in San Antonio, Texas. (Courtesy of CarLotz)
Continuing its nationwide expansion, a fast-growing local used car consignment chain has ventured into the Lone Star State.
CarLotz last month opened a new location in San Antonio, Texas, marking its westernmost outpost.
Founded in 2011 by Michael Bor, Aaron Montgomery and Will Boland, the company has been pushing to build a national presence since raising $30 million in venture funding last year. It now has eight locations, including two in the Richmond region in Midlothian and the West End, as well in Chicago; Charlotte and Greensboro, North Carolina; and Tampa, Florida.
Bor said they’d like additional stores in Texas but have run into trouble finding real estate for lease in cities such as Dallas, Houston and Austin.
Michael Bor
“We definitely need multiple stores in the Texas market, but it’s been really challenging,” Bor said. “What we like to do, in terms of our real estate search, is we like to move into a store where the dealership that used to be there needed more room.”
The next move for CarLotz is to open in the Northeast/New England area, and then continue pushing west. Bor said they’d like to open four or five stores in 2019.
“We’re trying to get a strong national footprint initially, then as we grow, we can begin to build density in the markets we’re in,” Bor said.
CarLotz uses a flat-rate consignment model for selling cars, charging sellers a $200 up-front listing fee, then taking an additional $800 success fee if the car sells.
The company posted $24.7 million in revenue in 2017 and a three-year growth rate of 1,107 percent, landing it in the top 500 of Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 5000 list and in the top five of BizSense’s RVA 25 list. Bor said they’re on pace to bring in at least $40 million in revenue in 2018.
“While ultimately we’re pushing toward profitability, we’re more urgently pushing towards having a national footprint. We firmly believe profitability will come as we execute on the business model,” Bor said.
CarLotz’s new location in San Antonio, Texas. (Courtesy of CarLotz)
Continuing its nationwide expansion, a fast-growing local used car consignment chain has ventured into the Lone Star State.
CarLotz last month opened a new location in San Antonio, Texas, marking its westernmost outpost.
Founded in 2011 by Michael Bor, Aaron Montgomery and Will Boland, the company has been pushing to build a national presence since raising $30 million in venture funding last year. It now has eight locations, including two in the Richmond region in Midlothian and the West End, as well in Chicago; Charlotte and Greensboro, North Carolina; and Tampa, Florida.
Bor said they’d like additional stores in Texas but have run into trouble finding real estate for lease in cities such as Dallas, Houston and Austin.
Michael Bor
“We definitely need multiple stores in the Texas market, but it’s been really challenging,” Bor said. “What we like to do, in terms of our real estate search, is we like to move into a store where the dealership that used to be there needed more room.”
The next move for CarLotz is to open in the Northeast/New England area, and then continue pushing west. Bor said they’d like to open four or five stores in 2019.
“We’re trying to get a strong national footprint initially, then as we grow, we can begin to build density in the markets we’re in,” Bor said.
CarLotz uses a flat-rate consignment model for selling cars, charging sellers a $200 up-front listing fee, then taking an additional $800 success fee if the car sells.
The company posted $24.7 million in revenue in 2017 and a three-year growth rate of 1,107 percent, landing it in the top 500 of Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 5000 list and in the top five of BizSense’s RVA 25 list. Bor said they’re on pace to bring in at least $40 million in revenue in 2018.
“While ultimately we’re pushing toward profitability, we’re more urgently pushing towards having a national footprint. We firmly believe profitability will come as we execute on the business model,” Bor said.
Good luck CarLotz. I’m a very recent customer (a buyer, not a seller), and I must say I was very impressed.