At your fingertips: that is the era we live in today. Whether it’s groceries, food deliveries, transport, banking, dating, fashion, home security, you name it, everything has an app for it, and convenience is the name of the game. Joining the list are one of the coolest technology disruptors in the market: Autobox. The thought provokers behind this genius plan, Vikram and Keki have a grand vision and come with the promise of simplifying the otherwise complex task of buying a new car with their incredible app.
“Technology has touched all our lives, and whether one likes it or not, one has to embrace these advancements. Being an 80s child, I still remember the transition from post mail to email, and now I actually talk to Alexa to switch on the air-conditioning in my room… go figure! All technology always starts as a luxury and then becomes a commodity, and eventually ends up becoming a necessity. Furthermore, with the advancements in technology, the patience level of humans has drastically reduced and everyone wants everything in real-time” quips Keki. And that’s exactly what they at Autobox are striving to achieve in the auto space: to get you a rock bottom price for the car you would like to buy, all within 24 hours. Wow! To put things into perspective, without Autobox, the lead time to achieve a rock bottom price is a minimum of one week, leave alone the rigmarole of physical travel to several showrooms and the haggling with numerous sales associates. Consider that all a thing of the past. So how did the eureka moment happen? “Too many car buyers experiencing absolutely the same grievance of not getting a good deal on their new car purchase got us thinking”. Being from the auto industry with over fifteen years of cumulative experience, Vikram and Keki decided to dissect the car buying process, and saw an opportunity for a start up,
and that’s when Autobox was born. The concept as they explained was a simple one: to be a one-stop-shop, free
concierge service to anyone wanting to buy a new car with a guarantee of rock bottom prices. Some would think this sounds too good to be true… but it is true.
“THANKS TO AUTOBOX, BUYING MY FIRST CAR WAS A BREEZE. FROM GETTING THE BEST DEAL ON MY POLO GT TO GUIDING ME ABOUT HOW TO HANDLE MY CAR EVEN AFTER I BOUGHT IT, AUTOBOX HAS BEEN THERE EVERY STEP OF THE WAY, AND IS MY ULTIMATE GOTO FOR ANYTHING CAR-RELATED. I AM EXTREMELY SATISFIED WITH THE WAY AUTOBOX HAS SUPPORTED ME THROUGH THE PROCESS. KUDOS TO THE ENTIRE AUTOBOX TEAM!”
– ANKUSH SUVARNA,
AUTO-BOX CUSTOMER,
MUMBAI
Vikram and Keki break it down for us on how it works. Autobox offers bulk purchases to dealerships and passes this price advantage to the customer. All of its tie-ups are with authorised dealerships, ensuring its legitimacy. As a buyer, you purchase
the car directly from the authorised dealership and not from Autobox, so there’s no middle man stuff involved. And lastly, the best part: the Autobox team of negotiators are relentless. They will not settle until they get the lowest price for you. But besides rock bottom prices, the advantages that Autobox offer are many: it’s a free concierge and advisory service; you can conveniently book a test drive without physically having to visit showrooms; you can conveniently pre-book a soon to be launched vehicle; you can enjoy free price quotations; responses are within a 24-hour window; no annoying salesmen followup calls from various dealers. Autobox also becomes a one-stop-shop for all your new car purchase requirements, including post-purchase features like: booking a vehicle service and repair with official service centres; getting the best insurance quote for your vehicle insurance renewal; gaining quick access to emergency and breakdown services nearest to your location; being able to locate and monitor your vehicle movements via a GPS vehicle tracking feature; other vehicle care services like car on-site polish; single click chauffeur calls; RTO e-challan notifications and payments; SOS services related to medical needs and vehicle breakdown; on-site new tyre service and so much more. All this in one app! It is quite amazing. A godsend for millennials of today!
“Any individual planning to buy a new car focusses on two things. One, getting the best deal and
two, convenience in getting this best deal. These two factors keep interchanging their priority based on the car purchaser’s financial status. So essentially, Autobox sells these two services as a package to the end consumer. Having said that, the millennial generation is surely tilting towards convenience and are also willing to pay a premium for this ease of procurement,” quips the two founders.
As for Keki and Vikram, they are opposites that complement each other seamlessly in this venture. Funny enough, Keki is averse to technology, but what he lacks in the tech space he makes up for in brilliant ground experience when it comes to events, marketing activities and networking. Vikram on the other hand handles app development and new concept implementation. He says, “Tech comes naturally to me, but I am most certainly not professionally trained inv it. It’s all been about conceptualising an idea and then learning about the tech required to implement the same.” Ask them their favourite apps and they say “We love food and travel, so Scootsy and Luxury Escapes are theclear winners.” What’s next? “We are
working on some fantastic concepts in the Connected Car Tech and Internet of Things space which is drastically going to change the ownership experience of every car owner for the better. Think Smart Cars,” reveals the duo. Exciting!