Founder Spotlight: Daniel Scott and Christopher Franks of AutoDeal

Founder Spotlight: Daniel Scott and Christopher Franks of AutoDeal

Bringing Convenience to Vehicle Shopping

By Robert Vergara

When it comes to purchasing cars, it can be difficult to go through every car dealership in the metro. And even after locating a good dealer, it becomes a daunting task to examine potential cars, comparing deals just to find the best one. In our busy lives, these kinds of inconveniences can truly consume a lot of time and effort. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

We currently have the technology to help make the car purchasing process easier through online sellers and different car websites; unfortunately, the popular platforms are not optimized enough to improve the user experience. It is often the case that their information online is not updated, and trying to contact them becomes quite difficult. For all these problems and more, consumers often face a ton of hassle and delay in their plans of buying a car.

Luckily, AutoDeal Co-Founders Daniel “Danny” Scott and Christopher “Frankie” Franks recognized the need for more convenience. They created AutoDeal, an online platform that lets users access different car dealerships at the comfort of their own home. Through AutoDeal, car buyers can now have an easy and secure time finding the best deals to help them purchase the right car for their needs. On the other hand, AutoDeal also helps dealers and sellers as they can now boost their sales by utilizing the platform to showcase their cars online.

The Starting Line

Danny and Frankie aren’t just your typical expats trying to break into the Philippine startup scene. Danny says, “A lot of expats come straight to Manila because they see that there are a lot of opportunities here in Southeast Asia, but that wasn’t our journey.”

The two met each other in the Philippines when they worked for a tech company in Tacloban. While working for the company back in 2010, they were tasked to look for a company car, but they encountered a lot of inconveniences along the way. There was only one car dealership in Tacloban, and at that time, and therefore researching other brands was difficult, when email or phone numbers of the dealers were not accurate.  

Through their negative experience, they were able to formulate an idea - they thought, why not make a car platform for the Philippines? After all, they saw that the local automotive industry needed help in centralizing and managing information, and this was an endeavor no one else seemed to be tackling.

They first built a car platform called Pinoy Auto Trader, which was a platform solely focused on buying and selling used cars. It was eventually acquired by Sulit.com.ph – now known as OLX. And with that, Danny and Frankie left Leyte to move to Manila and work at OLX for over a year. They shared that their experience proved to be valuable especially as they continued on to their next entrepreneurial venture, AutoDeal.

The Reinvention

In 2014, they launched AutoDeal, an online car marketplace that provides buyers the means to search through the latest car promos and offerings in order to help them seamlessly compare hundreds of vehicles and auto-financing deals online. As buying vehicles in the Philippines can sometimes be confusing, AutoDeal pushes to reinvent the process so that everything is easy and hassle-free.

Easy to use, the AutoDeal website makes the car purchasing process simple

Through AutoDeal, buyers can make better decisions in picking out their car to-be as they can access a database of information on all cars available for purchasing -- whether it be new cars or used cars, and connect them with the most relevant dealer.  AutoDeal even takes it a step further by providing car reviews, making it even easier for customers to select what car suits their needs the best. The goal is to empower customers by providing them with the means to find the best-value propositions before stepping foot in the dealership’s showroom.

A satisfied customer and sales agent completing the car purchase through AutoDeal

Once a buyer is able to select a car, the verified dealer agent provides financing information, stock availability and books you in for your test drive. The only thing remaining is the actual purchase payment, which they hope to be able to bring online in the future. Giving car buyers access to hundreds of dealers and agents online allows potential buyers to shop around different dealers to find the best option.

AutoDeal doesn’t just cater to car buyers though. Their platform also helps agents, dealers, and manufacturers with helping them manage their prospects, understand customer service metrics like reply speeds and providing tools for agents to help them with quality replies to customers.

Industry Impact

The AutoDeal team

AutoDeal has made a huge impact on the automotive industry with over 40,000 sales through the platform since 2017. At the moment, they rake in around 2.5 million monthly visits and over 1 million unique users, who are researching and starting their transactions online. With these stats, the startup is able to ensure that they are utilizing their technology and platform to the best of their abilities, improving deals not only in terms of numbers but also in terms of quality. With over 12 million registered private vehicles in the Philippines, AutoDeal has a bright future ahead in becoming a major player in the car trading industry.

To learn more about AutoDeal and see the best deals, visit their website here.