Peer-to-Peer Car Sales App Expands into Texas

    Technology has made many tasks far easier than they used to be. When you need a ride, you can use a rideshare app instead of looking for a taxi. Instead of printing out your boarding pass before you go to the airport, you can have it sent directly to your phone.

    But one task that hasn’t changed much is buying or selling a car. Although many sites let you list your car online, that doesn’t alter the buying or selling process much.

    That’s changing thanks to Blinker, a peer-to-peer car sales app. It’s aiming to do for car sales what Uber and Lyft did for hailing a ride. And even though it isn’t available in much of the United States yet, it’s growing quickly and just hit Texas.
    How Blinker Works

    Blinker does an excellent job of balancing many different features while remaining simple and easy to use. With Blinker, you can:

    • Sell your car
    • Buy a car
    • Get financing to buy a car
    • Refinance your current auto loan

    Here’s the process for how a typical Blinker car sale works:

    1. The seller takes a picture of the back of their car, including the license plate. Blinker shows the seller exactly where to take the photo to make it easy.
    2. Blinker automatically pulls up all the pertinent information on the seller’s car, including the year, make and model. It will also look up the car in a vehicle value guide and provide an estimated value. The seller can decide if they want to go with that estimated value or adjust it.
    3. The seller writes a short description of their car and lists it on Blinker.
    4. Any interested buyer can message the seller through the app. They can also set up a test drive with the seller, send an offer on the car (offers expire after 72 hours) or purchase the car at the price listed by the seller.
    5. When a buyer purchases the car, they send their payment directly to the seller through the app with an ACH transfer. The money goes straight from the buyer’s bank account to the seller’s bank account. Best of all, Blinker doesn’t take any fees.

    That’s how the process works if the buyer has the money to buy the car outright. If not, Blinker also offers financing. This is done through Blinker and not a third-party lender.

    If the buyer uses Blinker’s financing, then Blinker pays the seller the agreed-upon amount, and the buyer makes monthly payments to Blinker.

    The owner of a car could also use Blinker’s financing to refinance their current auto loan agreement. This is a good way to go for people who have improved their credit scores since they got an auto loan, or those who need to refinance with a longer loan and get a lower monthly payment amount.

    For anyone worried about the validity of the transaction, Blinker conducts a thorough, 17-point fraud check. The buyer and seller must also provide their signatures in the app.

    Blinker’s Latest Expansion

    Blinker began in Colorado, and its CEO is Rod Buscher, who is a founder of John Elway Dealers and Summit Automotive Partners. In March of 2017, the app became a winner at the 2017 South by Southwest (SXSW)Interactive Innovation Awards.

    SXSW is a popular festival in Texas, and right when Blinker was winning that award, it was also launching in the Lone Star State. There were hundreds of applicants vying for the award at SXSW, but Blinker stood out because of both the creativity and effectiveness of its design.

    The growth isn’t stopping there, either. Blinker has a roster of 54 employees working full time, now. Since its launch in Texas, Blinker has expanded to Florida, and it expects to launch in other states very soon.

    The Future of Blinker

    There’s still obviously a long way to go for Blinker and installment loans, as it’s only available in a small number of states. But it provides a useful service that makes it much simpler for people to buy a car from a private party or get their car sold. Those people will no longer need to scour Craigslist ads or deal with the hassle and pressure of going to a dealership.

    Blinker truly makes car sales as easy as it gets without going broke all the time. The fact that there are no fees for using it is just icing on the cake.