A new Chicagoland startup is working to simplify automobile appraisals through a data-heavy platform that aims to save consumers money when buying used cars.
CarDr.com, launched this year out of suburban Oakbrook, is an online service that allows users to call an appraisal agent to inspect a used car.
Using CarDr.com’s artificial intelligence-powered platform, the company’s appraisal agents can pull more than 300 pieces of vehicle data for hundreds of cars during each appraisal to give buyers and sellers a comprehensive vehicle inspection report and reliability rating. CarDr.com’s platform analyzes vehicle health data to detect things like fraud, mechanical issues and damage.
The company is founded by Parry Singh, the owner of India-based Red Fort Capital, a $1.2 billion private equity firm that primarily invests in real estate ventures. To get the company off the ground, Singh has provided $5 million to CarDr.com from Red Fort Capital, and most of the financing has been used for engineering and patent protection projects.
The company has filed 37 patents on its inspection technology, Singh said. But CarDr.com’s tech also leverages data from companies and organizations like Carfax, the National Association of Dealerships and Kelley Blue Book.
With CarDr.com’s data-heavy platform, Singh said users can get more accurate car values as they sell and buy automobiles. The average appraisal costs $180, and users can expect to save about $1,000 when buying a used car from a dealership, Singh said. Since launching, CarDr.com has completed about 1,500 inspections.
“Like you do a home inspection before you purchase a house, we hope that people will consider doing a car inspection before purchasing a used car,” Singh said.
CarDr.com isn’t Singh’s first startup. He also founded EthnicGrocer.com in 1998, which raised $46 million in venture capital during the dot com boom but eventually shut down in 2002.
CarDr.com, which employs about 20 people, is currently operating in 11 states, including Illinois, and aims to be nationwide early next year.
In the future, Singh also plans to expand the company’s partnerships with auto insurance providers. Using CarDr.com appraisals, car insurance companies could more accurately and fairly set insurance rates for customers.
“You can think of a typical car inspection as a routine wellness check or physical exam,” Singh said. “CarDr.com gives a much more comprehensive look into car health by providing the equivalence of an in-depth MRI.”
