When you order a bag of snacks and other convenience store items from goPuff, sometimes it comes with a free item, like a surprise Butterfinger bar hidden at the bottom of the bag.
Now, if you purchase a car through Gettacar, it may come with a surprise free item, like a box of doughnuts from Dunkin or a birthday cake if it’s your birthday. Jake Levin, who helped launch goPuff in Philadelphia, carried that personal customer touch over to Gettacar, the internet age’s answer to car dealerships.
Co-founded by Levin and Yossi Levi, Gettacar, stationed in Bustleton, provides customers with a way to buy used cars entirely online. Customers are able to customize their down and monthly payments with their desired vehicle model.
“I saw a huge opportunity in the car industry with all the changes going on with the internet,” said Levi, who worked in the auto industry since he was 14. He described sitting in a showroom and contemplating that the automotive sales process was “inefficient” and time-wasting.
“Consumers want something better, you can just see,” he said. He had the idea in the first few months of 2018 and brought Levin on in March to get things started.
Here’s how it works. Potential car buyers visit Gettacar.com and finagle with numbers like their credit score, desired down payment and monthly payment and term. They can also select vehicle style, from minivan to pickup truck, and select a specific make. The plans for each car displayed on screen will adjust according to the customer’s input.
Once a customer makes a decision, the vehicle will be driven out to any location within a 100-mile radius around the Greater Philadelphia region, including areas in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland.
Here’s where that personal touch comes in – Levin and Levi will customize deliveries based on their knowledge of the customer and what they know they like, Levin said.
“Buying a car is for a lot of people the second-biggest purchase they’ll make in their life, so rather than making the process stressful and anxiety-ridden, we want to make someone feel like they’re doing something that’s exciting and life-changing,” Levin said. He said at a recent delivery they knew the customer was a big Eagles fan, so they gave the customer a free Eagles shirt with the delivery.
The customer will get to use the car for a seven-day trial period before deciding if they want to buy the vehicle or not. If they want to return it, the vehicle will be picked up no questions asked.
“When you go into a dealership you’re not in control, because you’re at their establishment and you’re following their lead,” Levi said. “With us, we arm the consumer by giving them all the tools at their disposal online.”
The reconditioning center in Bustleton is about 75,000 square feet big and can house about 1,000 cars at a time, with about 420 cars being on the lot at 10085 Sandmeyer Lane last week. The company obtains the cars from auctions and trade-ins and gives each vehicle a unique reconditioning based on what needs it has. It typically takes 14 days from when the car is acquired to when it is entirely rehabilitated and ready to be sold.
The facility includes an impressive 360 spinning photo booth, which gives the ability to photograph the car from every angle, and also a machine that scans the vehicle’s VPN number and is able to mix the exact shade of paint it was when it was released onto the market.
The company started in August 2018 in Philadelphia and has since expanded out to other areas, recently launching a new location in Maryland.
The company raised its series A in venture capital last year from a group in San Francisco called e.ventures, which allowed them to get started. In the past two months, the company went from being able to process five vehicles a day to 18 a day.
They weren’t able to share the number of customers they’ve served thus far, but said they have served hundreds since the beginning of the year.
Levi was born and raised in Northeast Philadelphia and grew up in his father’s business, Danis Auto Sales in Lower Mayfair. He cleaned cars since the age of 14 and, after graduating college at Temple University, become president of Danis.
