BAANA IS AN EASY WAY TO SELL A USED CAR − AND AN EFFICIENT PROCUREMENT CHANNEL FOR CAR DEALERSHIPS

Alma Media has introduced a digital used car auction between consumers and car dealers, where the consumers can sell their cars as quickly and easily as possible. Launched in February 2023, Baana is an online service where the person selling her/his car can compete bids from car dealerships all over Finland.   

Competing bids benefits sellers  

The person selling her/his car submits a notification to the Baana service, on the basis of which car dealerships submit their bids. The service can be submitted for a car up to 10 years old and not more than 200,000 kilometres mileage.   

"Instead of going around car dealerships, anyone selling her car gets offers from stores all over Finland at once," says Ville Vähämaa, Business Manager of Baana. "Competing bids benefits the seller. It is likely that you will get the best price paid for it at the given moment. There is hence no need to settle for any offer from the nearest store."  

The shops have time to bid on the car for about 48 hours. Their representatives may see the bidding situation, and can increase their own offer over the previous one as many times as they want. When the time has expired, the seller gets to choose the most suitable one from the offers.  

For the seller, there is no obligation to accept any offer. One can also start negotiating with the shop in case she is not fully satisfied with the amount offered.  

"The service is designed so that you can use it even if you don't know much about cars," explains Ville Vähämaa, Business Manager of Baana. "It advises what information and what kind of pictures you need to add when selling the car."   

Nettiauto team developing the service  

Finland's largest car buying and selling website Nettiauto is behind Baana's development. Nettiauto and Baana are both part of the Alma Media Group.   

"Like everything else, car sales are constantly moving more online," says Vähämaa. "Baana is an addition to the motorist's electronic services."   

When a car is sold to a car dealership, the business is responsible for the paperwork and assesses the condition of the car, whereas selling a car to an individual person requires time and knowledge of the car.   

"Either option is good, depending on the person. Baana is a tool for those who prefer the firstly mentioned C-to-B approach. It was developed on the basis of Nettiauto's experience."   

In 2022, Alma Media's Nettiauto website had more than 420,000 listings from car dealerships and more than 230,000 private car dealers. According to the annual review of the automotive market, 568 000 used cars were sold in Finland in 2022*.  
 
*Source: 16 January 2023; The Finnish Central Organisation for Motor Trades and Repairs (AKL), The Association of Automobile Importers in Finland, and The Finnish Information Centre of Automobile Sector.  

Further information   

Ville Vähämaa  
Business Manager  

+358 50 530 9874, ville.vahamaa@almamedia.fi