Understand any stock in simple English
Enter a ticker to learn what the company does and how it makes money.
We Buy Cars Holdings Limited
We Buy Cars buys used cars from South African consumers, then sells them at its own mega-lots and finances and insures the buyers.
We Buy Cars is South Africa's big used-car supermarket. It buys pre-owned vehicles directly from ordinary people — you drive in, get a quote, and if you accept it, the company hands you cash and takes the car. That car then gets cleaned up, priced, and parked on one of its large lots, where the next customer can walk in and drive out.
The real trick is what happens after the sale. We Buy Cars arranges the finance for buyers who need a loan, and it sells insurance alongside the car. So it earns money at both ends: the margin between what it pays sellers and what buyers pay, plus the fees and commissions from the financing and insurance products. Customers come for the huge choice and the "no haggling, one price" style, which is a relief compared with the traditional second-hand dealer experience. It has grown fast by rolling out large, high-volume branches across South Africa, and it has pushed into the value end of the market where most car buyers actually live. The model depends on scale: lots of cars in, lots of cars out, and fat financing attach rates, because car finance is often the profit engine of a dealership. That also makes it sensitive to interest rates and to how stretched South African households feel.
The company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 2024, which gave it public money and public scrutiny at the same time. The used-car market is huge, fragmented, and full of small dealers, so its edge is operational — buying well, turning stock quickly, and getting buyers approved for credit. The risk is the same coin: if lending gets tighter or buyers pull back, that fast turnover can slow down fast.
Saved answer · last researched 12 Nov 2026