What’s Fueling WeBuyCars' R13.1 Billion Revenue Engine?

With over R13.1bn in revenue and 91,000+ cars sold in 6 months, here's what investors should know about WeBuyCars' growth strategy and scale. More from EasyAssetManagement.

Driving Profits from SA’s Used Car Market

What started as a small used-car operation back in 2001 has shifted into top gear, transforming into a dominant South African platform for buying and selling second-hand vehicles, and it’s doing it at serious scale.

WeBuyCars is a data-driven, tech-enabled vehicle retail platform that buys inventory outright, holds stock across a vast national network, and resells cars at a profit.

WeBuyCars controls the entire value chain, from acquisition and inspection to sale and post-sale services making it a vertically integrated used-car business.

A Platform, Not a Dealership

Unlike typical classifieds platforms, WeBuyCars isn’t connecting buyers and sellers. It’s buying the car from you today, right now, and handling the rest.

Now it has 17 massive “car supermarkets” (including its now-famous Dome showroom), 93 buying pods across all nine provinces, and over 11,900 parking bays.

Source: WeBuyCars Interim Presentation 31 Mar 2025

Its digital platform handles everything from online valuations to live auctions, attracting approximately 8.7 million visitors per month.

As CEO Faan van der Walt put it, “our website consistently records the highest traffic of any automotive retail platform in South Africa.” Whether you're browsing stock, selling your car, or bidding on a deal, the platform is fast, user-friendly, and fully integrated with national logistics behind the scenes.

Source: WeBuyCars Interim Presentation 31 Mar 2025 

Building a Services Ecosystem

WeBuyCars has also plugged into a growing stream of high-margin ancillary services. From insurance partnerships with OUTsurance to financing via major banks and vehicle tracking through Netstar, the platform is steadily stacking up commission income. In the latest half-year, finance and insurance commissions added over R251 million (+9.7%) to the groups revenue.

So, why is the second-hand car game so attractive in South Africa?

Used cars account for roughly 76% of all vehicles registered in 2024 according to WBC. New car registrations, by contrast, have generally flat slowly declining (See below). High interest rates, rising living costs, and the relative affordability of used vehicles may mean that more buyers are skipping the showroom and heading straight to the second-hand market.

Source: WeBuyCars Interim Presentation 31 Mar 2025

Who Else Is in the Game?

While WBC isn’t the only player in town and operates in a similar playground to groups like Motus and CMH, along with businesses like Weelee and getWorth, it seems to be miles ahead in terms of scale, speed, and operational efficiency in the used car market.

Most traditional dealerships sell new cars alongside used, with many focused-on servicing and parts. WeBuyCars, on the other hand, sticks to its lane: it’s all about pre-owned, and all about volume. That focus has allowed it to surpass some of its older rivals in unit sales, despite being a newer entrant.

Financial Snapshot

In its interim results for the six months ending March 2025, WeBuyCars reported:

• 91,000+ vehicles sold

• R13.1 billion in revenue (+15.2% YoY)

• R508 million in core headline earnings (+26.4% YoY)

• Adjusted EBITDA: R800.2 million (+20.4%)

• Core operating profit reached R730.3 million (+19.8%)

• 30c interim dividend declared

• Net cash generated from operating activities increased to R284.1 million (+6.4% YoY)
• On the capital efficiency front, Core ROIC was reported at 26.7%, and Core ROE at 47.6%. Figures that reflect strong underlying returns, although the company notes that the lower ROE (vs. 52.2% in 2024) was due to the dilution effect of new shares issued in April 2024.

What’s Next: Supermarket Expansion

• First up is a 550-car facility in Vereeniging, planned to open on 1 August 2025 in a newly refurbished site.
  
  Two brand-new mega showrooms currently under construction in Montana (Pretoria North) and Lansdowne (Cape Town). each designed to accommodate around 1,300 vehicles.
  
  These sites are expected to begin trading before year-end and will significantly extend the company’s national footprint, bringing it closer to its long-term goal of trading 23,000 vehicles per month by FY2028, a huge jump from today’s volumes.
  
  
• It’s also doubling down on financial services, aiming to increase earnings from insurance, financing, and other add-ons.
  

Risks on the Road

• Margins are still thin (operating margin around 5.6%), and inventory turnover, while excellent at 28.9 days, requires continued sharp execution.
  
  
• The company also dipped into negative free cash flow recently, but that was due to property investment and expansion, not poor operations. In fact, net operating cash remains solidly positive. It’s a growth phase, and management are likely betting that investing now will unlock scale and efficiency later.

Should Investors Be Watching This Stock?

In a market where consumer behaviour is shifting toward online, price-sensitive, one-stop solutions, WeBuyCars looks well positioned. Add in supportive macro factors like lower interest rates and improving sentiment.

For investors looking to add stocks with growth potential to their JSE portfolio, WeBuyCars may offer a compelling mix of operational scale, a strong customer value proposition, and a clearly defined growth strategy.

As Chief Strategy Officer Willem Klopper puts it, “Our ongoing efforts to optimize buying processes, leverage analytics, and expand operational capacity place us in a strong position in our journey of incrementally gaining additional market share over the medium term.” That growth mindset, backed by execution, may very well be what will set the company apart.

Looking to diversify?

EasyAssetMangement holds a position in WeBuyCars in our EasyETFs Balanced Actively Managed ETF . If you are looking for exposure to global or AI themed equities check out our EasyETFs Global Equity Actively Managed ETF and our EasyETFs AI World Actively Managed ETF

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