At the end of May, the used car platform Instamotion, founded in 2015 by Darius Ahrabian, had to report its insolvency. Now the Czech online used car dealer Carvago has taken over the entire business operation, including the majority of employees, effective retroactively to July 1, 2024. Carvago is a brand of the EAG Group, which aims to become the largest online used car dealer in the entire DACH region with the acquisition.
Jakub Šulta, founder and CEO of the EAG Group, wants to use Instamotion to gain access to the German market:
“Instamotion has a similar business model to Carvago. It leverages strong relationships with leading car dealer groups and guarantees quality standards as well as a twelve-month warranty for the end user. In contrast to Carvago, which conducts vehicle inspections through its car audit service, Instamotion relies on contractual relationships with its partners and their own automotive expertise.”
According to Šulta, the Munich startup is well established in the German market. For this reason, it is easier for the EAG Group to gain a foothold in Germany through the acquisition. A renaming of Instamotion to Carvago is therefore not planned in the near future. In its search for acquisition opportunities, the EAG Group had been monitoring Instamotion for some time.
“We began exploring cooperation or acquisition opportunities two years ago. In April of this year, we conducted extensive negotiations about a possible purchase and finally completed it in June as part of a tender process”,
says EAG board member Pavel Svoreň.
Nikolas Dešković remains CEO of Instamotion and comments:
“From the start, it was clear that Carvago has much to offer Instamotion and vice versa. After a period of uncertainty, we are back in the game and I believe that with Carvago we will be able to offer our customers even better services than ever before.”
