Two brothers in South Africa have managed to create a car empire worth over R10 billion over the course of 23 years.
Faan and Dirk van der Walt are the masterminds behind WeBuyCars (WBC), which now stands as one of the country’s largest pre-owned car sales platforms with thousands of customers passing through its showrooms every day.
Small beginnings
Adriaan Stephanus Scheepers (Faan) and Dirk Jacobus Floris (Dirk) van der Walt grew up in Bronkhorstspruit, Gauteng, their mother employed as a teacher, and their father a security guard.
The family used an unreliable old car to get around, which usually gave them plenty of problems and was prone to breaking down.
Their father taught the brothers to mend cars, and the three of them subsequently spent a great deal of time tinkering with the inner workings of various models.
In 1988, Faan bought his first motorbike while still in high school, a Yamaha XT500, which cost R400 at the time.
He touched up the bike and managed to sell it at a later date for R450.
Faan managed to pull off a similar sale with another bike which he bought for R800 and sold for R1,400, which made him realise this could all lead to something bigger.
In 1992, Faan graduated and enrolled at the University of Pretoria before purchasing his first car in 1993, a VW 412, though it wasn’t long before he sold this again in search of an upgrade.
After acheiving a qualification as a teacher, he moved to the UK for two years, during which time he saved up decent money which eventually became the initial capital investment in WBC.
Meanwhile, his brother Dirk graduated with a degree in marketing, a tool that would come in handy in the pair’s future partnership, writes Daily Investor.
The immense growth of WeBuyCars
WBC was established in 2001 and was initially run by just the two brothers.
Dirk was the one to insist on a website for the business, which Faan initially pushed back on arguing that it wasn’t necessary.
However, the two eventually agreed and decided on the name WeBuyCars since as it is easy to remember and tells visitors exactly what the site is about.
“The name was available, surprisingly. We registered it, and the name still serves us very well today,” said Faan.
Dirk’s marketing knowledge once again shone through when it came to advertising the business as a service, allowing vehicle sellers to approach them with a model before its put on the market, giving them an edge to cater to clients with specific needs.
WBC grew slowly but steadily throughout the 2000s, and in 2010 the pair expanded by buying their first piece of land and building a warehouse in Pretoria East with capacity for roughly 100 cars.
Only six months later, the duo had to purchase the adjacent land to expand their capacity.
This pattern repeated until the company had a housing allotment of 700 units, and Faan and Dirk continued to manage things themselves until 2012 when they hired their first employees to cope with the increased demand.
Jump to 2014, and the brand launched its first additional branch in Cape Town, which was quickly followed by outposts in every major town in South Africa.
Three years later, the group took ownership of the Car Supermarket in Midstream, Gauteng – the largest car showroom in Africa at the time with a capacity of 1,100 vehicles.
However, this milestone was quickly overshadowed when WBC purchased the TicketPro Dome in Joburg and transformed it into another showroom, officially becoming the largest structure of its kind on the continent with room for 1,300 models.
Fast forward to today, and WBC has evolved from a two-man operation to one that employs 2,750 people spread out over 84 showrooms and buying pods all over the country.
The success eventually saw WBC disbanded from its parent company, Transaction Capital, and listed as a sole entity on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange where it enjoyed significant demand from investors, local and abroad.
Today, the business buys and sells around 13,000 cars per month and has an estimated value of over R10 billion.
The company has no intentions of slowing down either, as WBC Chief Strategy Officer Willem Klopper recently announced that the seller has already outgrown the Dome’s record-breaking capacity and that it is now planning to erect a similar facility in Cape Town over five hectares that will take up to 2,000 vehicles.
WBC has set itself ambitious goals of growing its monthly sales volumes to 23,000 units and doubling its market share by as early as 2028.
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