Why Is Carrot Struggling in the Used Car Market?

There is an analysis that Carrot, the leading secondhand transaction platform, has been notably ineffective in the used car trading market. Although it has been four and a half years since the official launch of the "Carrot Used Cars" service within Carrot, critics point out that it has failed to secure the core elements of "trustworthiness" and "information transparency," which are essential for used car transactions that range from several million to tens of millions of won.

According to the "25th Annual Automobile Planning Survey Report" released by the domestic automotive research institute Consumer Insight on March 12, Carrot's market share remains at around 2% in both the purchase and disposal segments among major used car platforms. While Carrot's brand recognition is relatively high at around 40%, this has not translated into actual transactions.

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This report was compiled through a consumer survey conducted over two months from July to August of the previous year. The survey targeted 4,308 consumers (1,548 for purchase and 2,760 for disposal) who had experience buying or disposing of a vehicle in the past year. In the purchase segment, 14 platforms were presented as options, and in the disposal segment, 11 platforms were listed; the top six platforms in each market were then selected for comparison.

The report pointed out Carrot's failure to ensure reliability in direct used car transactions as a key limitation. The biggest complaint among those who used the Carrot Used Cars service was that "the suggested prices could not be trusted" (29%). The difficulty in successfully closing transactions was also cited as a problem. A social big data analysis by Quetai yielded similar results. Keywords associated with Carrot and used cars frequently included "scam," "fake listings," and "vehicle condition."

Cases of scam-related damages are also on the rise. According to the office of Assemblyman Yoon Jongkun of the Democratic Party of Korea, the estimated number of used car transactions on Carrot increased from 46,869 cases in 2023 to 80,405 cases in 2024, a 1.7-fold increase. During the same period, the number of police investigation requests surged more than fivefold, from 16 cases to 86 cases. The amount of scam-related damages is estimated to have reached approximately 1 billion won.

A post complaining about a used car transaction scam has been posted on the secondhand trading platform Danggeun Market. Danggeun

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With the full implementation of the revised Automobile Management Act (the Used Car Fake Listing Prevention Act) scheduled for June, Carrot has belatedly begun improving its service. Since the end of last month, Carrot has made owner consent and verification procedures mandatory when posting used car listings. Unverified used car listings have been removed following the enactment of the law. A Carrot representative stated, "We plan to minimize inconvenience in used car transactions by providing insurance history checks, which previously required users to pay for verification, free of charge."

The Used Car Fake Listing Prevention Act stipulates that when individuals conduct direct used car transactions on online platforms, owner consent must be obtained. Violators may be subject to fines of up to 500,000 won for individuals and up to 10 million won for platforms.

Previously, in September 2021, Carrot officially launched the "Carrot Used Cars" service in response to increasing demand for used car trades within its existing secondhand transaction service. Until now, the service structure allowed third parties to list vehicles for sale as long as they had the vehicle number and the owner's name, which led to repeated scam-related crimes exploiting this loophole, drawing continuous criticism.

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