New, Free Online Service Enables Consumers to Gain Access to Hidden, Just Off-Lease, “Nearly New” Car Inventory, An Alternative to High-depreciation New Cars and Low-reliability Used Cars

• For the first time, consumers can now avoid the high depreciation of new cars and the lack of reliability of traditional used cars, while still getting the best of both worlds
• The better option: “Nearly new” cars, a third category of low-mileage, manufacturer-certified vehicles that previously only experts knew about
• To democratize this opportunity for consumers, CoPilot introduces Compare, a free online tool that lets buyers take advantage of the “nearly new” opportunity without being car experts
  

CHICAGO and AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 23, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CoPilot, the assisted commerce leader for high-value purchases, today announced CoPilot Compare: a brand new, free online service, to help consumers save tens of thousands of dollars on new car purchases.

Traditionally, consumers had to choose between new cars, which depreciate quickly, and used cars, which have yesterday’s features and lower reliability.

CoPilot Compare is the first publicly available, free-to-use online tool that helps consumers take advantage of a little-known third category: “Nearly new” – manufacturer certified, low mileage, highly-optioned lease returns that were previously only accessible by car experts in the know, because dealers and manufacturers have no incentive to promote them.

“That’s why we built CoPilot Compare,” says Pat Ryan, founder and CEO of CoPilot. “Most consumers are familiar with the saying that a brand new car loses $10,000 in value when it’s driven off of the lot. Yet buying used could leave you dealing with low reliability and a lack of modern features. For savvy consumers who want the best of both worlds, Compare uncovers the ‘nearly new’ alternative that has been kept from them until now.” Ryan adds: “We are excited to finally bring this to consumers. We don’t think anyone should ever buy a new car again before they’ve had a look at the nearly new options in CoPilot Compare.”

CoPilot’s independent service leverages a proprietary market data set and machine learning to do all the heavy lifting of the shopping process, empowering consumers to:

• Discover how much they can save when they buy a nearly new car as opposed to the traditional options of brand new or used cars.
• Unearth the hidden “nearly new” inventory that sits silently on dealer lots and browse a curated list of “Best Buys” near them
• Realize often overlooked manufacturer incentives when purchasing a new car
• Understand whether or not they are taking reliability and/or quality risks if buying nearly new
• Get the cutting edge features they care about most, often yielding them more features than they would have gotten in new cars
  

Ryan explains: "In today’s turbulent market the smartest buys are these ‘nearly new’ cars. We built CoPilot Compare to bring the power of an expert CoPilot to this previously challenging shopping experience. CoPilot Compare cuts through the noise of searching for and comparing cars, making it easy to navigate the risks of paying too much, buying a car with breakdown risks, and getting the cutting edge features they’d expect in a new car. We’ve been working incredibly hard to get Compare into users’ hands as fast as possible because we are seeing a historic glut of lease-returns and the collapse of rental car companies like Hertz changing the market like never before. It’s a unique opportunity to save a lot of money on incredible cars you never knew were within reach.”

“I’m not a car expert by any means, and I was hesitant about going into the dealership,” said CoPilot user, Melinda Bagatelos. “With CoPilot Compare, I felt much safer. It was like having an expert with me the whole way. I shopped for several weeks, and with CoPilot I was able to find the car I wanted at the price I wanted with no negotiations.”  

CoPilot: Expertise and Tools Help Consumers Save Money on High-Value Purchases
CoPilot is the maker of a comprehensive, one-stop shop of services and resources for consumers who are not car experts and want to avoid overpaying for high-value items. CoPilot’s independent funding allows the company to provide unbiased expert advice to consumers, making sure they get the best car for their hard-earned money. CoPilot does not have affiliations with dealerships and manufacturers, ensuring they remain 100% on the consumers’ side.

“CoPilot has seen explosive growth, because it focuses on helping consumers make a complicated purchase much easier,” says Thomas Ball, co-founder and managing director of Next Coast Ventures and CoPilot investor. “Even while in private beta, CoPilot has assisted over $500 million in annual car purchases, up to $650 million after only a month of public availability. I am very excited about the launch of CoPilot Compare, as it will bring the power of data insights and CoPilot’s signature expert partner to an even wider audience in a market that was previously flooded with products that are biased and leave the heavy lifting to consumers.”

CoPilot Compare is the latest addition to the company’s suite of assisted commerce services, expanding their offering to the “nearly new” category. CoPilot’s suite of price analysis, quality check, trade-in value estimation, and buyer advice tools and content empower consumers with insider data and insights, making it easy for them to successfully navigate the complicated process of searching for and buying cars.

CoPilot Compare is free to use and publicly available

• Use CoPilot Compare today 
• CoPilot Compare is the newest addition to CoPilot’s suite of offerings. To see how CoPilot can help you shop, buy, and own a car, download the free app. 

About CoPilot
CoPilot is consumers’ expert partner for high-consideration purchases, starting with car buying and ownership. The platform combines powerful proprietary data and human expertise to introduce transparency to the shopping, purchasing, and ownership journey. The mobile application takes time, frustration, and guesswork out of the process, empowering people to easily navigate the risks of shopping for high-value items and buying with confidence. 

CoPilot was publicly launched after hitting over $500M in annual GMV earlier this year, all while being in closed beta. The team has spent more than three years building out their one-of-a-kind, deep data tech platform. CoPilot is backed by Chicago Ventures, Next Coast Ventures, Max Levchin’s SciFi VC, and angels including Accel Partners cofounder Arthur Patterson. CoPilot is headquartered in Chicago with teams in Austin and San Francisco.

Media Contact
Chris Powell 
BOCA Communications for CoPilot
press@copilotsearch.com