About the Client
Frontier Car Group (FCG), is a Berlin-based startup that develops, launches ,and operates the marketplace for pre-owned automotive, by the name of OLX Cash My Car. Their operative branches are located in Nigeria, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Pakistan, and Indonesia. By leveraging technology and infrastructure, the company is improving efficiency in the automobile market by delivering a safe, fair, and fast solution for the underserved used car sales industry in frontier economies. It ranks among the most successful and rapidly growing pre owned automotive startups, with total funding of $569M to date.
Business Situation and Requirements
Expanding a pre-owned automotive marketplace in Indonesia required FCG Group to strengthen its market presence and attract more vehicle sellers. To achieve this, the company introduced a referral program that empowered local stakeholders, including automobile repair shops, mechanics, and technicians, to connect sellers directly to the platform.
This strategy not only boosted inventory but also expanded the marketplace’s reach across the country, supporting FCG’s growth ambitions while reinforcing its reputation as a reliable and efficient pre-owned automotive platform. Keeping this aim in mind, their key requirements were to:
Streamlined Referral Management: Automate the referral workflow from lead generation to interest mapping, ensuring referrals from repair shops, mechanics, and technicians are captured and tracked efficiently.
Vehicle Inspection Tracking: Build a system to manage inspections at centers, store critical vehicle details, and ensure smooth transfer of cars to the warehouse after passing inspection.
Fewer Inspection Mistakes: Use digital tools and standardized processes to make vehicle inspections more accurate and reliable.
Better Vehicle Delivery: Improve routes and logistics to move cars safely and quickly from inspection centers to warehouses.
Easier Ordering Options: Allow multiple ways for sellers, referees, and FCG to place and manage orders smoothly.
Collaborative Marketplace: Build the platform to work for FCG while also supporting referees, mechanics, and workshop owners.
The Solution
The development of FCG’s vehicle referral and transit platform began with a structured requirements gathering process through our proprietary Discover & Frame workshop, capturing app concepts, target markets, user personas, business models, competitive insights, and revenue opportunities.
This informed a comprehensive project plan and led to the recommendation of two complementary applications: one for vehicle referrals and another for automating inspections and transit. Requirements were then mapped to the technology landscape, with an optimal tech stack, third-party tools, and block-level architecture proposed, while the UI/UX team transformed these into user stories, feature lists, process flows, and interactive prototypes for a seamless, engaging experience.
Core Features of the Referral App
Dynamic & Customizable Architecture: The platform’s flexible architecture allows business-specific customization without changing the codebase, enabling quick updates for new countries by modifying fields, images, colors, and other frontend elements.
Referral Management & Lead Submission: Referrers, including mechanics and repair shops, can connect vehicle sellers to FCG by sharing referral links via WhatsApp, Messenger, QR codes, or email. Sellers submit vehicle details directly through these links, and the information is captured in the FCG CRM for efficient follow-up.
Admin Panel & Payment Processing: Internal administrators can manage all referrals, including adding personal and role details, as well as bank information. Payments to sellers and referrers are securely processed through the ZOKU payment gateway upon completion of the purchase cycle.
Transit Scheduling & Task Allocation: Inspection center managers can schedule vehicle transfers between locations, specifying start and end points and vehicle details. Managers assign drivers based on availability, while drivers can accept or decline jobs, ensuring flexible and efficient task management.
Secure Driver Authentication & Tracking: Drivers authenticate at pickup and drop-off points using QR codes or transit job IDs. Real-time notifications provide managers with visibility into vehicle movement, ensuring secure and accurate tracking.
Streamlined Operations & Scalability: By integrating transit management with the referral system, FCG can optimize vehicle intake, improve operational efficiency, and scale across multiple markets while maintaining a secure, reliable, and user-friendly platform for all stakeholders.
Impact
Unthinkable brought OLX CashMyCar’s vision to life, helping the platform increase qualified leads by 47%, reduce advertising spend, and lower customer acquisition costs.
By using reusable UI components, the development team accelerated time to market, cutting development time by 40–50%. Today, OLX CashMyCar is rapidly expanding across major Indian cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, and Pune, driving significant growth and business impact.
47%
increase in number of qualified leads
3x
faster vehicle inspection process
<45
Mins required for entire documentation for selling a vehicle
