Cheki Kenya decries reduced car listings in 2020 as it celebrates 10-year anniversary

Leading car marketplace Cheki Kenya on Friday celebrated its 10th anniversary of operating in the country, however decrying a reduced number of vehicle listings this year due to effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Cheki Kenya’s Chief Executive Officer Resian Leteipan, speaking to Citizen Digital during the decade celebrations, said despite the reduction in listings, there was – conversely – an increased interest among members of the public to purchase cars hence COVID-19 did not have too big a negative effect on the company’s operations.

“We saw a reduction (in sales). If you look at our Price Index Report that covers this year, we saw a dip as soon as the pandemic landed in the country. So if we compare last year and this year, we did see a dip in terms of vehicles listed/posted, which can be attributed to the transportation ban (occasioned by COVID-19), but then conversely we saw an increased high interest from the public in terms of buying cars,” said Ms. Leteipan.

“When the pandemic hit, if you look at what was happening in other areas, we had thought there would be cessation of business completely. However, we saw a pause and then we saw a resumption once everybody had understood more about the pandemic from WHO guidelines put in place by the Ministry of Health.”

She further added: “So, being an online company, our transition from working in the office to working from home was very fast and very efficient. We thought it would be very bad but we’re thankful it was not.”

Cheki Kenya, during the 10th anniversary celebrations, promised to maintain digital innovations aimed at simplifying car buying and selling.

The online car marketplace marked the event while holding this years’ Car Awards which ranked cars in selected categories to enlighten Kenyans on specifications aimed at helping them make better car-buying decisions.

Cheki Car Awards is a Used Cars Awards that was curated through coming up with car categories with nominees each from various data points.

The event was the second held since its inception. At the start of December, Cheki Kenya in conjunction with TIFA research launched the Kenya Used Vehicle (KUV) Price Index, which focused on the price variation of car listings in the Kenyan market.

The Index report compared prices and price trends for different months, quarters or years, enabling users of the index to calculate the rate of inflation in the car market.