Young entrepreneurial petrolhead sets up car auction site to share his love of rare cars

Self-confessed petrol-head Joe Hammond, from Chichester, is due to launch Carozo.com on January 11.

His website aims to bring the fun back to buying and selling specialist motors, by making it friendlier, more exciting and less expensive.

Joe, 20, who set up his first business repairing phones aged just 13, dreamed up the auction site during the first lockdown.

He said: ‘In the modern era, when people are not able to go out so much, our process will make the act of buying and selling cars at auction a whole lot simpler and more exciting.

‘We have a hand-picked selection of cars on our site which are high quality vehicles that have been loved by their owners.

‘The cars offer great value for money and best news of all is that you won’t have to haggle and no one will be trying to sell you unwarranted extras or some other package on top.’

Joe said car enthusiasts will be able to search the listings for the car of their dreams and place bids.

But, even if they are not buying, he hopes that enthusiasts will still register and take part in chat online, discussing the vehicle for sale, asking questions of the owner and generally joining in the excitement of seeing who snaps up the car.

SEE ALSO: Grants worth up to £9,000 to be given to businesses - but fears are raised that it's not enough

‘It’s not a forum as such but a live discussion going hand-in-hand with the car on auction, a proper enthusiast community,’ said Joe. ‘

‘It’s for everyone who is mad on cars, from classics to hot hatches, sports cars and those unique, one-off projects that some of us have been working on for years!’

Joe created Carozo.com after buying his own specialist vehicle earlier this year – an Alpine A110.

‘I was trawling through car sites and magazines, as you do if you’re an enthusiast looking for The One, and I thought there should be more fun and a more enthusiast-focussed way to do this,’ he said.

In addition to vehicles, Carozo.com will also offer enthusiasts the chance to buy and sell car parts and accessories.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

The News is more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism.

You can subscribe here for unlimited access to Portsmouth news online - as well as our new Puzzles section.