From scammed to start-up: How one entrepreneur is changing the way SA buys car parts

Sourcing car parts can be a frustrating experience. It is said that necessity is the mother of invention, and in the case of entrepreneur Sashen Subramoney, that need was born from a range of frustrating experiences. Before foundingCar-Parts.co.za, Subramoney had spent countless hours trawling online listings and WhatsApp groups, often dealing with unreliable sellers, scams and endless “is it still available” messages that led to nowhere.

, Subramoney had spent countless hours trawling online listings and WhatsApp groups, often dealing with unreliable sellers, scams and endless “is it still available” messages that led to nowhere. “The deal involved swapping my old injectors for ‘refurbished’ ones and cash. They looked clean and new, but once installed, they didn’t work at all.

It later became clear that these weren’t properly refurbished, and they were simply injectors from a previous victim that had been cleaned and passed on again.” “That made it clear to me that I probably wasn’t the only person affected, and that more people were likely being scammed in the same way. That experience really highlighted how exposed buyers are on large, general-purpose platforms,” Subramoney explained. This led him to startCar-Parts.co.zafrom scratch, as a platform specifically catering for car parts.

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The aim was to serve everyday motorists, as well as mechanics, small scrapyards and informal traders with a more focused and purpose-built marketplace. from scratch, as a platform specifically catering for car parts. The product allows buyers to search more efficiently, using parts numbers and location filters, while sellers receive enquiries from people who are genuinely looking for parts. Subramoney said the platform aims to reduce fraud by encouraging transparency and providing a more structured and accountable environment.

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