TAMPA, Fla. -

AutoWeb has purchased used-vehicle acquisition platform CarZeus from founder Phil Kandera and McCombs Family Partners in a $400,000 all-cash transaction announced Monday.

CarZeus, which is currently available in the San Antonio market, is designed to buy cars directly from consumers and then wholesale those vehicles.

Bringing CarZeus into the AutoWeb fold can help the company “participate more meaningfully in the consumer used vehicle disposal market, which is highly fragmented and very large,” AutoWeb said in a news release.

Citing industry estimates, AutoWeb estimates that the market has an annual vehicle volume of 25 million units valued at a combined $230 billion.

“As a matchmaker, AutoWeb helps guide consumers through the large, complex, and multi-choice transaction of purchasing a vehicle. Providing our in-market audience with this alternative to dispose of their current vehicles is a natural product line extension,” AutoWeb president and chief executive Jared Rowe said in a news release. “CarZeus offers an alternative disposal experience for consumers seeking to sell their cars. We believe that AutoWeb’s unique ability to efficiently identify in-market car buyers is a key differentiator that will allow us to match more of those consumers to the vehicle disposal experience they prefer.”

The company said the deal supports its product investment strategy designed to offer “useful consumer experiences” via platforms like Car.com and UsedCars.com.

And this approach also helps retails find a new source for used-car inventory, the company said.

Rowe said AutoWeb shoppers are “already cross-shopping new and used vehicles online, most often with vehicle disposal as a component of their ultimate transaction or set of transactions. We plan to adopt an omni-channel engagement model that incorporates retail-ready functionality and services, like vehicle disposal, to deliver improved value to both clients and consumers.”  

Kandera founded CarZeus in 2017. He has joined AutoWeb as executive director of vehicle acquisition and will head up the used-car acquisition business, which will operate under the CarZeus brand.

“McCombs Family Partners is proud to have guided CarZeus through its initial stages of growth and success,” said Joe Shields, director of business development for McCombs Family Partners, in a news release. “AutoWeb is well-positioned to guide CarZeus from here, so it can reach its full potential.”

This purchase continues a series of similar moves in retail automotive.

CarGurus, which purchased a majority stake in CarOffer this winter, announced last week the launch of CarGurus Instant Max Cash Offer, a CarOffer-powered platform that allows dealers to acquire used cars online from consumers.

Last month, Drivably announced a new online community that allows consumers to instantly sell their cars to dealers, who bid on the vehicles through an online auction.