Toby Russell thinks nothing is more stressful than buying a new or even a used car. With new car buying stuck in the analog age of the 1960s, Russell and his friend George Arison set out to create a new platform.
Shift.Com was founded in 2014. The company operates an online marketplace where clients can shop for a used car or sell their car online.
Russell believes that buying or selling a car has many obstacles that using an online marketplace removes, such as women being ripped off or men feeling less than adequate because they don’t want to buy a huge truck or if they can’t buy a top of the line model.
Buyers and sellers never meet. Buyers see a car, they ask a Shift.Com employee to bring them the car so they can test drive it and look it over. If they want to buy it, the employee has a tablet with financing options or a platform is available to pay from the seller’s bank. If the client doesn’t want the car, it is returned to stock.
Clients can also get a manufacturer-style, like-new warranty. There are multiple lending options and a totally transparent price. There’s no negotiation, no haggling, and clients can do it from their driveway, work, or wherever they would like to meet.
Shift.Com maintains a corporate office building in San Francisco, California.
