Platform TransConnect aims to transport hundreds of thousands of cars in Germany

The European B2B market, which the Dutch company entered in 2014, has millions of used cars that need to be transported from A to B every month. This is a difficult and time-consuming task for dealers, garages, leasing companies and other business customers. TransConnect’s automated platform allows them to have a car transported easily and in no time at all. The IT company does not have its own trucks, but now works with 2,500 transport partners who drive almost 10,000 European routes. Ten years ago, several hundred second-hand cars were registered for transport via the platform, then still under the name Transporting Wheels. Now there are between 13,000 and 15,000 per month.

TransConnect’s head office is in Zwolle (NL), but the company now also has branches in France and Germany. Germany is by far the largest market for car transport in Europe. That is why the company opened a new, larger office in Frechen, just outside the city of Cologne, on Wednesday 12 November. The German branch already arranges transport for 7,000 to 9,000 cars per month. “Here in Germany, the TransConnect concept was not yet very well known. When we first launched our platform, customers said, ‘This is what we’ve been looking for for years’. That’s why we’ve grown so quickly here over the last three years. We want to continue that growth,” says Jochen Witty, Country Manager Germany at TransConnect. “In Germany, there are at least 500,000 cars per month that need to be transported. That represents enormous potential for us. From here, we also want to serve the Austrian market. That’s another 100,000 cars. Across Europe, we’re talking about millions of cars per month that need to be transported.”

To grow the platform, three times as many people are needed: IT specialists, account and sales managers, and operators. To accommodate them, the German branch moved to Frechen. “We now have our own office, still close to the city and the university. With 1.2 million inhabitants, Cologne is one of the regions in Germany where you want to be. It is a magnet for talent,” says Witty. “That’s why we want to be close to Cologne and have access to that talent pool.”

From its three current offices, TransConnect can serve most of the European market. “In the Netherlands, we are already known to everyone in the automotive industry, but in countries such as France and Germany, this is not yet the case. These are major markets for us,” says Mark Rotteveel, Commercial Director at TransConnect.