Online car retailer Cazoo has agreed a deal to acquire Vans365 for £6.5m in cash, marking its expansion into commercial vehicle sales.

The tie-up will combine Cazoo’s sales platform and brand with Vans365’s expertise and relationships in the commercial vehicle market

Vans365 buys and sells hundreds of vans monthly, using a team of experienced in-house technicians and customer service specialists based in Bristol. The business will have 2021 revenues of c.£14m with an EBITDA margin of c.9%.

The deal, expected to get approval from the Financial Conduct Authority in the coming weeks, will enhance Cazoo’s customer offering and team and accelerate its planned launch into buying and selling commercial vehicles online later this year.

It’s the latest acquisition by Cazoo, which was founded in 2018 by serial entrepreneur Alex Chesterman and launched in the UK two years ago as the ‘Amazon of cars’ in the used car sector. It’s since sold more than 40,000 cars in the UK and branched into new car subscriptions with the acquisition of Drover in December 2020. It’s also gearing up to launch its proposition later this year in Europe following its acquisition of German subscription firm Cluno.

More recently, Cazoo bought vehicle recon and storage specialist Smart Fleet Solutions in February 2021 and snapped up SMH Fleet Solutions for around £70m in September, doubling its reconditioning, logistics and storage capabilities to enable it to scale operations in line with its growth. It also acquired automotive data insights platform Cazana for around £25m last month.

Cazoo said its launch into commercial vehicles later this year will further expand the proposition and selection available on its website.

Founder and CEO Alex Chesterman commented: “The market for commercial vehicles is worth £16bn annually, with over one million vans sold each year in the UK, which expands our addressable market and is a natural product extension for us. The acquisition of Vans365 will accelerate our planned launch of buying and selling commercial vehicles online later this year and will enhance both our customer proposition and team, and I look forward to welcoming the Vans365 team to Cazoo.”