Auto.uz — a startup helping people buy and sell cars in Uzbekistan

Temurbek Kasimov, city — Tashkent, Founder & Managing Director Auto.uz, LinkedIn

How It All Started

This project did not happen by accident — it grew out of a real problem I personally faced. Since I already owned the domain auto.uz, I decided to use the opportunity to create a platform with the same name.

We worked on the platform for almost two years. The idea came again from personal experience: several times we had difficulty finding the right car and comparing its price with other offers. We decided to solve that problem.

We started development in 2020 and launched the platform in the second quarter of the same year — though not at full capacity. In addition to free classifieds, auto.uz also offers micro-services like online car insurance purchase and the option to have a car inspected before buying. Our specialist visits the car, checks it, and provides a report on its condition.

In the future, we plan to add a car rental aggregator. I have no previous experience running this type of business, so our team is doing everything ourselves — trying different marketing strategies and analyzing the results. We do not yet have a perfect formula for running the business, a lot of what we do is intuitive. We may be making mistakes, and will probably make more in the future, but that is okay — there is still no other platform like ours on the market.

Our first step was to find a contractor who could bring our idea to life. We were lucky — one of my close friends recommended a company in Uzbekistan, and they did a great job. We did not have a traditional technical specification — we described the concept verbally, and sketched out the site and platform design informally. Despite that, the team understood our vision and built exactly what we wanted.

A year after launch, we made many changes to the structure and design. The technologies we had initially used were already outdated by the time we went live. We wanted to create the best product possible — and while we knew perfection doesn’t exist, we pushed hard to deliver the highest quality in terms of functionality and user experience.

We had no legal obstacles — in Uzbekistan, you can register a company and open bank accounts in just 5–10 minutes. However, we can not say we have fully “launched” yet — the company is still in an early growth stage. The platform is functional and users can access it without issues, but we continue to make improvements to keep up with the fast-changing market and increasing competition.

The Team

We quickly built a good team that adapts fast to changes. We were able to find capable specialists who can handle any situation — and the team is our most valuable asset.

We do face financial challenges, as we have no outside investors — the project is fully self-funded. At the moment, we’re not planning to raise additional investment.

One challenge is that many employees just do their assigned tasks and nothing more — there is a common mindset of “initiative gets punished.” We have been trying to find people who go beyond their job descriptions. At Auto.uz, we encourage initiative — both from leadership and within the team. We want employees to be passionate, to work extra when needed, especially developers, who should be available at any time if there is an urgent issue. Those who just want a paycheck without taking initiative stand out quickly, and we let them go — the process is intuitive.

Target Audience

In terms of audience, we are lucky — buying a car is not limited by age. Interest in cars can start as early as 15–16 years old and continue well into the 70s and 80s, regardless of whether someone has a driver’s license.

Our audience is very diverse, so we focused on a powerful search and comparison system. Our product is not only for those planning to buy a car but also for anyone passionate about cars. We are not targeting a narrow user segment but rather a wide spectrum of car enthusiasts.

There are several steps in buying a car:
— search
— negotiation
— deal closing
— registration under a personal name, company name, or relative’s name.

We solve problems at every stage. For example, our search engine is tuned so that if someone is looking for an Audi of the fourth generation, we don’t show them similar but irrelevant cars like SUVs or cabriolets — we only display exact matches.

We also implemented a car comparison feature: users can compare three similar cars side by side, including specs and equipment, in a table format to understand price differences.

The second stage is negotiation. We offer a “Car Inspection” service where our specialist checks the vehicle and issues a report with a guarantee. If any issues are found, our specialist can help negotiate a lower price. In such cases, the service may be discounted or even free.

For the final stage, we work with notary partners so that all documents are ready at a scheduled time — no waiting in line. We also provide guidance for registering the car with the traffic police (GAI): what documents to bring, where to go, and what steps to follow.

In short, we provide full legal and logistical support for the entire process — including the ability to purchase insurance right on our website.

We also provide information on dealerships and car showrooms — more than 70 are connected across Uzbekistan, most of them in Tashkent, but regional ones are being added too. Users can check car availability, get contact information, and plan a route to the dealer without having to search manually.

We have partnered with two insurance companies, and a third is currently being integrated. By the end of August, it should be live.

Car rental aggregation is also coming soon — we have signed contracts with four companies and are integrating them. We have more than 80 partners in total, and we currently onboard them manually, but this is changing as more partners start approaching us.

In Q2 alone, we gained about 3000 new app downloads. Today, we have about 5000 active users who regularly return, and we receive 70-100 new users daily.

Incubation Programs

We have not participated in any incubation or accelerator programs yet. I tend to be conservative and prefer to observe first. If I see real value in joining such programs, I would be happy to participate.

Challenges

One of the biggest challenges that delayed our launch by a year was working with developers. I realized developers are like builders — each has their own style, background, and approach. Communicating your vision clearly is crucial. Founders often imagine one thing, but the final result delivered by developers may differ — which is why a precise technical specification is so important, something we didn’t fully understand in the beginning.

We gave developers a lot of freedom, which caused major delays. Eventually, we had to change the team entirely. Replacing developers was a long process because the new team had to learn the old codebase or rewrite it — which took time. With a clear vision, making tactical decisions becomes easier, but I am still learning.

If someone has a clear plan and believes in it 100%, they should act boldly — despite financial or economic difficulties.

Achievements
Our biggest achievement is that we managed to build the platform at all.

Plans

By the end of the year, we want to hit about 10,000 completed transactions on our platform — which will take a lot of work.

For startups like ours, tactical decisions are often more important than strategic ones. Strategy becomes relevant when you start generating revenue — not just investments. We plan to scale through more microservices.

Our goal is to unite the entire automotive ecosystem of Uzbekistan — everything related to wheels, engines, and getting from point A to B — on one platform. We want to offer a one-stop solution covering classifieds, insurance, and car rental.

A great example is Kaspi.kz — they built something truly amazing. Our niche is narrower, but I believe we can do something similar here.

Our next big release is the car rental aggregator, which we plan to launch by mid-Q4. We will act as an aggregator, not a rental provider.

After that, we will launch CASCO, a voluntary car insurance service, partnering with three companies ready to integrate with us — making it possible to buy policies online. The market is still relatively open, and we plan to take advantage of that opportunity.