The Bundeskartellamt has granted approval for Oak Germany Buyer GmbH, the parent company of mobile.de GmbH, to acquire the German operations of Carwow Ltd. Both companies operate online platforms for vehicle brokerage, with mobile.de focusing on used cars and Carwow on new cars.

The core business of mobile.de involves facilitating the sale of used cars from dealers to private buyers, while Carwow allows customers to configure new vehicles and receive offers from dealers. The activities of both companies largely complement each other, with minimal overlap.

In addition to their main services, both mobile.de and Carwow also facilitate vehicle leasing contracts, although there are specialized platforms that are more active in this area.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt, stated that mobile.de holds a strong market position in the used car brokerage sector, but the acquisition of Carwow does not significantly enhance this position. Carwow targets a different customer base by focusing on individually configured new cars. Furthermore, mobile.de faces strong competition from AutoScout24 and pressure from the online offerings of vehicle manufacturers and dealers.

During the review process, the Bundeskartellamt conducted extensive investigations into the competitive conditions in the distribution and online brokerage of vehicles, interviewing platform operators, car dealers, and manufacturers.

In the vehicle brokerage sector, the used car market plays a significantly larger role compared to new car brokerage, particularly for individually configurable new cars. Consumers and dealers often use multiple platforms simultaneously, and many platforms offer data export options to others.