Gurugram : For many families, bringing home a car is a moment they have saved for and looked forward to. Navratri makes that moment an auspicious new beginning. Cars24 delivered 750 cars on 11 October, the first day of Navratri, up 58% from last year and five times the level of a normal Sunday. Seven in ten buyers were bringing home their first car. The youngest was 19. The oldest was 76. For both, it was their first car.
But buying was only part of the day. Over 50 lakh vehicle owners logged in to Cars24 to renew insurance, clear challans, check PUCC and recharge FASTags for the cars they already own, with a transaction every two seconds. For every car delivered, more than 6,000 owners came to take care of the one they have.
More than 55% of the cars delivered were bought on a loan, helping families spread the cost of ownership over time. More than 40% of cars sold were linked to rural RTOs, where sales grew faster than those linked to urban RTOs, showing how mobility is expanding to more of India. And 28% of the cars went to pincodes where Cars24 did not sell a single car last year. Its expanding sales footprint included Bhopal, Karnal, Visakhapatnam and Dehradun.
The day also offered a glimpse of what families are choosing to drive. Petrol remained the most sold fuel type, while CNG saw the strongest growth apart from hybrids, which grew from a small base. SUVs recorded the highest growth among vehicle segments, with the Tata Nexon and Punch among the models seeing strong demand. Maruti Suzuki continued to account for more than 40% of cars sold. And one in every three cars sold was an automatic.
More than two-thirds of the day’s transactions came from people who had transacted on Cars24’s platforms before, returning for the services they need through the years of ownership. Most people who come to Cars24 today aren’t buying or selling a car. They’re running one.
“Navratri is when India brings home a new car, and yesterday 750 families did that with us,” said Vikram Chopra, Builder, Cars24. “But what stayed with me was everything else on the dashboard. People cleared challans, renewed insurance and made sure their car was ready for the season. A car isn’t owned well on the day it’s bought. It’s owned well every year after. More than two-thirds of yesterday’s transactions came from owners who had turned to Cars24 before, and that tells us we’re becoming that place for them.”
With the festive season running through Navratri, Dussehra and Diwali, the first day offers an early signal of where Indian car ownership is heading: more people buying their first car, growing demand beyond urban centres, and owners seeking support long after the day they buy it. Cars24’s aim is to be with them through all of it, from buying and financing a car to insuring it, keeping it compliant and eventually selling it.
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