CarCollect is an innovative B2B car trading platform based in the Netherlands, designed to streamline every aspect of automotive management and trading. Since its transition into a tech-first company in 2020, the platform has positioned itself as an all-in-one solution for users to buy and sell vehicles efficiently while managing their inventories and daily work. CarCollect serves a broad spectrum of clients, such as dealerships, leasing firms, and companies with extensive vehicle fleets, offering a variety of services that include trade and auction management, logistics, advanced analytics, and CRM solutions. Operating in 11 European countries, CarCollect consolidates critical services into one platform, streamlining complex workflows through features like various auction options, vehicle inspection coordination, and performance analytics. To support its growth and development goals, CarCollect relies on Heroku as a key partner, ensuring that the engineering team can focus on enhancing the user experience rather than getting bogged down in infrastructure management.

Navigating challenges of outdated systems in fleet management

The automotive sales and management industry, rooted in legacy technology, frequently depends on outdated systems and familiar yet fragmented workflows, which overcomplicate fleet management processes and hinder overall efficiency. CarCollect recognized an opportunity to use cloud technology to improve car auctions and streamline the associated processes. To facilitate adoption among users with varying levels of tech proficiency, CarCollect prioritized feature development and optimization for their new platform and began to develop a highly intuitive user interface that ensured seamless navigation across both desktop and mobile applications.

Initially, CarCollect's technology stack was built on Microsoft Azure, which presented challenges as the company scaled. After their first six months of development, Azure struggled with basic tasks and upgrades, diverting developer time and resources from feature development. As CarCollect’s user base continued to grow, the limitations of their original infrastructure became increasingly evident. The burden of DevOps tasks and maintenance increased, leaving the team struggling to balance system management with application improvements. Frustrated, they concluded that Azure’s limitations were ultimately slowing their ability to deliver valuable features that would strengthen their solution.

Despite these challenges, CarCollect remained committed to their mission of becoming the all-in-one automotive platform. They understood that to meet the demands of their growing customer base, they needed to streamline operations and shift engineering focus from DevOps tasks and maintenance to feature and innovation development. They decided to look for a platform solution that minimized configuration and maintenance tasks for their team to replace Azure.

Easing backend complexity with Heroku’s platform

CarCollect’s engineering team chose to try Heroku’s platform, services, and tools to build, run, and scale their web and mobile apps in the cloud, aiming to simplify the backend infrastructure management for their developers. Initially, the team began their transition from Azure to Heroku by experimenting with dynos as a proof of concept, allowing them to test and explore the platform's capabilities. CarCollect integrated Heroku Add-ons to quickly expand capabilities, like Elasticsearch for their search engine functionality. Using Heroku’s clear and accessible documentation, they independently completed their migration from Azure in just one week. Their implementation of Heroku quickly freed up valuable development resources, reducing the maintenance overhead they had previously faced, and redirecting engineering focus back toward innovating and feature development.

As CarCollect expanded its services and user base, they upgraded to Heroku Enterprise, enabling effortless horizontal and vertical scaling of apps and dynos to meet their growing demands without downtime. Their adoption of Private Spaces strengthened CarCollect’s architecture, providing a secure and isolated environment essential for sensitive API interactions. This shift not only added an extra layer of security by keeping their applications inaccessible from the public internet but also paved the way for a microservices architecture, which improved performance by reducing interference from other dynos. Hosting in the Frankfurt Private Space region further minimized latency, benefiting users across Eastern Europe by ensuring low-latency access to their applications.

Heroku's intuitive role and permission system simplified team management, ensuring that everyone had access to the resources they needed without unnecessary complexity. CarCollect team members appreciated the organized layout of their applications within the Heroku dashboard, making it easy to manage and access documentation. Key Heroku Add-ons like SendGrid for email services and the Advanced Scheduler for task automation integrated smoothly into their workflow.

Today, Heroku is a cornerstone of CarCollect's technology stack, handling their hosting and cloud applications while providing a clear overview of their operations. The platform has empowered the team to focus on innovation and user experience, ensuring they remain competitive and connected with their users.

A great product should simplify complexity. With Heroku, the basics are straightforward—you push your code, and your application is up and running. It allows us to focus on what truly matters: building innovative features that drive our business forward. Wout Groenendijk, Chief Technology Officer, CarCollect

Shifting developer focus to innovation with Heroku

Since integrating Heroku into their technology stack, CarCollect has experienced significant improvements in operational efficiency, developer productivity, and overall business growth. The transition has not only addressed their initial challenges but also positioned them for future expansion.

Saved development time and resources

The transition to Heroku has significantly reduced the maintenance burden on CarCollect’s development team. By simplifying their hosting solutions, CarCollect reclaimed substantial time previously spent on DevOps tasks, allowing valuable hours to be redirected toward feature development. This shift enabled leadership and team members to focus on delivering a high-quality solution. Additionally, the move eliminated the need to hire a full-time DevOps employee, potentially saving the company tens of thousands of Euros annually.

Drove scalability forward

Heroku's robust scaling capabilities have empowered CarCollect to effectively expand operations in response to growing demand. The platform has facilitated a remarkable increase in transaction volume, enabling the team to scale from managing approximately 1,000 cars per month to over 1,000 cars per day. This scalability has been crucial for supporting business growth and achieving key performance indicators (KPIs) while maintaining high uptime.

Enhanced work experience

The partnership with Heroku has transformed the work environment for CarCollect’s development team. By enabling developers to focus on feature development instead of DevOps maintenance provides a more enjoyable and productive workplace. Team members have expressed increased job satisfaction, as they can dedicate more of their efforts to the creative aspects of their roles. Heroku’s intuitive role and permission system, along with streamlined app management, has minimized confusion and optimized workflows.

Partnering with Heroku has transformed our development process. We’ve freed up valuable time to focus on innovation rather than maintenance, and the seamless scalability and security empower us to pursue ambitious growth while delivering an exceptional user experience. Wout Groenendijk, Chief Technology Officer, CarCollect

What's next for CarCollect?

CarCollect is expanding its offerings with the upcoming launch of new modules like Stock. This addition will enhance the platform's capabilities, enabling more effective inventory management while leveraging Heroku's reliable infrastructure. As they continue to evolve and grow, CarCollect remains committed to simplifying the vehicle trading process. Explore their innovative approach and discover the features that set CarCollect apart.