Exclusive: How Planet42 Provides Cars for People Who Can’t Access Conventional Vehicle Loans

Planet42 is a South Africa-based fintech company which partners with dealerships across the country to enable access to a personal car for citizens who are unable to get vehicle loans. The company was founded by Eerik Oja and Marten Orgna. It was launched as CarGet in 2017 before rebranding to Planet42.

Planet42 uses an advanced rating algorithm to process a credit bureau, affordability, and alternative data-based applications for clients. If the application is accepted, Planet42 reviews the confirmation documents of the customer, such as IDs, payslips, and bank statements, before purchasing the car from the dealership and renting it to the customer. The asset is covered with monitoring technology, as well as mechanical and comprehensive insurance.

The CEO elaborated on the company’s operations in this interview Business Elites Africa.

Q: Tell us more about Planet24.

A: Planet42 is democratising mobility by enabling people ignored by banks to get access to a personal vehicle. We leverage technology to mitigate risk and promote financial inclusion by buying second-hand cars from a network of motor dealers and renting them out to customers, without the need to physically see the car or meet the customer.

Q: What path led to where Planet42 is right now?

A: While analysing various business ideas in South Africa, my co-founder Marten Orgna noticed that hard-working people with stable incomes are not able to get bank financing for a car, even though they can clearly afford it. This made no sense to him – why would a bank refuse to buy a car for a teacher, sales rep, or nurse? Banks are big and clumsy and risk-averse, we saw an opportunity on the market and raised money from Europe to launch Planet42. So far we have invested the equivalent of R150 million in South Africa and we’re just getting started!

READ ALSO: Mitchell Elegbe, Founder & CEO of Interswitch Talks the Future of Africa’s Fintech Industry

Q: What would you say is the greatest strength of Planet42?

A: Adaptability – we make decisions quickly and keep iterating to improve our product. Buying cars for people in exchange for monthly payments is not a new idea, we are successful because we work tirelessly on becoming faster and more efficient. As soon as you relax and think the product is “finished” or “ready”, you’ll fall behind. A specific example of this is our proprietary scoring algorithm, which we update continuously using the data we’ve amassed through processing tens of thousands of applications over the past couple of years.

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