70-year-olds also get excited about picking a new car… A company that solves 'worry about being scammed'

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"My father, who has passed his 70s, was excited like a child when he decided to get a new car and said he wanted it as soon as possible. However, the emotions felt during the journey to reach that excitement are completely opposite. There is no way but to worry about whether they might be getting scammed (eye-tang-i) because they don't know much."

A startup has entered the market by turning consumer distrust in the existing industry—such as complex fee structures and opaque approval processes when leasing or renting vehicles—into an opportunity. It started as an internal venture of the fintech company Finda and spun off (became independent) in May 2024 as Design & Practice.

Jung Sang-yeon, CEO of Design & Practice, emphasized, "The leasing and renting market suffers from severe information asymmetry where middle sales agents arbitrarily set fees, causing quotes for the same car to differ by hundreds of thousands of won. We must innovate to address chronic distrust and inefficiency."

Jeong Sang-yeon (CEO) defines today's automotive market as an 'iPhone moment.' He said, "In the feature phone era, people paid for phones in a lump sum, but now smartphone prices have far exceeded 1 million won, so everyone started signing contracts."

He continued, "With the arrival of the electric vehicle era, which is much more expensive than internal combustion engine vehicles, car purchase methods are inevitably shifting toward leasing and renting. In the long term, 70% of new cars will transition to leasing or renting."

Analyses also indicate that the related market size is enormous. According to the Financial Supervisory Service, the leasing market is about 23 trillion won, and if we multiply the 1.3 million registered rental vehicles by an average vehicle price of 30 million won, it reaches 40 trillion won. Jeong (CEO) stated, "There are no representative players like Coupang, Kakao, or Baemin (Baemin) in such a large market."

Design & Practice's car leasing and renting platform, 'Chazim,' compares quotes from 15 financial institutions in real time and has introduced a non-face-to-face automated approval system, significantly improving price transparency and user convenience. It is explained that this has enabled the design of the most cost-effective structure in Korea.

Jeong (CEO) said, "The existing industry treated customers who don't know much about cars as 'outsiders' and attached high fees based on sales agents' subjectivity. Chazim does not favor customers buying expensive cars; instead, it helps them find the best options within a budget they can afford each month."

He added, "We eliminate middlemen (sales agents) and have the platform directly connect with financial institutions to provide transparent quotes. Even if someone left our company out of dislike for us, I have pride that they would come back to us when buying a car."

Chazim's weapon is its AI (artificial intelligence) technology based on vast data. By using the vertical AI 'Chazimi,' which has learned from over 100,000 actual consultation records, it responds to customer inquiries in real time and maximizes work efficiency.

Chazimi's consultation engine analyzes customer data and past conversation contexts to recommend optimal scenarios to human consultants called 'Buddy.' Thanks to this, consultants can significantly reduce information search time and focus on customized care for customers.

The approval engine digitized the most cumbersome process in leasing or renting contracts: preparing numerous documents such as seal registration certificates and income verification, sending them via fax or email, and waiting for financial institution approval. The manual input process by humans is omitted, making approvals and procedures possible in just a few minutes.

However, Jeong (CEO) drew a line stating that AI does not replace everything. He said, "Would you tolerate a kiosk in a Rolex store? No." He added, "Chazim is a luxury service. Among over 1,000 contracts, not a single one was concluded without consulting an employee."

He continued, "It's the same principle as looking up properties through a real estate platform when buying a house but ultimately finalizing the transaction at a certified real estate agency. You cannot simply chat with a chatbot and finish purchasing a 50 million won asset. A human responsible as a deal maker is absolutely necessary."

This philosophy has been proven by results. The number of contracts, which was two per month at the time of founding, has now surpassed 1,000. It has secured most domestic financial institutions as clients, and even large rental companies that can be seen as direct competitors are operating on the Chazim platform.

Jeong (CEO) said, "Existing sales agents must sell only two to three cars a month to make a living, so they have no choice but to charge high fees. However, through our automation system, we have increased the monthly sales volume per consultant by about 40 times compared to before."

Based on this, Chazim has achieved cumulative membership of 450,000 and cumulative transaction value of 260 billion won. Among members, 85% are individuals or individual business owners. It is analyzed that leasing and renting, once a cost-handling method for corporations, have now shifted to the personal domain.

Design & Practice also has a 'logistics innovation' plan to fully internalize (vertically integrate) even the final stage of vehicle distribution: delivery (transportation), beyond platform business.

He pointed out, "When ordering food through a delivery app, you can see where the rider is and predict the arrival time. However, when purchasing one of the most expensive assets, cars, the only thing you know is 'it will come today,' with no way to know who, when, or how it will be delivered—that is the current backward reality."

He added, "Currently, the car transportation market is fragmented, centered on individual drivers and small-scale companies. We plan to build our own automotive hub (logistics base), gather newly delivered cars at this hub, and create a unified value chain covering inspection, accessory installation, and final transportation."

The global strategy is also clear. The plan is to dominate Korea and Japan first, then expand into Central Asia and Southeast Asia. Jeong (CEO) said, "In developed countries, we will operate based on our platform; in emerging markets, we will acquire used car assets sourced from Korea and Japan and directly act as local rental players."

He emphasized, "Just as Baemin cultivated the dining-out market, Chazim can turn pedestrians into car owners and Avante customers into Grandeur customers. We will create an environment where customers can focus solely on 'the excitement of choosing a car' without other worries."

[MoneyToday startup media platform 'Unicorn Factory']