Growing into a Comprehensive Automotive Lifestyle Platform
Whistle, the integrated mobility app, announced on the 24th that it has surpassed 5.74 million cumulative users.
The number of registered vehicles has reached 5.38 million. Given that, as of May, there were 21.88 million registered passenger cars in the country according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, this means that one out of every four passenger car drivers in Korea is using Whistle.
Whistle began in 2021 as an integrated parking violation alert service. In its early days, features such as parking violation notifications and fine inquiry/payment functions attracted attention. However, the app is now seeing significant user growth in customized services tailored to the vehicle lifecycle, including "Sell My Car," car inspection reservations, and car wash bookings.
In particular, the number of users for the Sell My Car service increased by about 2.5 times compared to the same period last year. According to an internal survey, users gave positive feedback across all major services. The used car Sell My Car Pickdeal service, which adopts a competitive bidding system, links AI solutions to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s used car transaction data to provide personalized price estimates based on each user's vehicle information. The number of price estimate inquiries rose by 68% compared to the beginning of this year. As demand for used cars grows due to the economic downturn, usage rates continue to increase.
The number of users for the easy and fast car inspection reservation service increased by 129% in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year. The company explained that high user satisfaction is driven by reliable experiences such as express reservations that are faster than competitors and partnerships with top-tier auto shops (nationally designated inspection centers). In response to policy changes following the Ministry of Environment’s revision of the Air Quality Preservation Act, reservations for inspections including nitrogen oxide (NOx) checks for diesel vehicles increased by about 133% year-on-year.
Additionally, the number of Whistle car wash users more than tripled within just six months of the service’s launch. The core strengths are the "All-in-One Package," which includes both interior and exterior washing plus wax coating, a unified price policy by vehicle type, and standardized wash quality.
A Whistle representative stated, "Whistle has grown from a violation notification service into a platform encompassing all aspects of car life, including inspections, car washes, and used car selling. We plan to continue evolving into a comprehensive automotive lifestyle platform, in line with the trend of car management shifting from offline to mobile solutions."
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