Autoquake has appointed former president of Expedia Europe Dermot Halpin as its new chief executive officer following the departure of Garry Hobson from the company.

Autoquake.com thanked Hobson for his contribution to the company but did not reveal the reason behind him leaving.

While at Expedia, Halpin had overall responsibility for Expedia Europe, which included Expedia, hotels.com and Expedia Private Label businesses.

Halpin: "There are clear parallels with Expedia and Autoquake.com which uses the internet to help people to purchase cars in a more transparent way, and at the same time helps fleets to make their inventory available directly to consumers to achieve higher returns."

Autoquake.com is on track to increase the number of cars it has sold by 60% in 2009 with revenue increasing by 180% in 2009.

The company has contracts with 10 of the UK’s top 20 leasing companies to remarket their cars.