Some 14 years after he co-founded carwow its chief executive James Hind is stepping down from the driving seat at the car buying and selling marketplace.

Hind is stepping aside into an executive director role with immediate effect to allow current chief operating officer John Veichmanis to step up as chief executive, subject to regulatory approval.

Veichmanis joined carwow as COO three years ago and his impact has been "transformational", said Hind.

Hind added: "The business is in the strongest place it has ever been; a big part of that is down to him. John is exactly who we need to lead carwow to the next level and achieve its true potential in further helping consumers and our industry partners.

“I am incredibly proud of everything carwow has achieved so far. I vividly remember the first car ever bought through carwow, and it’s amazing that now hundreds of thousands of people have either bought or sold their car via carwow across the UK, Germany and Spain.”

In its early phase carwow wasn't welcomed by all franchised dealers, as some saw it as allowing consumers to compare offers more easily and thereby driving down their margins as they competed strongly on price for sales against other dealers around the country, however others used it as a vital channel to retail excess inventory.

The company was keen to point out to franchised dealers that many buyers were prioritising the quality of the service and locality of offers, not just picking the cheapest price nationally.

Since Hind and his co-founders Alex Margolis and David Santoro launched the business in the UK carwow has expanded into Germany, Spain and Portugal, and developed a service for consumers to sell their own cars, to help dealers acquire used car stock, plus it has built the biggest automotive channel on YouTube in the UK with more than eight million subscribers.