Having moved to the UAE in 2003 at a very young age, brothers Charlie and Max Lovett grew up watching Dubai develop into the hub of innovation that it is today — and also into a city that, as they put it, is “one of the most car-centric places in the world.”

But having witnessed such a definitive period of transformation also made them privy to some of the unique circumstances faced by the country’s expat population; in particular, the middlemen-heavy car resale market. “We could see that selling a car privately was far harder than it should be, but what initially felt like an expat inconvenience revealed itself to be a deeper structural issue,” Charlie says. “Time and again, people sold to dealers not because they wanted to, but because private selling felt noisy, unreliable, and stacked against them. We experienced this firsthand when selling our dad’s car. After finding the current options either too difficult or too expensive, it was sold to a dealer – only to reappear on a public marketplace a week later for around 20% more!”

As is often the case with entrepreneurial ideas born out of personal discomfort, the Lovetts too decided to look further into the market. “What became clear was that this wasn’t an edge case; it was a symptom of how the market itself was structured,” Max says. “Value wasn’t being lost because the car lacked quality, but because the system wasn’t designed for private owners. Looking closer, many marketplaces claim to be peer-to-peer, yet are optimised around dealer economics. Sellers are charged regardless of outcomes, while buyers navigate a landscape dominated by resellers, hidden dealerships, and speculative offers. Carabia was built to address that gap – by removing unnecessary intermediaries, verifying genuine private sellers, and structuring the marketplace around clarity, accountability, and fair outcomes.”

Launched in 2023, Carabia was thus built as an online marketplace that is “powered by private owners”, wherein people in the UAE buy and sell cars directly with each other, without going through car dealers.

“At Carabia, the experience is intentionally simple on the surface, supported by structured checks behind the scenes,” Charlie explains. “Private owners list their car for free by submitting key details, photographs, and proof of ownership. Every submission is reviewed to confirm the seller is the registered owner, which protects the integrity of the marketplace and enables fair, direct negotiation. All communication happens on-platform, meaning sellers aren’t exposed to cold calls, unsolicited messages, or off-platform pestering. Sellers never pay to list or to sell. Buyers register to access listings and communicate with sellers through the platform, and offers are made within a structured framework designed to discourage speculative behaviour. For vehicles that meet our criteria – newer models, lower mileage, under warranty, and no damage history – we offer Carabia Certified: a merit-based designation supported by a complimentary third-party inspection. This is not a paid upgrade. In practice, a typical transaction sees an owner list their car in minutes, engage with serious buyers over a short period, agree a price, and complete the transfer once inspections and checks are done. Once a price is agreed, we support both parties through the handover process, with the long-term goal of delivering a fully integrated end-to-end ownership transfer experience.”

Beyond fixing the more obvious dealer-driven entanglements embedded in the system, however, the Lovetts felt that it was especially important to address an imbalance that had quietly become the norm in car resales. “We made a deliberate decision to keep selling completely free,” Max reveals. “Many established marketplaces put pressure on sellers through listing fees or expiry cycles, often forcing them into accepting offers they’re not comfortable with simply to avoid additional costs. Carabia flips that model. Sellers list for free and retain full pricing flexibility, while buyers pay a very small, fixed, clearly disclosed fee (from AED 99) only when engaging in a verified, owner-led transaction. Our incentives are therefore aligned with successful outcomes – we only benefit when a car actually changes hands. As the platform scales, we also see opportunities to integrate complementary services across the ownership journey, allowing Carabia to act as a single access point without compromising trust or transparency.”

But correcting pricing distortions is only one part of the solution at Carabia — what ultimately underscores its entire mission is the goal of restoring trust between buyers and sellers. “One of the biggest trust challenges in traditional models is the distance between buyer and the true owner of the car,” Max reiterates. “By ensuring every listing on Carabia comes directly from a verified private owner, we remove that opacity. Owners have lived with their vehicles, understand their history, and are motivated by fairness rather than rapid turnover. This results in authentic, individual listings – rather than scripted, homogenous dealer stock – which buyers instinctively trust more. Buyers know who they’re dealing with, why the car is being sold, and how it has been used. That direct accountability fundamentally changes behaviour. Combined with verification and optional inspections, it materially reduces the trust deficit that characterises dealer-heavy marketplaces.”

Carabia’s multi-faceted vision has so far been indirectly supported by many shifts within the UAE ecosystem. For starters, a 2025 report by Data Insights Market showed that the UAE used car market was valued at US$18.39 million in 2025, and is projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.73% from 2025 to 2033. Wider market shifts enabled by important governmental authorities have also further aided Carabia’s model of operation. For example, Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has introduced an easy transfer process of online vehicle ownership wherein both the buyer and seller can complete the transfer without needing to visit a service center.

“The UAE has been an exceptionally strong environment in which to build Carabia, largely due to the maturity and pragmatism of its automotive infrastructure,” Max says. “Authorities have digitised large parts of the ownership lifecycle – from renewals and inspections to transfers – significantly reducing friction at the point of exchange. In many ways, the regulatory framework is already doing the heavy lifting; our role is to connect those systems into a coherent, user-friendly experience.”

The Lovetts thus see the UAE’s digitised automotive framework as not just an enabler of transactions, but a catalyst for how resale practices themselves could change. “Beyond transfers, clear ownership and title systems, mandatory testing and registration discipline, insurance clarity, and consistent enforcement all reduce ambiguity and fraud risk,” Charlie explains. “In a perfect world, price discovery would always be purely market-driven – auctions are theoretically the fairest way to value a car. In reality, consumer education, trust, and guarantees around vehicle condition are prerequisites. That’s an evolution we think the market will move toward over time. The UAE’s digitised foundation makes that progression possible.”

For the foreseeable future, however, the co-founders have their own sights set on consistently building a startup they’ve built from scratch. “Carabia has been bootstrapped from day one,” Charlie reveals. “This allowed us to remain close to the problem, stay capital-disciplined, and build the right foundations before introducing external funding. The biggest challenge has been building and scaling in a capital-intensive category while competing against well-funded incumbents. Bootstrapping means every decision must be carefully sequenced – how quickly to grow supply, when to invest in demand, and where to allocate limited resources.”

“Unlike larger players, we don’t have the luxury of buying growth; we’ve had to earn it organically while still creating enough momentum for the marketplace to function,” Max adds. “That discipline has shaped a stronger platform. Looking ahead, we remain open to strategic capital, but only where it supports long-term integrity rather than short-term scale.”

With a clear-cut plan thus in place, the brothers now look forward to building on the growth they’ve garnered so far. “Carabia aims to create a ripple effect across the UAE automotive industry by encouraging longer ownership cycles and more responsible consumption,” Charlie declares. “By improving resale confidence and transparency, owners are more willing to hold onto cars for longer, which naturally extends vehicle lifecycles. This is significant because new car manufacturing is the most carbon-intensive part of the automotive value chain. A trusted secondary market reduces unnecessary replacement and supports circular economy principles without requiring behavioural sacrifice from consumers. By tying value to condition, maintenance, and transparency, Carabia also incentivises better ownership behaviour – improving safety, efficiency, and sustainability outcomes across the market over time. The UAE has quietly built one of the most advanced automotive regulatory frameworks in the world. With ownership, testing, and transfers already digitised, platforms like Carabia can focus on fixing trust and coordination rather than reinventing infrastructure.”