AN ONLINE car seller has invested more than £1million in a new Southampton site and created 15 jobs.

Cazoo – launched by the founder of property website Zoopla – says it will create 200 jobs nationally by the end of the year.

It has opened a customer centre at Second Avenue on the city’s Millbrook Estate, its ninth new location since September.

The site was formerly occupied by Imperial Cars, the chain which Cazoo bought out in the summer.

Cazoo has refurbished the site and says the 15 jobs are a mix of customer-facing and vehicle servicing roles.

The company plans to open five more sites this year and 12 in 2021. It is developing them to provide a “click and collect” option as well as home delivery, with service centres attached.

Alex Chesterman, founder and chief executive of the company, founded Zoom in 2007.

He said: “We have been delighted by the overwhelmingly positive response of consumers to our online car buying proposition.

“With our ever-increasing number of sales, our customer centres will provide more options to our customers on how they want to receive their Cazoo car and will allow us to serve them better through our own service centres.

“We’re excited to be opening in Southampton as we reinvent the car buying experience and continue our mission to provide better selection, transparency, convenience and peace of mind to used car buyers across the UK.”

Cazoo, founded in 2018, offers customers the chance to view thousands of cars online. They are all owned and reconditioned by Cazoo and stored centrally.

The cars can be delivered anywhere in the UK, or sent to local customer centres for collection in as little as 72 hours. Cars come with a seven-day money back guarantee and a 90-day warranty.

Cazoo says it has already sold more than 10,000 cars to customers across the UK. It says: “Since its launch, consumers have been rapidly embracing the transparency and convenience of buying used cars entirely online and the rollout of its local customer centres will further enhance the Cazoo offering.”

Earlier this week, Mr Chesterman told The times that the traditional car sales model was “flawed on every level”. He criticised short test drives and said the trade had a gender bias which put women at a disadvantage.