Anyone who has browsed second-hand cars in South Africa knows the feeling. The listing looks great, the price seems reasonable, but you have no idea whether you're about to make a smart purchase or an expensive mistake. Well, Henrico Bekker built BuySmart to fix that.
The extension sits next to any car listing on AutoTrader or Cars.co.za and gives you AI-generated insight tailored to the specific vehicle: whether the asking price is fair, what red flags to look for on that model, and what to ask the seller before you commit. It works on the two platforms most South Africans actually use when shopping for cars, which means it's useful from the moment you install it.
How this AI car-buying assistant works in South Africa
The interesting design choice is BYOK: Bring Your Own Key. Instead of locking you into one AI provider or charging a subscription, BuySmart lets you plug in your own API key from OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google. You choose which AI powers the analysis. No subscription fees, no data lock-in, no account to create. Just install it and go.
Built by a Takealot ML engineer as a side project
Bekker built this as a side project, not a startup. He runs machine learning engineering at Takealot by day, which means he knows a thing or two about building AI tools that work with messy real-world product data. That experience shows in the execution: the tool is simple, focused, and solves one specific problem well.
Given it a try yet? Let us know how it goes…
You might also like: Read about more SA founders using AI to build practical tools.
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