Our History

The story of Autorola begins back in 1996. With the spread of the internet in the 1990s, two Danish brothers Peter Graftehauge and Martin had an idea that would revolutionize the automotive industry.

As sons of a used car dealer Niels Graftehauge, they knew how time-consuming physical car auctions was for both buyers and sellers. Instead, they had a vision — cars could be traded online through online car auctions.

It was uncharted territory. But the brothers were determined and had a clear vision, they were confident that the internet was the future of car sales.

In 1996, they launched Europe's first online car auction system through the website Bilpriser.dk marking the beginning of a digital revolution in the automotive industry.

It was a success and in 1998 introducing a pioneer in artificial intelligence with their algorithm-driven used car pricing models. The business model took hold in the market and even survived the dot-com bubble collapse on the stock market in March 2000.

In the early 2000s, the company expanded internationally with the German subsidiary Autorola, which opened its doors in 2005. This expansion was followed by the establishment of several subsidiaries across continental Europe in the subsequent years.

Over the past three decades, Peter Graftehauge has played an important role in transforming the industry, first in Denmark, then across Europe, and now in the rest of the world.

Today, Autorola prides itself on being the world's largest online wholesale vehicle remarketing company outside the U.S. Autorola works with 70,000 registered dealers internationally and facilitates used-vehicle transactions in 17 European countries and well beyond, including Latin America and the Middle East.

Autorola is not only a global leader in online remarketing, but also in automotive IT solutions for professionals used-car and fleet management.