Amazon is Officially in the Online Car Sales Business (techcrunch.com) 32
Amazon expanded Tuesday into online car sales with the launch of Amazon Autos, an e-commerce business that lets customers find, order, and buy new cars, trucks, and SUVs from dealerships. From a report: Amazon is kicking off the new endeavor with Hyundai in 48 U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. The launch comes a little more than a year since the e-commerce giant announced plans to start selling vehicles on its website in the second half of 2024. Amazon said it will add more cities and additional auto manufacturers in 2025.
Amazon Autos will function, in many ways, like the rest of the broader Amazon e-commerce ecosystem. Shoppers will be able to search for available vehicles from participating dealers by model, trim, color, and features. Notably, customers will also be able to secure financing and e-sign paperwork via the Amazon Autos site. Once the payment is finalized, customers can schedule when to pick up their vehicle from that dealership. When vehicles go on sale at Amazon, the local dealer (for now just Hyundai dealers) will be the seller of record. Amazon Autos will even handle trade ins.
Amazon Autos will function, in many ways, like the rest of the broader Amazon e-commerce ecosystem. Shoppers will be able to search for available vehicles from participating dealers by model, trim, color, and features. Notably, customers will also be able to secure financing and e-sign paperwork via the Amazon Autos site. Once the payment is finalized, customers can schedule when to pick up their vehicle from that dealership. When vehicles go on sale at Amazon, the local dealer (for now just Hyundai dealers) will be the seller of record. Amazon Autos will even handle trade ins.
no games, no hidden fees, no dealer bs at pickup? (Score:4, Interesting)
no games, no hidden fees, no dealer bs at pickup?
Re: no games, no hidden fees, no dealer bs at pick (Score:2)
Will be like other crooked Amazon sellers (Score:1)
The car you ordered will be out of stock... or the dealer will insist on his loan and insurance, or "require" additional junk like undercoating, paint protection, anti-theft, etc.
Re: (Score:2)
In the UK the price you pay has little to do with the list price of the car, unless it's Tesla because they are the only ones who sell online exclusively via their own website.
So it really depends if Amazon offers good discounts or not.
Re: no games, no hidden fees, no dealer bs at pick (Score:2, Troll)
Voluntary intermediary injection (Score:1)
This is the thin end of the wedge. Not long before AI agents negotiate the optimal price for the features you want, find the best loan rates (based on your credit score and bank balance), and have the car delivered to your door.
Re: (Score:2)
This is the thin end of the wedge. Not long before AI agents negotiate the optimal price for the features you want, find the best loan rates (based on your credit score and bank balance), and have the car delivered to your door.
I sure hope the AI asks me first whether I even want a car.
Re: (Score:2)
This is the thin end of the wedge. Not long before AI agents negotiate the optimal price for the features you want, find the best loan rates (based on your credit score and bank balance), and have the car delivered to your door.
I sure hope the AI asks me first whether I even want a car.
Greetings. This is your AI financial advisor. Since we saw you were saving up and had a few extra dollars in your account, we assumed you must be saving for a large expense. As the only large expense that makes sense to us today is the automobile that our owners say we should be pushing this month, we've went ahead and placed an order for you. Expect delivery in there to ten months, depending on availability. Your account will be charged today. Thank you for using AI financial services, where the service is
Re: (Score:2)
With an abundance of cheap chinese knock-offs sold by a random company name generator. A warranty that’s worthless after 3 mos because the company no longer is listed.
Same old, same old (Score:2)
There's no cutting the middleman out of the deal. Gotta deal with a stealership.
Maybe Tesla's concept will take off? (Score:2)
The one good thing about Tesla is that you go to their website, find the vehicle, purchase it, and it gets emailed to you in a few days. No dealer shenanigans, no jacking around with trade-in values/interest rates/vehicle cost, no running back and forth to some "floor manager", and no "we undercharged you $1000" BS. What you see is what you get. No $10,000 over MSRP crap. What you see is what you pay.
Just that fact alone makes them worth considering. My last vehicle, I bought it through my insurance co
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
Exactly, the dealer model is mandatory in a lot of states. That's why Amazon has to partner with those dealers.
Re: (Score:1)
As it is currently, the manufacturer gets none of this feedback (unless you are a famous Youtube reviewer) and neither do other customers.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm guessing you've never researched a vehicle on edmunds.com or cars.com before making a purchase. You can also rate your vehicles and include things like comfort, interior, exterior, road noise, ease of use, etc.
Both Edmunds and Cars have been around for a long time so I'm not sure if Amazon will have a rating system with the same depth, but being Amazon, people are probably used to leaving feedback there. I'm not sure if manufacturers read the reviews at Edmunds or Cars, or if they will start doing so
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Some insurance companies, banks, credit cards, and even Costco have car buying programs available to some degree. In my limited experience, it didn't work very well, but that's likely because I was looking for a car that Toyota doesn't sell in my state (Prius Prime) and the car purchase program was limited to dealers within 25 miles of my residence. On the other hand, if you're looking to upgrade and have a car style and features in mind, but aren't set on brand or model, it would work very well because y
Re: (Score:2)
you go to their website, find the vehicle, purchase it, and it gets emailed to you in a few days
That seems like a nifty service. Too bad I'm morally opposed to downloading cars.
Re: Maybe Tesla's concept will take off? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
What technology do they use to email the vehicle to you?
Re: (Score:2)
no jacking around with trade-in values
First hand experience says that's not true. They undercut my initial trade in quote by $2,000 after I reserved the car (trading a 3 for a Y). I declined to complete the sale with the risk of losing a $250 deposit. It took about a week of getting phone calls from Tesla sales before they decided to restate the trade in. It even went up a tiny bit from the original.
That was probably an unusual experience but I stuck to my guns and was willing to lose the deposit and keep my 3 - a car I liked. I'm sure there ar
Under the hood (Score:2)
Hopefully the parts used to make them won't be from Honnda or Nisan, and the batteries will have the right number of cells...
I can't wait to buy that QINXLUNFT-branded car (Score:4, Insightful)
with 100,000 positive AI-generated reviews.
Re: (Score:2)
Can always tell when someone didn't actually read the article (or even the summary) but thinks they're funny anyway.
Re: (Score:2)
Interior by Coofandy, LOL
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Haha, you got ripped off. Those are actually a knockoff of OINXLUNFT cars.
points (Score:2)
Wow, that's going to be a lot of kickback dollars on my credit card.
Nice racket (Score:2)