Today, online auto dealer Carvana launched in Austin, its seventh market nationwide and third in Texas. It’s one of several companies using technology to make car buying easier, but the only one to take the Jimmy John’s approach and allow customers to order online for quick delivery of their brand new car.
If you’re out of range for delivery, Carvana will even reimburse up to $200 of your airfare for you to fly to a self-service “vending machine” in Atlanta (shown below) and drive home in your new ride. The company plans to build vending machines in other market cities, but hasn't yet revealed which ones.
“We’ve seen an incredible response,” CEO Ernie Garcia said in a statement. “Our mission is to give people everywhere a better way to buy a car. Austin is huge step toward that goal.”
The positive response wasn’t a surprise. A recent online Harris Poll of Texas residents over the age of 18 found that one third of them were willing to purchase a car 100 percent online.
To capitalize on that trend, Carvana is tapping into consumers’ frustration with car dealerships, one of the few remaining shopping experiences led by a salesperson on commission in the e-commerce era.
The company doesn’t offer native mobile apps, but the site is responsive and scales comfortably to most screens. Using a series of menus and checkboxes, you can quickly filter cars by make and model, then select several to compare side by side. The site compares the Kelley Blue Book price of each car to Carvana’s price, demonstrating savings as modest as $70 to a few thousand dollars.
You can save cars to a virtual garage as you shop, and invite friends and family to vote on the options. Then, you can take your favorite for a seven-day test drive, another nod to a famed tech company model — Warby Parker.
Starting today, Austin car buyers can purchase cars for local delivery. Carvana’s inventory was slim on our test drive, but the company said they’re adding 50-75 cars per week to keep up with demand.
Carvana is refunding delivery fees for Austin-based early adopters who have already made purchases through the site.
