In an ongoing effort to prove that one can buy anything online that they can in a physical location, Amazon is offering a rather unusual perk to California-based Prime members: a Hyundai.
Well, OK, not for keeps, but going forward Prime members who would like to test drive a Hyundai Elantra for about an hour in the greater Los Angeles area will be able to do so due to a joint promotion running in the last few weeks in August.
Called Prime Now, Drive Now the new tie-in, will let customers borrow a 2017 Hyundai Elantra for a 45-minute to 60-minute test drive. Amazon will deliver the car within two hours of the initial request.
Subscribers who give the test drive a roll will be directed to return to the car to their local Hyundai dealer — and who knows, they might even buy the car.
The clever part of the plan is Hyundai taking away a big piece of friction that faces most customers contemplating a new car: the simple fact they don’t actually want to have to go to a dealership, talk to a commission-based sales guy and wait around to test drive the car while drinking bad coffee and sitting in an uncomfortable chair.
Amazon, on the other hand, basically gets a promotion and a way to earn a few extra points with its high-spending customers — all without having to actually do much logistically. It is not known what financial agreement has been struck between the two firms. However, experts have noted that Amazon is usually pretty good at getting paid for the benefits it supplies third-party merchants, and it would be unsurprising if they collect a tiny piece of the action should the Prime test drive yield an uptick in sales.
Will there be more of these to come? Depends on how this very limited pilot goes. If it works, we imagine there will be a lot more chances in a lot more places to Prime Now, Drive Now.
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