Today’s tech-savvy consumers are looking for convenience wherever their shopping journeys may take them.
Meaning the traditional buying models for many industries just aren’t cutting it anymore – and now you can add the long-standing car dealership model to the list.
Ernie Garcia, founder and CEO of Carvana, put it simply: Consumers today are looking for a better way to buy a car. Unfortunately, the traditional process of dealing with a car dealership can come with inefficiencies and lack of transparency that Garcia said shoppers are ready to trade in for something new.
“When you look back at how consumer buying has changed to favor online, on-demand purchases, while still mandating quality and good customer service, we feel confident that now is the time for car buying to undergo a similar revolution,” Garcia explained.
Carvana, an online car-selling startup focused on bringing digital disruption to the auto retailer market, recently opened up a fully automated, coin-operated car Vending Machine in Nashville, Tennessee.
It’s one thing to take car buying online, but to integrate the vending machine concept into the pickup process is something Garcia said is sure to be a “one-of-a-kind experience that mirrors just how simple and easy we’ve made it to buy a car online.”
Purchasing a vehicle via Carvana typically takes just 30 minutes.
After submitting the necessary paperwork and down payment information, reviewing the contracts and then electronically signing everything online, a consumer is done with the process.
For those who opt to retrieve their newly purchased vehicle via the Vending Machine, they simply go to the multi-story structure, which is a glass tower storing up to 20 cars, and select their name from a kiosk inside the machine.
From there they insert a Carvana-branded 3-inch coin into the custom coin slot to kickstart the vending process. Then, their car is automatically retrieved using robotic platforms and moved through the machine using automated parking technology until it reaches a delivery bay where it can be picked up.
“We are delighted to launch the world’s first, fully automated, coin-operated car Vending Machine,” Garcia said in a press release announcing the Vending Machine launch.
“Carvana created the original car Vending Machine concept in Atlanta in 2013, and we’ve spent the last two years taking this experience to a whole new level,” he added.
By positioning itself as a true alternative to the traditional dealerships consumers have come to expect dealing with during the car buying experience, Garcia said Carvana is looking to give consumers everything needed to purchase a vehicle on their own terms and at their convenience.
Though Carvana has confirmed plans to bring its Car Vending Machines to as many markets as possible in the coming years, it’s still unable to say exactly where the next tower may pop up.
“People are already looking for alternatives to dealerships and will continue to do so, and that’s what Carvana is,” Garcia added.
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The PYMNTS.com Unattended Retail TrackerTM, powered by USA Technologies, tracks the movers and shakers in this space, and ranks and scores the providers using this new channel to respond to changing consumer needs. We’ve sliced this ecosystem into the distinct categories that make sense for our audience: Food & Beverage, Vending, Service Vending, Remote Retail, Parking, and Restaurant & Hospitality.
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