CarLotz Opens Hubs Near Seattle And Orlando

Consignment-to-retail pre-owned vehicle marketplace CarLotz said on Tuesday (Feb. 2) that it has opened centers in the Orlando, Florida and Seattle, Washington areas, according to an announcement.

The center near Seattle, which is at 20612 Hwy 99 in Lynnwood, is roughly 15 miles away from downtown Seattle. That location represents the ninth opening for the company and is the firm’s first on the West Coast.

“Our expansion to the west coast is a giant leap in achieving our national expansion mission,” CarLotz Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Michael Bor said in the announcement. “We are particularly excited for Seattle because it is an amazing market filled with early-adopters of disruptive technologies and processes.”

The center in the vicinity of Orlando, which is at 1700 E Merritt Island Causeway in Merritt Island, represents firm’s second post in Florida and the tenth opening as of now.

“Florida has been a successful market for us with a proven track record at our original hub in Tampa, and we are thrilled to be able to provide even more inventory to our guests in Florida,” Bor said in the announcement.

The company said the two openings power its ongoing growth on the heels of its introduction as a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

As previously noted in this space, CarLotz doesn’t, in fact, own the autos that it sells unlike traditional used-car dealers or a number of its competitors.

Instead, the firm markets autos on a “consignment” basis — polishing them up, marketing them on sites such as Cars.com, showing vehicles to purchasers through the web or in person and contending with the paperwork.

Sellers keep owning the autos until they sell, paying the company a $299 upfront fee and a $799 “success fee” when the deals close.

“The traditional dealership model is to buy low and sell high,” Bor told PYMNTS in a recent interview. “Our model is to sell the vehicle for a fair and reasonable price, take a reasonable fee and pay the seller the remainder.”