You can now buy a car from Amazon. Yes, along with your batteries and kitchen appliances and smart home accessories, you can buy an actual, real, working automobile.
Currently it’s just from one manufacturer, Hyundai, and it’s also only in 48 cities across the United States.
“With Amazon Autos, we’re bringing the simplicity and ease customers expect from Amazon to car shopping, one of their largest purchases, while offering dealers a new channel to connect with a broad audience,” Amazon’s global head of automotive Fan Jin said in a statement. “We’re partnering with dealers and brands to redesign car shopping—making it more transparent, convenient, and customer-friendly.”
The initiative is in conjunction with, not competition to, local Hyundai dealers. Here’s how it works:
- Search Amazon for the car you like, including model, color, features
- Get financing, also on Amazon
- Sign the paperwork digitally
- Select a day and time to pick up the vehicle from a local dealership
It’s not exactly Amazon’s famous one-click buying process: Amazon says customers can “complete their order with a few clicks. “ But it’s a big difference from old-school car lots and tense hours spent in front of a salesperson’s desk. (Not to mention the frequent trips to the sales manager to authorize discounts or pressure you into additional options.)
And Amazon says it’s haggle-free, with transparent pricing.
“The price customers see at check-out is the price they pay, inclusive of all taxes and fees,” Amazon says.
“This experience really positions dealers for success in the modernizing economy,” says Steven Suh, a general sales manager for Hyundai. “”Listing our inventory on Amazon is a game-changer for how we connect with car buyers.”
And your trade-in? Amazon will ask you a variety of questions, and then offer an amount provided by an independent third party. You can drop off your trade-in car when you pick up your new Hyundai.
Tesla, of course, was the original innovator in how to buy cars in the smartphone era, and still has an arguably simpler process that people have used to literally buy a car from the company’s app. Tesla also doesn’t have dealerships, which can make buying a Tesla hard in states that privilege car dealerships.
