Amazon is selling Cars

[pslam]

First note in the small print:

"1. All prices are Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP). MSRP excludes destination and handling charges, tax, title, license and options. Dealer sets actual price."

Dealer sets actual price. So it's still sold via a dealership. What a crazy country with crazy laws.

[Zikes]

But the dealers are there to protect consumers from mean old manufacturers!

/s

[gesman]

So they use Amazon as an ad space?

[dekhn]

It's a dealer referral service.

Call me when I can do a one-click buy with car delivered to house, from Amazon.

[runako]

carOrder.com spent ~$100m trying to bust the regulations that prevent this from happening. Spoiler: it failed.

http://wardsauto.com/news-amp-analysis/carordercom-calls-it-...

[scrabble]

I heard a story about a year ago of someone making a site online to see if this was viable. People ordered cars, and they would get them from the dealership and truck them to the house.

It wasn't a scalable implementation, but they were just trying to determine if a market even existed -- and it did.

[climatewarrior2]

That's a great idea for startup, would require tons of capital though. Not to even mention fight the dinosaur model of car dealerships.

[zengr]

eBay Motors [1] is already doing that. Competitive prices via dealers.

[1]: http://www.ebay.com/sch/eBay-Motors-/6000/i.html?LH_BIN=1&_n...

[rblatz]

Not quite 1 click, but we have had people purchase a used car in 13 minutes. Currently we are only in Atlanta, but we are working hard on expanding nationwide.

www.carvana.com

[michaelrbock]

I think online car shopping has a huge potential to grow, especially considering most consumers dislike negotiating at dealerships. That's why Edmunds.com launched the "Price Promise" (http://www.edmunds.com/price-promise.html) that locks you into a price before you ever have to speak to a salesperson.

While we're on the topics of online car shopping, I work for Edmunds.com on the API team (docs here: http://developer.edmunds.com) and we provide all kinds of car data for use in your application (and it's completely free as compared to all of our competitors). Feel free to email me (mbock at edmunds dot com) or comment below if you have any questions.

[rallison]

I would agree it has a huge potential, however a lot of that potential will not be realized until there are regulatory changes with respect to car buying [0].

[0] http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2013/05/25/the-fight-for-...

[gesman]

No BMW in 94404 area code left? :)

[alimoeeny]

I really really wish someone takes the car dealer out as a mandatory part of the equation, I understand many people rely on them but there are people like me who may be better off doing all by themselves

[oniTony]

Mentioned elsewhere in the discussion — Tesla is fighting to take the dealer out of the equation.

[kenrikm]

I was looking for a BuyWithOneClick button and Prime delivery, instant credit approval. It would be awesome to buy cars that way, too bad dealer laws are so screwed up in so many states.

[lmg643]

I'll believe "amazon is selling cars" when:

* price listed on the website is "firm" and non-negotiable

* price on website is way below MSRP

* car comes with 2-day amazon prime delivery :)

* I can get most major models I would want

IMHO referrals back to a dealer are pointless.

from my perspective, the #1 reason shopping for cars sucks (compared to flat panel TV) is that you can't get a price without dealing with a dealer. and yes, even if you call the dealer a consultant. just an awkward conversation all around.

The #2 reason shopping for cars sucks is that unless you're an absolutely savage negotiator, you'll always be wondering whether you could have gotten a better price. the current trend of non-negotiable prices sold by consultants doesn't really change that, i assume it is a clever way to disarm prospective clients.

[MattBearman]

I'd forgotten I'd installed the XKCD substation extension (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6695895). "Amazon is selling Cats" is a much more shocking title.

[iheart2code]

Same here. I am committed, though. Not gonna change it.

[MrZongle2]

I had a good laugh before I realized the extension was at work.

I blame the elf-lords in Washington.

[klinquist]

Note the &tag, someone is making 4% off of this purchase.

[seiji]

Well, not just this purchase, but a percentage of all purchases from anybody who clicks on this link and checks out within two days (if this was the last affiliate code they clicked on).

This link will probably make the poster (or whoever they copied the URL from) a few thousand dollars.

[justhw]

Yep. That's roughly $500-$700. Does Amazon have a cap on aff fees?

[tptacek]

Why would anyone ever take a dealer referral with the price quoted as MSRP? What good would that do you?

[dangrossman]

If you were otherwise already going to buy a Nissan Versa, you can now get a $1000 Amazon gift card thrown in for free. You're still buying from the same local dealer, you're still negotiating the price yourself, you just get this bonus for starting the transaction through Amazon.

[johnmurch]

Due to Dealership laws this will never truely happen that way it should :( Tesla has been fighting this crap tooth and nail. Maybe one day I can click and confirm a car online and have it delivered to my house at a specific day/time that is NOT a 10 hour window like most cable providers

[subpixel]

I worked as an editor at an alt-weekly in 1999. It was a wildly profitable newspaper drunk on the idea that the internet was the future, and the path to the future would be paved with outrageously expensive website projects!

I'm reminded of an all-hands-on deck meeting we had on the loading dock (where trucks unloaded pallets of newspapers, hot of the presses) in which a middle-aged guy who had been promoted from account executive to something like webmaster announced "beginning tomorrow, our readers will be able to purchase a car on our website!".

I can assure you, nobody ever did. (Obviously Amazon is a whole different animal, and buying a car in person still sucks, so more power to them.)

[nivla]

If I knew what I wanted, had already test driven the car and Amazon offered it for less (No tax perhaps?), why wouldn't I get it from Amazon?

Off Topic: I see you appended the referral tag. Good luck grabbing the 4%-8% on it.

[SkyAtWork]

I was there when they did this a long time ago (circa 2000), I believe in conjunction with Greenlight.com - at the time it was a "cars" tab which was basically just third party storefront space. It didn't last as Greenlight (pardon the pun) ran out of gas.

But this certainly seems viable. Costco has a carbuying program that includes baked in discounts and single price point. It is an obvious disintermediation play with nearly-as-obvious existing regulatory complications and entrenched interests.

[brianbreslin]

Actually if someone wanted to really sell cars online, they would need to find a state with super lax dealership regulations and then truck/ship the cars to the consumer. Effectively we could all be buying cars "from wyoming" or wherever.

What would it cost to ship cars to users? $500-1000/car? (across 48 stateS). carmax charges $500 transport fee if you order from a different location than your local one.

[deelowe]

This is what Tesla is trying to do. Of course they are running into a lot of issues.

[kbelbina]

Prime eligible with $3.99 for 1-day?

[freehunter]

No interest for 12 months with the Amazon store card!

[AtTheLast]

I would love to see Amazon and Tesla and a few other companies challenge and disrupt the traditional dealership model.

[lmg643]

i'll believe "amazon is actually selling cars" when i can get: free 2-day delivery of a car at a firm, non-negotiable price that is well below MSRP.

[cjg]

Can I get international delivery?

[aktiur]

Is there free shipping as well?

[JOnAgain]

click the button, typical lead-gen to a dealership