Amazon Vehicles • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon Vehicles

#41

Post by redblacktree » Thu, Aug 25, 2016, 7:19 PM UTC

webwanderings wrote: post #32

I was just wondering yesterday, if there is a service out there, which would let me see the type and model of cars which are popular, and most-bought? I assume there must be such a dataset available somewhere through government sources? Or perhaps not. Such a data could be a valuable service based on crowd's wisdom. Amazon here seems to provide public comments, which is generally available via Google.

Also would be handy to make sure you're buying something with good parts availability.

Re: Amazon Vehicles

#42

Post by mikeevans » Thu, Aug 25, 2016, 7:20 PM UTC

Waiting for the time that I can referral link a car purchase.

Re: Amazon Vehicles

#43

Post by overcast » Thu, Aug 25, 2016, 7:21 PM UTC

hardwaresofton wrote: post #27

Yes please. Anything that will get us closer to direct-to-consumer sales of cars. I'm ready for car dealerships to be a relic of the past.

Seriously. My last car (BMW) from seven years ago, I did entirely through email. Sent a handful of dealerships their cost sheet with the options I wanted, until I got the price I was looking for. Few months later when it was built and shipped from Germany, I drove my old car to the dealership, and drove off with the new one. Done.

As an aside, I just ordered a mattress site unseen from an online only company, and it turned out to be one of the best mattresses I've ever slept in. https://www.saatva.com/ $1000 for the luxury firm Queen, and that included shipping and taking the old one.

Re: Amazon Vehicles

#44

Post by jamiesonbecker » Thu, Aug 25, 2016, 7:22 PM UTC

qntty wrote: post #24

How do I buy one? I don't see an "add to cart" button anywhere.

Via the aptly named Amazon Dash buttons* or by saying "Alexa... I wish I had a red Ferrari."

* keep away from pets and small children

Re: Amazon Vehicles

#45

Post by redblacktree » Thu, Aug 25, 2016, 7:22 PM UTC

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #8

I wonder how long it will take until you can buy a house on Amazon.

You used to be able to buy a house out of the Sears catalog. Of course, some assembly was required.

Re: Amazon Vehicles

#46

Post by hacknat » Thu, Aug 25, 2016, 7:26 PM UTC

hardwaresofton wrote: post #27

Yes please. Anything that will get us closer to direct-to-consumer sales of cars. I'm ready for car dealerships to be a relic of the past.

Kind of. I like centralized service though. I can take my Toyota into any Toyota dealership in the US and they can bring up all the service records on my car. Within the 100k mile warranty every Toyota dealership has to fix, for free, any issue I have that isn't glass, brakes, tires, or body. It's a pretty substantial perk.

Re: Amazon Vehicles

#47

Post by ejcx » Thu, Aug 25, 2016, 7:28 PM UTC

I think it would be great to buy a car from Amazon. The WYSISYG pricing is something missing from car buying. Negotiating a car price can be a lot of fun if you're a good negotiator, but people who aren't might love this.

It also gives you a tool for negotiating if you DO plan to take the offer in to a local dealership.

Re: Amazon Vehicles

#48

Post by djcapelis » Thu, Aug 25, 2016, 7:32 PM UTC

simonsarris wrote: post #4

Before you laugh that you'd never use this to buy a car, it may be worth taking the time to find your make/model and add it to your "Garage" on amazon. Amazon will then try to confirm or not if the cabin air filter you are about to buy is a correct fit for your car. Amazon tries to do the same thing with camera gear. At least, that's the theory. In practice you still need to do 100% of the due diligence or you'll end…

I did this awhile ago with my old car and found it tried to tell me whether a bunch of random non-car electronics parts I was buying were compatible with my car. Which was a bit cluttering.

It is an interesting feature and sometimes useful, but like you I found that when I even was buying car parts it wasn't always on the ball about whether or not the part I was looking at was compatible. I believe I remember errors in both the false positive and false negative directions, so I stopped trusting it's screening capabilities really at all and mostly have ignored it since.

It's motorcycle part match is an even larger adventure.

Re: Amazon Vehicles

#49

Post by jpgunter » Thu, Aug 25, 2016, 7:35 PM UTC

dchuk wrote: post #5

How do they already have so many reviews and content for this? Private Beta? Pulled from other sources?

They've had the ability to leave review for months now on their "Your Garage" page.

Re: Amazon Vehicles

#50

Post by Analemma_ » Thu, Aug 25, 2016, 7:36 PM UTC

hardwaresofton wrote: post #27

Yes please. Anything that will get us closer to direct-to-consumer sales of cars. I'm ready for car dealerships to be a relic of the past.

The thing is, we almost had this already with Saturn. There were dealerships, but all the cars had fixed prices- no haggling- so it was almost direct-to-consumer, with a bit of added tax for the useless middleman. It was great! But it built up too much resentment at the rest of GM so it had to be killed. It sucks that we're just now starting to get the future we already had, but better late than never.