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Amazon Vehicles

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111–120 of 258 posts

Re: Amazon Vehicles

#112

Has anyone used Costco to buy a new vehicle? Their program isn't direct or anything, but you're supposed to get better prices than working with a dealership directly. I've been curious how much below invoice they are. The closest one is 4 hours away from me, so I'm not a member (and can't see prices).

I went through Costco's vehicle program last year when we bought our Toyota Sienna (used). It was pretty painless and we got a good deal on the van. Definitely worth checking out.

Re: Amazon Vehicles

#113
Serious question. What exactly is new here? I've used the My Garage to buy part from amzn before. Did they add a new homepage for My Garage? Some of the comments are suggesting this is a one-click direct car shopping but doesn't seem to be. Just wondering if I missed something.

Re: Amazon Vehicles

#114
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Car owners volunteer their cars for test drives and get a kickback if the customer purchases that model? Essentially crowd sourced micro-commissions, that's brilliant.

I dunno have you seen the average person take a car for a test drive? Half the times they don't really want to buy it and just want to play with it. I don't know that I would want tens or hundreds of people in my [figurative] Tesla, possibly beating it up only for a chance at some sort of small kickback. Then again I didn't think Uber could work and now I take them all the time so who knows!

The kickback has to be large enough to make it worthwhile. You might not do it for $100, but maybe for $1000?

Re: Amazon Vehicles

#115
This will be a... clarifying moment for eBay. I make my living on eBay and gross about 10x the average USA wage. Used stuff is involved. eBay once loveed people who bought and sold used stuff. They are one of the biggest used car venues in the world. They want to sell new stuff and become Amazon. Now Amazon is beating eBay on its own turf. Maybe eBay will have to remember their roots and start taking care of both its sellers and its end users in the used stuff sector.

Re: Amazon Vehicles

#116
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I never understood the appeal of Saturn. I mean, every dealership has the option of "no-haggle" if you walk in and pay the sticker price.

Saturn's sticker price was fair - as opposed to other car makes having their sticker price as "we would make a killing if someone bought it at this price."

Re: Amazon Vehicles

#118
post #47

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.

> The WYSISYG pricing is something missing from car buying.

You can do this on most manufacturer's sites. Just configure the vehicle and print out the result. Unless it's an extremely hot vehicle, they will give you that price since most people are trying to haggle below that price.

The real problem is inventory. You're not likely going to find one with exactly what you want, and you can order one at that price but then you're 1-4+ months before it arrives. That's fine if you've got a lease ending soon and can plan for it, but when I buy a new car it's usually because my current car has a problem and I can't really wait more than a month.

They need to figure out how to shorten lead times (perhaps making more options dealer installed), or change the way inventory is ordered/stored so Dealers aren't all ordering the same thing (which I don't blame them for doing).

Re: Amazon Vehicles

#119

This will be a... clarifying moment for eBay. I make my living on eBay and gross about 10x the average USA wage. Used stuff is involved. eBay once loveed people who bought and sold used stuff. They are one of the biggest used car venues in the world. They want to sell new stuff and become Amazon. Now Amazon is beating eBay on its own turf. Maybe eBay will have to remember their roots and start taking care of both its…

Absolutely, ebay dug their own grave by treating its sellers poorly. I think amazon is also digging their own grave by becoming ebay, but more because the customers are expecting amazon customer service and keep getting referred to lousy third party sellers to fix problems. Third party sellers on amazon are often gaming the review system and even selling counterfeit products, not something amazon customers are expecting when they think they're ordering from the online equivalent of wal-mart.

Re: Amazon Vehicles

#120
post #36
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

easy. just crowdsource the test drives.

Car owners volunteer their cars for test drives and get a kickback if the customer purchases that model? Essentially crowd sourced micro-commissions, that's brilliant.

I think you'd have to give a small kickback just for the test drive, but if the owner goes with them (and presumably does a good job selling them on the car) then the owner gets a bigger commission for a sale.

I would actually prefer this to a dealership since a real owner probably knows that one car he/she drives everyday way better than the lazy sales guy who is trying to sell 10 different models and rarely drives them himself.

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