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Everyone wants to avoid the aggravation of battling with car dealers when it comes time to buy a new car. Now Amazon Autos is here to take some of the sting out of the process. There are some people who love haggling, but they are rare. In the late 80s, Saturn attempted to make the sales process more customer-friendly with its no haggle policy. Then Tesla moved the needle even further when it started selling its cars online. Rivian has followed Tesla’s lead by selling its vehicles online. Volkswagen is making noises about cutting its dealers out of the loop when it begins selling its new Scout branded vehicles in the US.
Amazon is taking a middle path. Instead of trying to push dealers out of the sales process entirely, it has created Amazon Autos to make the process as easy as ordering any of the thousands of other items it sells online. As of December 11, 2024, vehicle shoppers in 48 US cities can browse, order, finance, and schedule pickup of a new Hyundai vehicle from their local participating dealer directly on Amazon. The full list of cities is included at the bottom of the Amazon announcement. “Amazon Autos offers online automotive shopping from Hyundai dealers across major metropolitan areas nationwide,” the company says. “We continue to add more Hyundai dealerships, and next year, we will roll out additional manufacturers, brands, cities, and new functionality. ”
With Amazon Autos, customers have a simple, end-to-end online experience to purchase their next vehicle, allowing them to:
- Browse and search for available vehicles at their local dealer by make, model, trim, color, and features
- Get an instant valuation and trade in their existing vehicle toward the price of the new car
- See transparent, upfront pricing
- Secure financing or pay in full
- Complete the checkout process online
- Schedule a pick-up time at the dealership
All of this is done within the convenient Amazon experience customers know and trust, providing a streamlined and transparent car buying process from search to purchase. “We’re partnering with dealers and brands to redesign car shopping — making it more transparent, convenient, and customer-friendly,” said Fan Jin, global head of Amazon Autos. “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. We’re excited to have Hyundai as our exclusive launch partner and look forward to welcoming more brands and expanding our selection to customers as the program grows. It’s still early for us and we welcome customer and dealer feedback as we continue to add new functionality, expand to additional brands, and iterate on the customer experience.”
For dealers, Amazon Autos offers a new sales channel that connects them with millions of Amazon customers. By streamlining the initial browsing and purchasing steps online, Amazon Autos enables dealers to focus on the most exciting part of the journey — the moment when customers pick up their new car at the dealership. This in-person experience lays the foundation for deep customer loyalty and trusted, long term relationships, the company says.
A Convenient, Streamlined Experience With Amazon Autos
With Amazon Autos, customers can search available vehicles from local participating dealers by model, trim, color, features, and more, all in one place. Once customers select a vehicle, they can secure financing, e-sign paperwork, and complete their order with a few clicks. After finalizing their payment information, customers will select a day and time to pick up their new car from that local dealership. Amazon Autos provides transparent pricing from local dealers, eliminating the need for negotiation. The price customers see at check-out is the price they pay, inclusive of all taxes and fees.
Trade-ins are handled seamlessly online as well. Customers can get a firm trade-in value for their current vehicle by answering questions about the vehicle’s condition. The value, which is provided by an independent third party, can then be applied toward the purchase price of their new car through Amazon Autos, which streamlines the process within the familiar Amazon shopping experience. At the dealership, customers complete the process by dropping off their trade-in when picking up their new vehicle. Vehicle shopping and purchases happen directly within the Amazon store with familiar features like customer reviews, dealership reviews, add to cart, and the simplicity of the Amazon checkout process.
“Listing our inventory on Amazon is a game changer for how we connect with car buyers,” said Steven Suh, general sales manager of South Bay Hyundai in Torrance, California. “It allows us to showcase our vehicles to millions of daily shoppers, while setting our pricing upfront. We can now reach a large local audience with the convenient and transparent experience customers expect when shopping with Amazon. Customers come in excited to pick up their new car and we can build on those customer relationships from there. This experience really positions dealers for success in the modernizing economy.”
Initially, Amazon Autos will feature new Hyundai vehicles, whether gasoline-powered, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, or battery-electric. It expects to expand online car buying to include additional automotive brands next year, which will broaden the selection of vehicles available to customers. It will also add functionality such as leasing and expanded financing options, as well as extend the offering to more US cities. Customers in the 48 available cities can shop for new Hyundai vehicles by visiting amazon.com/autos, searching “Amazon Autos” on Amazon.com, or through the mobile app.
Simple & Straightforward
Inside EVs reports the process is as simple and straightforward as it appears. When a customer clicks “shop available cars,” a list of available Hyundai models nearby, complete with photos, appears. So far, this is nearly identical to what someone looking for a new car on Cars.com, AutoTrader, or another online marketplace would experience, but those platforms are for browsing. Amazon Autos is for buying. After searching for the car they want and filtering by various colors, features, and options, the customer simply clicks “begin purchase” and is taken to a window where they can arrange financing or pay in full. For now, leasing is not an available option, which is a negative for electric car shoppers because the federal tax credit is available to customers who lease models that do not qualify for the rebate if purchased outright. Hyundai often has attractive leasing programs, but for now customers will need to visit a dealer to arrange for one.
One thing we appreciate here at CleanTechnica is a well developed sense of humor. The photo below shows that Amazon also is not above being playful, although younger readers may not get the reference. Amazon Autos represents a sea change in how Americans buy new cars. By collaborating with dealers rather then butting heads with them, everybody can be a winner in this new online shopping paradigm. Other manufacturers should be on the phone to Amazon right now this very minute asking how they too can get their cars on the Amazon Autos platform. Game changer is a much overworked descriptor, but Amazon Autos certainly seems to be worthy of that designation.
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