Today, for the first time, you can buy a car — yes, a whole car — on Amazon. Same-day delivery not guaranteed.
The e-commerce giant’s first foray into car shopping is called Amazon Auto. The company is partnering with Hyundai dealers in 48 cities in the US to list vehicles on the site. Customers can browse, order, find financing, and arrange delivery — all within the familiar confines of Amazon’s online ecosystem.
Of course, if you’re looking for anything other than a Hyundai, you’re out of luck. At least for now.
“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,” Fran Jin, global head of Amazon Autos, said in a statement. “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.”
Amazon first announced its plans to get into car buying last year, Previously, customers could browse car showrooms and compare prices on Amazon — but not actually buy a car. With the partnership with Hyundai, Amazon has finally added a key piece of the puzzle. And importantly, the end seller of the vehicle is still the dealer; Amazon’s platform will be the middleman between the customer and the dealership.
As such, Amazon needs to appeal to dealers almost as much as it does to car shoppers. The company is making its pitch by arguing that it can offer “a new sales channel that connects them with millions of Amazon customers.” And with over 310 million active users, Amazon certainly has the numbers to back it up.
Trade-ins will also be accepted through Amazon’s new car vertical. Customers will have to answer a series of questions about the conditions of the vehicle, after which the request will be processed by an “independent valuation service” to determine the value of the trade-in.
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Screenshot: Amazon Autos
And for a limited time, Amazon is sweetening the deal by offering a gift card for $2,300 for anyone who buys a car through the site. The card can be applied to the vehicle purchase, but the offer ends on January 10th, 2025.
People typically hate car shopping, with most surveys showing that the dealership experience tops people’s lists of frustrations. Tesla has helped spearhead a movement toward a direct-to-consumer (DTC) model in which people buy their vehicles directly from the company, eschewing a dealership.
Forty-eight states have laws that limit or ban manufacturers from selling vehicles directly to consumers — though that has started to shift recently thanks to Tesla’s popularity. Tesla has no independent dealerships, but dealership associations in multiple states have filed numerous lawsuits against Tesla to prevent the company from selling cars.
Amazon’s deal with Hyundai neatly sidesteps this issue by ensuring that dealers remain a crucial part of the process. Most dealers allow customers to browse and buy a car through their own websites, but having Amazon as an additional platform with millions of daily customers is sure to help make the process even easier.