Buy a used car online and pick it up at this 8-story tall vending machine
Buying a car online is one thing. Picking it up at a gigantic vending machine is another.
Carvana, the online shop for used cars, unveiled its newest car vending machine in Tampa, Florida on Thursday. The eight-story structure holds 32 cars for buyers to pick up their online purchases. It's operated using a special oversized coin that you put into the machine, and out comes your car that you picked out and bought online.
For those who can resist a giant vending machine dispensing cars, Carvana can also deliver your online purchase directly to your home. But to experience "buying" your car like a very pricey bag of chips, the company will give you $200 in travel expenses and help arrange transportation from the Tampa International Airport to the vending machine.
This is the eighth vending machine from the 100-percent internet-based car seller. The first one went up in Nashville in 2015 (it was only five-stories high) and others followed in the past three years in Houston, Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, Raleigh, North Carolina, and Jacksonville, Florida.
Ryan Keeton, Carvana co-founder and chief brand officer, said in a call that Carvana is an alternative to traditional car buying. "If people really look forward to going to a dealership and haggling" then the website, home delivery, and vending machines aren't for them.
The vending machines are certainly different from any show room experience. As Keeton said usually "buying a car is not a great experience." And it usually doesn't involve inserting a coin into a high-rise building filled with cars.
In another move from the dealership to the online space, Volvo's Care subscription program is now available straight through the iTunes App Store. To lease a Volvo XC40 go on any Apple device and tour the car, pick out the features and options you want, and pay for the subscription -- all through the app. Then Volvo helps arrange delivery to a local Volvo retailer. It's almost as easy as shopping on Amazon.
Ford introduced an online car shopping portal earlier this month.
Buying a car sure isn't what it used to be.
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
