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The amount is already being spent — but it's spent in the much more valuable currency of time right now. Buying a car is a nightmarish process of emailing/call
by q7xvh97o2pDhNrh 3y ago
The amount is already being spent — but it's spent in the much more valuable currency of time right now.
Buying a car is a nightmarish process of emailing/calling dealers, making the rounds (often in person) to see what variations/colors are in stock, building spreadsheets of numbers, sanity-checking prices by surfing various online forums, and eventually facilitating your own personal local bidding war to decide which dealer gets your business.
It takes weeks — and, even after that's done, the actual process of physically buying the car is another multi-hour slog of paperwork, shuffling through an endless series of drab fluorescent-lit offices as you physically sign things on literal pen and paper like a caveman. Why?
There's no rational reason that buying a car can't be as easy as buying anything else online. It should be about as much work as ordering a pizza — go to the web site, pick your options, punch in your credit card number, and get a live tracking page that shows your order being put together and then delivered to your door in realtime.
I think most people would gladly pay a healthy premium to have that kind of streamlined experience instead of having to endure their own personal multi-week Homeric odyssey.
- jjav 3y ago> The amount is already being spent — but it's spent in the much more valuable currency of time right now. > It takes weeks This doesn't jive with your willingness to spend 20% more for the same car as a direct sale. The dealer experience can take weeks if you want it to, because you want to comparison shop and negotiate to the last penny. Some people enjoy this (I hate it). But if you're willing to pay more, you can be in and out in an hour. Walk to the closest dealer, point at a car and say you want it and will pay the price in the window sticker. Zero searching or negotiating, fill paperwork and drive out. It won't even cost you +20% over the best negotiable price, although you will pay a bit extra for the convenience.
- jpalawaga 3y agoOk, you can pay the healthy premium and streamline the process by removing all of the bits that you’ve deemed necessary but aren’t. If I asked you to buy a certain vehicle today and gave you MSRP+20%, I’m sure you’d drive off the lot today, with plenty of time to do other things. I’ve watched someone walk onto a showroom floor and buy a car from the lot like that. It wasn’t too complicated. You’re complicating it if you’re actually willing to pay the premium.
- boppo1 3y agomakes me wonder how no one has tried to offer this. How did Carvana fail?
- underseacables 3y agoCarvana is used cars only. The problem is the restriction on new cars.
- natch 3y agoI guess not everyone knows about it, but someone does offer it. On tesla.com you can order a car in about 5 minutes including the time it takes to put in your email and choose a password.
- natch 3y agotesla.com, five minutes and you have a car on the way.