Select car, insert coin, take delivery
Imagine just dropping a coin in a slot, and the vending machine pops out a, well, car. That may seem like a pretty far-fetched idea, but it just might be the wave of the future as an online dealership called Carvana has already placed several auto vending machines.
“Carvana is the new way of buying a car,” said Ryan Keeton, chief brand officer and co-founder of Carvana. “So we are always looking for opportunities to expand our services in new or existing markets, including the construction of new Car Vending Machines.”
The automated, vertical auto-selling concept already is in place in Nashville, Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas, and the company is exploring putting one into Tempe, Ariz., in the near future. The company could not say if it was looking at putting one in New Mexico anytime soon.
The way it works, however, is car buyers select a car from carvana.com after examining 360-degree virtual images of the car, which detail every inch of the vehicle — inside, outside and under the hood.
After buying the vehicle, it can either be delivered – sometimes in as quick as 20 minutes — or take a custommade coin to the vending machine and insert it.
The coins then begin a process in which a robotic arm snags the vehicle, and another robot delivers the car down the vending machine ramps to the buyer.
The nine-story vending machine requires a significantly smaller footprint than a traditional car lot, company officials say. Most dealerships require 10 to 20 acres, but Carvana’s concept would require only about two or three acres.
Vehicles range from economy Smart car models for about $5,000 on up to something extravagant such as a $53,000 2015 Maserati.
DriveTime founder Ernie Garcia II is one of the main investors in the Arizonabased Carvana that operates in 21 metro areas across the country. Established in 2012, the publicly traded company has enjoyed a large upsurge in sales, jumping from 6,523 in 2015 to 18,761 in 2016.