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You might remember how last year, Amazon announced plans to get together with Hyundai and sell cars. Well, the time has come and so have I, and Amazon sells cars now.

Granted, it’s still a bit limited; currently, their program is only available in 48 U.S. cities. It does, however, allow customers to search the stock at all associated Hyundai dealers in those cities. They can even sort by make, model, color, trim and features, and be presented “transparent, upfront pricing” for their impending purchase. What’s more, buyers can get an instant trade-in evaluation for their car from an “independent third party,” and apply that towards their new car. Customers can also choose financing options through Amazon or pay upfront and schedule a pickup time with the dealer.

The cities Amazon Autos is available in:

1. Atlanta
2. Austin
3. Baltimore
4. Beaumont-Port Arthur
5. Birmingham
6. Boston
7. Champaign/Springfield
8. Charlotte
9. Chicago
10. Cincinnati
11. Cleveland
12. Columbia
13. Columbus
14. Dallas
15. Denver
16. El Paso
17. Fond Du Lac
18. Ft. Myers/Naples
19. Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York
20. Harrisonburg
21. Hartford
22. Houston
23. Indianapolis
24. Jacksonville
25. Los Angeles
26. Miami
27. Milwaukee
28. Minneapolis-St. Paul
29. Nashville
30. New York
31. Orlando
32. Philadelphia
33. Phoenix
34. Pittsburgh
35. Portland
36. Providence
37. Raleigh-Durham
38. Salt Lake City
39. San Antonio
40. San Diego
41. San Francisco
42. Seattle
43. Sheboygan
44. Springfield
45. St. Louis
46. Tampa
47. W. Palm Beach
48. Washington D.C.

Amazon plans to expand on these regions in the coming year. And Hyundai is just the beginning; they plan to partner with many more automakers in the future. And while the service is currently only for new cars, it’s not impossible to imagine the company dipping their toes into the used market.

It’s sort of a win-win for Amazon and Hyundai. Amazon doesn’t have to maintain stock themselves, and Hyundai can snag Amazon shoppers and avoid the whole dealership website and all that associated nonsense themselves. Which is good, because if you’ve never navigated through a dealership website, well, they kinda blow. And that’s taking into consideration that most people (~69%) want to buy their cars online. That’s right; even though everyone knows these dealer sites stink, they still would rather have the option to do this entire thing from home instead of spending anywhere from 2-8 hours in a dealership.

While Amazon is currently leaving the financing to the dealerships and merely acting as a middleman, it’s not hard to imagine they’ll eventually get into financing themselves. It’s big business: according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Americans owe a collective $1.26 trillion in loans to auto lenders. Most of that is shitty subprime loans, which dealers push on buyers constantly; complete mystery why people might want to avoid dealerships.

So this seems to be a great deal for the end user. They can get a car through the familiar Amazon interface, and not deal with soul sucking experience of shopping at a dealership. It’s an absolute win.

Source: Gizmodo

About Author

B. Simmons

Based out of Glendale California, Bryan is a GAMbIT’s resident gaming contributor. Specializing in PC and portable gaming, you can find Bryan on his 3DS playing Monster Hunter or at one of the various conventions throughout the state.

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