In my experience, trying to buy a car online actually <i>increases</i> the cost and time and frustration.<p>So does buying a car outright. They will actually pay you (additional rebates) to finance a new car in a lot of cases.<p>There is so much counter intuitative gamesmanship going on in this industry, I doubt Amazon or anyone else can really fix it.<p>Two of their favorite tricks are "dealer added equipment" and "documentation fees". If you pay either of these, you are getting screwed. They are few and far between but it is possible to find dealerships that don't play these games.<p>For example, "Nitro tires" for $400 --- is just air. Air is more than 70 percent nitrogen. They are actually charging you a good chunk of money to put air in the tires.<p>Other examples include "Diamond plating" for $400 --- it's just wax. Scotchgard on the seats for $400 --- is just a spray can that may or may not have been applied (how do you really know?).<p>I've seen vehicles on the lot with $2-3000 of this BS added to price of the vehicle. Of course, these last minute additions often aren't included in the price you find online.
This happens every time Amazon announces something and is a great opportunity to buy on the cheap as Amazon fails a year later.<p>See online pharmacies, health care, real estate (!), loans.
It's only a matter of time before Amazon's car sales section is filled with vehicles from BSTCARZ or GREENCARR or their Alibaba dropshipping ilk.
Good riddance. Carvana was a nightmare of vehicle issues, months late trade-in payoff and revolving door customer support. I truly hope they go out of business.