Hertz Car Sales announced in a Wednesday (Aug. 20) news release that it had joined Amazon Autos, letting shoppers search for, finance and buy pre-owned vehicles in a collaboration that combines Hertz’s inventory with the tech giant’s shopping/checkout expertise.
The company says it’s part of a broader transformation plan that includes making tech-focused partnerships to improve the customer experience.
“Our goal is to reimagine the car-buying experience and meet customers where they are – whether online or in person – with convenience, confidence and scale,” said Jeff Adams, executive vice president of Hertz Car Sales.
“Amazon Autos is the ideal partner to help us deliver on this as customers can shop our expansive inventory of high-quality used cars on the same trusted marketplace where millions shop every day.”
The partnership makes Hertz Amazon Autos’ first fleet dealer, letting customers browse Hertz Car Sales listings on Amazon Autos, make their purchase online and pick up their vehicle at Hertz Car Sales locations. The program is launching in Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Seattle, with plans to expand to Hertz Car Sales’ 45 locations around the country.
Advertisement: Scroll to Continue
The news comes two weeks after Amazon Autos began offering used vehicles, starting with Los Angeles-based Hyundai dealers, with plans to expand to other automotive brands and cities in the coming months.
Prior to this, PYMNTS noted in a report, Amazon let users research vehicles and referred them to auto dealers, but did not sell cars directly to consumers. That changed last year when Amazon teamed with Hyundai to sell the company’s new vehicles.
JPMorgan analyst Rajat Gupta views Amazon’s latest move as “essentially providing an alternative lead generation channel for new and used car dealers,” according to TipRanks.
Gupta sees “minimal risk of disintermediation of the dealer channel given the complexities involved in franchise regulations and used car sourcing and reconditioning as well as the criticality of a robust service network.”
Beyond that, the analyst argued that dealers are “unlikely” to list their inventory without a guarantee of finance and insurance commissions.
These partnerships are happening at a time when tariffs are placing pressure on auto dealers, with a scramble by consumers to buy new vehicles before the new levies set in fading as summer went on.
“The party is over,” Jonathan Smoke, chief economist for researcher Cox Automotive, told Bloomberg News last month. “It’s clearly slowing. It’s because of affordability getting worse and forcing what we think will be production declines to keep supply in balance.”
