Carvana Brings Car Vending Machine To Tampa

Marking its second car vending machine in Florida, Carvana has rolled out a new one in Tampa. The machine is eight stories tall and holds up to 32 vehicles, the company said in an announcement.

The machine is the eighth of its kind in the U.S. Carvana already has car vending machines in cities such as Houston, Nashville and Raleigh. The idea behind the machines is to allow consumers to skip the car dealership and use Carvana’s website to shop through 10,000 vehicles. Alternatively, customers can opt to have their cars delivered. Either way, Carvana allows its customers to test-own a vehicle, with the option for a full refund if they are not satisfied.

Carvana operates differently from most other car dealerships, used or new. Employees inspect, touch up and photograph the cars to be listed for sale, then upload 360-degree external images and interior photos to the Carvana website — all with zoom-in options. Customers can then remotely view any number of cars while sipping coffee from the comfort of home, or even on-the-go through their mobile phones, thereby eliminating the need to drive from dealer to dealer examining options that may or may not fit their wants or needs.

#TheNewWayToBuyACar pic.twitter.com/S7ZAjENgft

— Carvana (@Carvana) July 5, 2019

In addition, customers can save time by viewing personalized financing options, assessing interest rates or other details and adjusting potential payment plans for each vehicle they consider through the Carvana platform. They can also tack on ancillary products like warranties and gap insurance, all in the name of shaving precious minutes from the car-buying experience.

If satisfied, buyers can purchase their cars online and have a Carvana employee drop their vehicles off at a scheduled time, or can schedule a time to pick them up from one of the company’s distinctive automobile vending machines. The model shrinks the whole process from an entire afternoon down to about 11 minutes.