
Drive Motors (YC W16) Lets You Actually Buy a Car Online - never-the-bride
http://techcrunch.com/2016/02/11/software-eats-dealerships/
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ticklemyelmo
> Pick a car you like, and Drive lets you configure options, set up a
> financing plan, and pay the dealer right there. Then all you do is drop by
> the lot and pick up your new car. Drive brings the Tesla buying experience
> to every other car brand.

Not at all. Perhaps the biggest benefit of all to the Tesla approach is _not
having to deal with a dealership at all_. This is still going to incur all of
the traditional slimy dealer markups.

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vvanders
Yup, plus when you do need service you sometimes they let you have a P90DL for
a loaner :D

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mandrake-c-papi
I've bought my last 2 cars without seeing or touching them.

Both were imported from Japan, inspected and purchased by professional buyers
at Japanese auctions, with communications, importation, paperwork etc arranged
by a professional broker. Selection of the vehicles was made based on
photographs and inspection reports sent via email.

Ultimately a very simple and successful operation which I will almost
certainly do again.

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exw
<<purchased by professional buyers at Japanese auctions>>

How did you find these buyers? Are these just auto brokers (e.g., these guys
are popular in SV: [http://www.hammerauto.com/](http://www.hammerauto.com/))
or is this something different?

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mandrake-c-papi
The buyers conduct inspections, supply photos and place bids at the request of
the broker. I pay the broker for their contact with professional buyers and
their knowledge of the imports process (ie, paperwork, shipping contacts,
etc).

I never had any contact with the buyers themselves - they may not actually
speak english.

If I had to guess, I would say the buyers work for many different brokers.

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alkonaut
In a similar discussion a few months ago I learned that US car buyers have to
buy pre-configured cars from lots, choosing from very few options. Meanwhile
EU car buyers buy the same models having at least ten times the number of
options, colors etc (which obviously makes it impossible for dealers to keep
cars in stock, but also means delivery is several weeks to a few months).
Recommend trying to configure a new Jetta on VW UK and VW US respectively if
you are curious about the difference.

What I'd want as an American car buyer is not only configure and buy a car
online but also have all the options available from the manufacturer (i.e.
proper made to order cars).

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pandemicsyn
Just so you know, thats not an absolute truth. I live in Texas and I've owned
3 cars, only one was one from the lot (a Ford Mustang), because they had the
exact combo I wanted. My Jeep came from a dealer a few hours away that my
dealer swapped for so that I wouldn't have to wait for a factory build. My
current car was built to order by the factory. My wife's super picky and her
last two cars where built to order.

The difference between dealers here and say.. in Germany (where most of my
family still ives) are that the dealers in the US just have waaay more
inventory on the lot, so you don't necessarily have to wait 3 months for a
build.

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pavornyoh
How is this different from what the Credit Unions have been doing for years?
Thus, apply for a car loan online or in a branch without actually picking a
car, once approved for an amount they send you a blank check. You go to a
dealership and once you decide on a car, you just write them a check and drive
off. Penfed CU, DCU, NASA CU etc. all do this and it actually gives the buyer
an upper hand to negotiate and get a better deal on a car. The rates these
companies offer are also more often better than the rates the dealership
offers.

~~~
atourgates
All that does is remove financing from the equation.

Last year, I paid cash for a new car at a dealership. I arranged the entire
purchase via email, but it still took about 2-hours at the dealership doing
paperwork, declining all the BS extras and getting my car "prepped" to drive
out the door. Then I had to arrange for the single largest wire-transfer I've
ever had leave my bank account.

Assuming Drive Motors takes away a good part of that hassle, it'll be a great
asset to people like me who don't particularly relish the dealership process.

~~~
pavornyoh
I suppose you are right. The last time a bought a car, it was out of state.
Everything was done via email and the extra perk was they drove it down to me
at no extra cost along with the paperwork to sign after final inspection. It
will be nice if Drive Motors can offer the "Drive the car to you" at some
point after purchase.

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Car_enthu
I just compared 3-4 different cars and configurations with pricing on
TrueCar.com and TrueCar was always cheaper. In one case TrueCar was cheaper by
almost $4k.

It is a known fact now that you can go directly to a dealer and get a better
deal than TrueCar these days so wonder if this service really adds any
value!!??

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vvanders
I wish them the best of luck but dealerships are pretty entrenched in their
ways.

Just went through the car buying experience recently and the best way by far
was to blast emails to all dealers with the _specific_ trim+options we wanted
and then use their written quotes to leverage against each other. I explicitly
didn't do anything over the phone for this exact reason.

One thing I found fascinating was that the local Subaru dealers was totally
cool with this approach while trying to talk to Mazda dealers was like pulling
teeth to get a window sheet or quote. Subaru took us ~2 days to nail down
while Mazda was ~1.5 week of back and forth.

The Tesla experience still beats all of them hands-down(we'd rather own a
second Telsa if it was feasible) so I hope they can mix up things in some
manner.

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mdorazio
A number of OEMs are pursuing internal initiatives to simplify the buying
process so you only have to go to the dealership to sign the paperwork and
pick up your car. However, most of those are a good year out and I'm sure the
dealerships will still try to extract additional money from customers however
they can since that's how their business model works.

It's nice to see that the market isn't waiting around and is building
legitimate alternatives to the traditional process.

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sandworm101
I want to go to the dealership. A new car is something I am going to live with
for many years. I don't throw away working machines easily. So I want to look
at the real object prior to purchase. I want to see the materials in the
interior. I want to see how many screws are between me and the parts I will
one day replace. I want to look at the jacking procedure (ie do you have to
climb under the car or not). I want to see how the colour will look in actual
sunlight (ie not on a screen). None of that can be done properly through a
website. We might hate them, but visiting a dealer to look at physical object
has its place.

One big thing that isn't ever in the reviews: How many buttons do you have to
push to get in/out of the thing? Getting me and my dog out of the new BMWs
takes like 10 different steps.

And one more: I want to see multiple cars of the same basic model to look for
consistent build quality. A reliable car will be from a factory where every
product is identical (Honda) rather than hand-build shed cars (TVR and
anything british).

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Johnie
That doesn't prevent using the dealership as a showroom. In recent years, how
we buy high end electronics has changed. People go to Best Buy to look and
compare TVs then go back home to do some more research and read reviews and
buy online.

I am sure when you go to a dealership, to look at the product, you come home
to read the reviews and do more research before you buy and then go back to
the dealership to make the purchase.

What this solves is the latter part. There's no need to go back to the
dealership after you look at the car in person and read reviews online.

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frik
Is it like the 2000's carclub.com ? "Offline" car dealers need a disruption,
Tesla motor was a good start.

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conductr
Do you get a good deal though?

I can't help but think the only reason dealerships would buy into this is to
make the guy who doesn't want to haggle pay more

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sokoloff
Most dealers have a fleet or "internet" sales desk that will quote you a price
over email and I've found them to generally be quite competitive, certainly
better than the walk in and test drive approach.

Really want to save money on a car? Buy a 2-3 year old lease return...

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CyberDildonics
Actually buy cars online like carsdirect.com did 17 years ago?

