Amazon Now Sells Cars (reuters.com) 59
Fiat Chrysler said it has teamed up with Amazon to sell its cars via the e-commerce company's site. Not only will you be able to order a car with a simple click online, but doing so will earn you an additional discount. Reuters reports: Initially only Italian buyers will be able to purchase their cars with a simple click online and the offers on Amazon. It will be limited to three models -- the 500, the Panda and the 500L. FCA said the choice was deliberate because the Panda is Italy's biggest selling car, while buyers of the 500 and its larger 500L version embody the young and adventurous nature this initiative is trying to appeal to. "The time has arrived to give consumers a new, more efficient and transparent way to choose a new vehicle," Gianluca Italia, responsible for Fiat Chrysler in Italy, said during an online press conference. The manager at the world's seventh largest carmaker said the partnership will appeal to buyers looking for deals from the comfort of their own home, adding that existing promotions will be improved by up to 33 percent for online customers. So, after making their clicks online, buyers will be contacted by Amazon to decide on a dealer where they can finalize their purchase and pick up the car. The vehicle should be ready within two weeks of the initial click.
Finalize with a dealer, screw that (Score:5, Informative)
One of the few powers I have when dealing with a dealer is to say, FU and walk away the moment they pull their sleazy crap. But if I have made a commitment to Amazon and then have to go to some dirtbag who will own me. I might as well go there not wearing pants as it will just make the whole process of screwing me that much faster.
A tiny example of the sort of sleaze that dealers will do is to hand you a pile of forms for you to sign. They will say things like that they are required by law, or that the warranty won't be valid. But the reality is that you don't need to sign anything but the registration form that is part of the car's title. So what forms are they getting you to sign? A very common one is that you are agreeing to binding arbitration if there is any dispute about the car. Another allows them to do a credit check, even if you are paying cash. Others will look very official but are just to get detailed marketing information. These will look like finance agreements and will ask for SSN wages, employers, references, etc.
The dealers are scum, and Amazon gave me a glimmer of hope that they were going to allow us to end run them, but nope, they are just sending us to a deeper form of dealer hell.
All hail Tesla for doing its damnedest to break the backs of the dealers and their monopolistic abuses.
Re:Finalize with a dealer, screw that (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: Finalize with a dealer, screw that (Score:3)
I don't really care as long as it's prime eligible.
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Where are you from where the dealerships are owned by "little guys"?
The dealers are "little guys" in the same sense that Carlo Gambino was a "little guy": They are sometimes short in stature.
Personally, I would much rather my money go to Jeff Bezos than some scumbag car dealership. At least Jeff isn't using political cronyism to force me to buy through Amazon.
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These days, they're state wide conglomerates that have swallowed up individual brand dealerships. Now, I have a choice of Executive Honda, Executive Hyundai, Executive Dodge, or Executive volkswagen. Yay!
Dealers are a pain in the ass and they're always looking to manipulate.. What sucks is I have to pay them for the privilege of such manipulation in order to get a car, when all I need from them is warranty service (which should be doable at any sane garage if they didn't DRM the hell out of the onboard comp
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Little guy? Auto dealers are owned by some of the wealthiest humans who have ever existed. In a given area, many of them are owned by the same guy!
When you go from one dealer to the other, all you are getting is a different salesperson, so you the only negotiating power you have is over his commission.
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Boycie was a little guy...
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You can thank the sleazy politicians for that..
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Can anyone explain to a foreigner why is it such a pain to buy a car in the US?
I live in Eastern Europe, bought a car last year and it was simple and actually fun. First I researched the car online, then I went to a number of dealers to see the cars live, test drive them, and ask questions about things like maintenance costs, software updates or performance of the lane keeping system on local roads. I really enjoyed, as a shopper, those two weekends spent doing test drives.
I eventually selected a model, wen
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Because of history, really.
A car dealership is supposed to be like a store for cars. You know, like you used to visit the grocery store for groceries, you go to the car dealership for cars. And this was how it was in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Then what happened is the car manufacturers decide to try direct sales, which put a lot of dealerships out of business because they cut out the middleman. Since this put people ou
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I bought my current vehicle, a 2000 Toyota 4Runner, on-line in January of 2000 from an outfit called carorder.com. They had built an on-line sales engine, and were trying to establish on-line auto sales as a regular thing. The buying experience was great; they sold multiple makes and models, all of the information was on-line, and it was a fixed price determined by the base car price plus options - no haggling.
Unfortunately for carorder.com, it was very difficult (ultimately impossible) for them to break
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I just bought a Hertz scratch & dent special, no haggle and pick it up where it's at. 1-1/2 year old for almost half price. In New York car age is figured in winters, not miles, and I'm retired so I got one with 41K miles.
This after I spent 2 months going around to dealers & getting increasingly disgusted.
Prime Eligible? (Score:2)
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Better yet, can you use your gift card balance?
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So you paid the dealer 3% more for a car (surely they didn't eat the transaction fees but passed them along to you in the negotiation) so you could "save" 1% in cash back. Wow.
Re: Prime Eligible? (Score:3, Insightful)
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I'm pretty sure you could have gotten a better deal than you negotiated then. If they agreed to those terms, you can be sure they would have sold you the car for 3% less if they didn't have to pay that transaction fee. I would not call that out-thinking them. They most certainly didn't sell you a car at a loss.
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Heh. Or your mturk balance.
will UPS deliver it in a box? (Score:2)
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Re:will UPS deliver it in a box? (Score:5, Funny)
and i suppose i have to assemble it too?
Yes, the car comes in flat packs. Over 5000 cam lock fasteners are included, along with a 500-page book of wordless picture instructions.
That's a great selection, actually (Score:2)
the 500, the Panda and the 500L
That's two out of three vehicles worth buying from FCA, plus the 500L
How much is shipping and handling? (Score:2)
Inquiring minds (who can't be bothered to read the summary) want to know.
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You will have to pay the finder fee even it if's on the lot
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I expected Â(TM). Left disappointed.
So (Score:4, Funny)
what does the Ferengi Commerce Authority have to do with trade on Earth? Did the Grand Nagus buy Amazon? (That would explain a few things, mind)
And I only wanted to buy a green car (Score:1)
Expecting same in Northern Europe. Here to buy car you have to make "friends" with the car salesman, who will neglect all customers of wrong gender, age or what not. In the profession there may be a underlying assumption of brand loyalty -- as if cars were sports teams to be devoted for for eternity at age of three without any knowledge of why. So when you enter the car store, you've already made the most important decisions and what's left is sucking up the sales"man", who is the only obstacle in between y
The UPS Guy is going to hate me. (Score:3)
The Grand Tour (Score:2)
And with that, suddenly the Grand Tour has a conflict of interest. Will they still be allowed to slag off Fiats?
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Well, episode one had a few digs at Fiat in it.
Japanese Cars (Score:1)