Well, this is new – Amazon now lets you shop for your next car or truck, right on their website. Or, at least it’s new to me – have you seen this before?
I was checking to see if Amazon had any live listings for toilet paper (it has almost become a game at this point), and at the bottom of the page they had an ad for a GMC truck. I clicked the banner, and it took me to an Amazon listing for the truck.
Looking deeper, they have a whole section for “vehicle” shopping.
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I don’t yet know if this is a good thing.
Are these new car and truck listings accurate? Are they helpful? Or are customers better off with all of the very many auto research websites, magazines, and resources currently available?
There are user reviews – here’s the Jeep Grand Cherokee as an example.
Amazon says that they are: Your trusted destination for automotive research, with features such as:
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- Customer and expert reviews
- New and used pricing
- Images, videos, and 360 views
- Detailed features and specifications
The “expert reviews” part could be problematic, if they’re anything like the expert reviews and “editorial recommendations” Amazon has been featuring all over their site on search results pages.
Amazon is already competing with publishers, blogs, review sites, and magazines, with “editorial recommendations” that they aren’t vetting.
They seem to have made some changes to the program, but the quality doesn’t look to be getting better. I’ve recently been shopping for some kitchen gear, and all of the “editorial recommendations” I’ve seen so far were completely unhelpful, similar to what I’ve seen in their tool recommendations, seemingly solely drawn from Amazon’s bestsellers lists.
To be transparent, we were contacted by a company that helps to manage Amazon’s on-page editorial reviews, and signed on, but as far as I’m aware none of our content made it on the site yet. Then again, I also haven’t created any suitable posts or content yet, at least not with the intent of targeting republication on Amazon.
Right now, Amazon links to car makers’ websites, and I wonder – how long will it be before you can order your next car or truck right on Amazon’s website? Imagine that – curbside delivery of your new car, ordered through Amazon from your smartphone.
Should that happen, what will happen to auto research and reference sites? Run a Google search for “best [tool of your choice],” and see how many junk websites there are, with shallow information and the sole intent of getting you to click those Amazon affiliate links.
There are some listings for used cars as well, but not much aside from photos and approximate pricing.
If Amazon puts effort into this, their car and truck shopping tool could be a helpful resource to customers. But will that hold true if they leave their algorithm to run things? A tool like this needs people behind it.
Amazon has tried a lot of different things over the years. They started providing home services via local contractors, and quite a few years ago they tried to provide contractor suppliers and jobsite deliveries. They absorbed Small Parts and launched Amazon Supply, with the intent of it being a source for industrial, scientific, and office supplies. They closed Amazon Supply in 2015.
How long this automotive research experiment run for, and where it will go?
Kizzle
Amazon has the resources to completely dominate any industry they want.
MichaelHammer
Except Amazon Supply
Chris I
I’m genuinely curious if the human consumers will ever stop shopping there.
I’m also curious if they’ll invent their own real estate MLS….
Adam
I doubt it will amount to more than the existing employee/member purchasing programs that many major companies offer already. You have an “out the door” price for your vehicle, and a network of dealers will honor that price, no negotiations.
Those prices are never the best deal you can get, but most people are oblivious when it comes to car buying.
Gordon
The biggest example is how the word “Invoice” means absolutely nothing these days. There isn’t a dealership in business that actually pays the invoice pricing. You can get an instant 2% below “invoice” on almost any Subaru (which is why buying recently used doesn’t make sense). High volume vehicles and trims like the F-150 Lariat can easily be cheaper than the MSRP of a lower trim. When looking at trucks I was told to not even bother negotiating with a dealer that wouldn’t take 10% off before incentives and rebates. That puts the sale price well below the supposed “invoice”.
Sites like TrueCar are just another middleman. A dealership is almost always willing to work out a similar deal without them.
fred
I’m not sure that most car buyers are oblivious – but many get fed up with what they perceive as car dealer shenanigans. I started my car/truck buying in the 1960’s – bought for me and my family – and for my businesses.
On most occasions I felt a bit drained and that I probably paid too much. A couple of times when GM was selling at “employee discount” prices – I kind of knew that it might be a gimmick – but the dealing was much less stressful. When you start off a negotiation to buy 16 vehicles and the quoted price looks like 20 times what you should be paying for one – you can get frustrated.
At least I have been blessed that I never had to hassle with a dealer about financing for a personal car – and mostly used our regular lines of credit for our businesses. That may have made things more difficult – because I suspect that dealer financing and leasing is a highly profitable source of income for them. One of the businesses, in which I used to have an interest – seems to be leasing now. So maybe it was just me.
Toolfreak
It’s a lot worse than shenanigans. Car sales is regarded as one of the most dishonest, disliked occupations for good reasons.
They can pretty much lie and cheat you out of your money and make you sign documents waiving any and all of your rights before you can buy the vehicle. The business is also structured in such a way that the parent companies don’t actually have anything to do with the dealers, so unless there’s a recall, everything is between you and the dealer you buy from, no matter how bad it gets.
Jim Felt
Which is what makes Tesla’s direct sales model so scary for “dealers”. No retail salesmen. No BS and one decent price. That’s it.
Chris I
Decent price? Let’s not get carried away. They’re really only still affordable for like 2% of the American population
Toolfreak
There are probably more people driving full-size $50K+ pickups and SUVs that never need their capabilities than there are Teslas.
If you can afford a $40-50K gas guzzler, you can afford a $40-50K electric car/truck.
For those who can’t afford a Tesla, there’s plenty of pre-owned Nissan Leafs and Chevy Bolts and Volts for decent prices, not to mention hybrids.
Greg
It’s been around for a while
CountyCork
Amazons Used Car reviews was really helpful researching a lightly used 68,000 miles 2000 Toyota Tundra that a bought a few years ago. I also use Amazon Garage for parts or to price compare other websites. Once you add your car to the Garage it auto filters to only compatible parts based on your vin. Pretty slick if you ask me.
Stuart
I’ve used Amazon’s Garage recommendations in the past, but they were wrong on windshield washer style and sizing once. Has been useful most of the time though.
Scott K
I’ve also had mixed success with this feature. I recently bought wiper blades that were supposed to work, but they came with a different style bracket.
Toolfreak
Amazon would probably already be in the business of selling cars directly to consumers, if it wasn’t for states having protectionist laws that mandate car sales be done by car dealers and only by car dealers.
This is what Tesla ran into when they tried to sell directly to consumers instead of having dealerships.
There are some loopholes that some site use to sell you a used car without being a dealer.
I do think the model will change and eventually we will be buying new cars online just like how we buy most anything else, but it may take another collapse of the auto industry or something similar before the protectionist laws change and the right people are in a position to make it happen.
Brian M
We’ll get those great reviews: 1 star. I ordered this 2018 Toyota Tundra but I paid for two-day shipping but it showed up 52 hours after I ordered it. One tire had 2 PSI less than the other three.
Tomonthebeach
How many people buy vehicles cash – no trade. Almost nobody. Thus, for Amazon to expand its monopoly, it would need to be able to negotiate trade-ins (without an looksee at the trade?) and negotiate financing (become a bank?). I doubt that will happen until COVVID-19 is ancient history and the market grows new horns.
Jim Felt
“Thorns”? Oh. “Horns”. Don’t hold your breathe. We’re most likely way past all that exuberance for quite a while into the future.
And wash your hands waay too much.
Toolfreak
Plenty of people would buy a vehicle without making payments or trading in their old vehicle, since the trade in price is usually lower than market value.
That aside, there are already plenty of sites that buy your used car based on condition and the market, and even come pick it up, so amazon would easily be able to offer those companies as the trade-in option, even allowing the customer to see which one would give the most for the trade-in or offer the easiest experience.
Financing is even less of an issue. Amazon wouldn’t need to become a bank anymore than any of the auto companies did. Banks would be able to offer financing for such purchases the same way they offer you an amazon.com credit card or store card, except you could choose from however many banks amazon partners with.
Thing is, all this is just more money for amazon since they not only make money on the sale, but they get a cut of the trade-in and the financing plus fees from those companies to allow them on amazon to do business.
fred
Perhaps people do trade ins because its easier – but they are paying a lot for that convenience. In my state the trade-in price reduces the sales price so you do save a bit on sales tax – but could probably do better selling the used car privately.
I had an experience when I negotiated a cash price for a new car with and without my trade in. I then sold the old car privately for considerably more than what the trade in was worth. When I arrived at the dealer to pay for and pick up the new car – they asked where is my trade in? Then wanted to wriggle out of the cash price that they had quoted. Obviously they were making money on the trade in that they had lost out on. Of course they had previously told me that they had been doing me a favor by taking my trade in.
charles
amazon reviews and rankings are just noise to me. I have never and will never use amazon for research. just availability and pricing on products I have already researched through other methods.
Mike
Hate buying cars, hate buying houses. Maybe Amazon can help.
Bob
Its been a while since I bought a truck but I used Auto trader last time. To me my truck is a tool so I have a very specific set of features I want. Auto Trader helped to narrow the results down to the exact features I wanted. Im sure there are other sites that do the same. Typically they will list MSRP or say call for pricing. Thats fine as its just the start of negotiation. Typically I buy low milage used but in this last case it was cheaper to buy new rather than year old with 30k on the clock so it pays to look into the incentives.
It is a pain in the A$& buying a car/truck/boat. But I kinda enjoy trying to screw the dealer out of every last penny. Don’t worry they won’t sell it to you if they are not making some money.
First buying experience when I was a kid I got hosed. Bad. I mean I bought the Simonize treatment and extended warranty and everything lol. Luckily it got totaled (no injuries and not my fault) so quickly most of the “extras” were prorated at nearly 100% and I got out of that disaster somewhat whole. With practice and research I have done much better since. With the amount of info available there really is no excuse not to have a solid buying strategey before you step foot into the dealership.
Darrel
What does this have to do with tools
Stuart
Many pro and DIYer tool users drive cars, SUVs, pickup trucks.
Amazon is a large tool supplier and adjacent industry developments are newsworthy.
Because I found it to be interesting and as the owner, editor in chief, executive editor, content planner, and primary content creator I have the discretion to pick my own stories.
Because it seemed like a topic that most readers would find as interesting as I found it to be.
Frank D
I would love for the established dealer market to see a bit of disruption.
I love cars, keep up with car news but hate the car buying process in NA.
I have gone into dealerships to quite likely buy a brand new vehicle and walked out due rude and inconsiderate sales people, multitude of pitches and attempts at trickery, backwards approach, dishonesty, knowing less about the brand or vehicle than I do as a casual car news reader who looked at the car on the mfr website, …
It all starts with the inflated MSRP, fuzzy numbers “ factory invoice “, …
Ever looked at buying the exact same car at competing dealers within 100 mile radius and gotten different invoice numbers???
Dealers complaining, that unless they sell above that invoice, they do not make any money, … while of course there are countless examples to the contrary, and tons of cars get sold thousands less up to 5-6-7-…10% below that invoice.
And, they pretty much all want you to buy a new car on the spot, that very day … as if you were buying a pair a discounted tv. Except of course for most people a new car is a huge cost.
I’d be plenty happy to skip the negative dealer experience, order factory direct, at factory direct pricing and go pick the car up or have it delivered.
Ray
Truck’s are tools.
PlaneGrain
Thanks for the article, i was unaware Amazon offered this. From what I’ve read, auto companies use tech in vehicle to track you. Then they sell this information to marketers. This information garners a highly lucrative haul for the auto companies. I wonder if any of this money ever gets passed on to the consumer?