As much as we love all things auto, the one caveat in that list is the agonizingly uncomfortable process of trying to buy a new car at a dealership. The haggling, the doubletalk, the painfully awkward test drives, and let us not forget the inevitable “I need to go talk to my manager” speech.
This process has driven (no pun intended) us to seek out easier, less in-your-face, high-pressure ways to search out a new ride; our phone has become our immediate go-to for almost everything. And if you have looked for a new car in the last few years, odds are you have at least one automotive-related app on your phone. Whether it is Cars.com, Autotrader, CarGurus, eBay Motors, TrueCar, CarMax, or Carvana,
Seeing this trend coming for a while, Amazon has embarked on its newest venture to make life just a little bit more efficient and to add another gazillion dollars to its already crazy bottom line. Log into your Prime account and notice a new Automotive submenu because you can now buy a brand-new car from your Amazon app.
Amazon methodically began to add more and more services to its plethora of amenities to try and become the one-stop shop for all your life’s needs and wants about ten minutes after it made the seismic shift from only selling college textbooks. It started with free shipping for Prime members, then to video, music, and then later groceries and even prescription medicine. Now, cars and SUVs are available at the touch of your fingertips in what Amazon promises to be a simple, streamlined process.
Feeling the most similar to the Carvana method of car shopping, users in eligible cities can log in to Amazon and browse local dealers by make, model, trim, color and/or features. Amazon says it will present “transparent, upfront pricing,” after which you can pay in full, or it will help you secure financing. You can even get a valuation and trade in your existing car towards your new purchase. Once all that is finished, you can schedule a pick-up time at the dealership, and off you go in your new ride.
As of its launch, Amazon Autos will exclusively sell new Hyundai vehicles for its first year of operations. Once this one-year agreement is up, Amazon says it will add more brands in 2026.
“Listing our inventory on Amazon is a game-changer for how we connect with car buyers,” said Steven Suh, general sales manager of South Bay Hyundai. “It allows us to showcase our vehicles to millions of daily shoppers, while setting our pricing upfront. We can now reach a large local audience with the convenient and transparent experience customers expect when shopping with Amazon. Customers come in excited to pick up their new car and we can build on those customer relationships from there. This experience really positions dealers for success in the modernizing economy.”
And don’t worry if you’re one of the last holdouts who has yet to sign up for Amazon Prime; accessing, searching, or buying from Amazon Autos is available without the premium membership.
The full list of cities where Amazon Autos is currently available is:
- Atlanta
- Austin
- Baltimore,
- Beaumont-Port Arthur,
- Birmingham,
- Boston,
- Champaign/Springfield
- Charlotte
- Chicago
- Cincinnati
- Cleveland
- Columbia
- Columbus
- Dallas
- Denver
- El Paso
- Fond Du Lac
- Ft. Myers/Naples
- Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York
- Harrisonburg
- Hartford
- Houston
- Indianapolis
- Jacksonville
- Los Angeles
- Miami
- Milwaukee
- Minneapolis-St. Paul
- Nashville
- New York
- Orlando
- Philadelphia
- Phoenix
- Pittsburgh
- Portland
- Providence
- Raleigh-Durham
- Salt Lake City
- San Antonio
- San Diego
- San Francisco
- Seattle
- Sheboygan
- Springfield
- St. Louis
- Tampa
- W. Palm Beach
- Washington D.C.
