Since many new car dealerships feel a strong competition in online e-commerce, used car dealers now fear of car vending machine. And no, it's not something impossible, it's totally real. And no, you can't shake it to get a free one.
An online used car retailer opened its newest "vending machine" last week in Houston, where the gleaming, glass-encased structure sits right off a busy freeway. The eight-storey automated garage- three levels higher than the first version which debuted in Nashville a year ago - holds 30 cars. It dispenses used vehicles in four delivery bays, but only to customers who have the special coin to make it work - which they receive after completing an online purchase.
But the company believes it could prove a valuable part of the strategy to win customers over by completely overhauling the dreaded process of buying a used car, something notoriously difficult and plagued by the fear of sales people taking advantage of prospective buyers.