‘Car vending machine’ rises in Doral
South Florida residents bored of buying used cars in the same old way now have an eye-popping new option.
Arizona-based Carvana has just unveiled its fourth car “vending machine” in Florida, and its first in South Florida. It’s located at 2150 NW 117th Place, off Florida’s Turnpike in Doral.
The car vending machine works like any other. After purchasing a car through its website, Carvana gives you a coin — OK, it’s the size of a gorilla’s hand — to drop into a slot. The Carvana tower’s gears whir to life. An elevator climbs up an 8-story-tall tower to the space where your car has been parked; it is then loaded onto the elevator bed, descends back to the ground, and is deposited outside.
Ryan Keeton, chief brand officer and a co-founder of the company, acknowledges the machine is a gimmick — but an effective one.
“You’re driving along the highway and all of a sudden you see this giant stack of cars encased in glass,” he said. “That tends to stay with people.”
Carvana is not a broker; rather, it owns its entire inventory of used cars. That means one-stop shopping for vehicle hunters. While some online customers have reported ordering cars that came with defects — and almost all advise getting the car checked out by a local mechanic within Carvana’s 7-day return period — most reviewers’ experiences have been positive.
Besides the vending machine, Carvana also touts having entirely eliminated the dealership process — and the costs associated with it.
In addition to ordering out of the vending machine, Carvana also delivers straight to your door.
Carvana was founded in 2012 and is now publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
This story was originally published January 30, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
