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Online shopping has changed the way people buy nearly everything — even used cars.
Ernie Garcia and Ryan Keeton saw the way the e-commerce winds were blowing in 2013 and launched Carvana.com, a web-based platform that allows users to shop for, finance and purchase vehicles — and have them delivered as quickly as the next day — with just a few mouse clicks.
The Phoenix-based company, No. 5 on Forbes magazine's most promising American companies list, proved to be a hit with consumers, who use Carvana to exert complete control over the car purchase process. Carvana says it has more than 9,000 vehicles in stock, and all of them can be purchased without the haggling and hassles buyers sometimes encounter at traditional auto dealerships.
The company's success has allowed it to set up shop in 42 markets nationwide. In Florida, it has facilities in Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, Tampa and, most recently, Fort Myers, which opened Dec. 13. Keeton says that unlike, say, Carmax, his company's brick-and-mortar locations aren't customer-facing operations with salespeople surrounded by acres of vehicle stock. Instead, Carvana locations are where customers come to pick up their cars and drop off a trade-in, if applicable, after the bulk of the transaction has already been finalized online.
“We're more like Amazon for autos,” says Keeton, who also serves as Carvana's chief brand officer.
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