Wally World and Jeff Bezos want to know what it will take to get you to drive home a new car today???
Motor Trend Article said:
Motor Trend reports that Walmart is partnering with automobile dealership groups, including AutoNation, to begin selling cars.
The program begins April 1 in Walmart Supercenters in Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, and Oklahoma City. If successful, the company foresees a national expansion within two years.
According to the story, Walmart's CarSaver program allows car buyers to "select their desired new or used vehicle and apply for financing and insurance. Walmart will host CarSaver kiosks inside 25 of its Supercenters at launch, although customers can also go through the process on their own online or by calling an 800 number. After this initial stage, CarSaver links the customer to a local dealership so they can complete the transaction."
Walmart's CarSaver program gets a a $350 piece of the action in most states, but in others will charge a subscription fee.
Meanwhile, Barron's reports that Amazon is "pushing more aggressively" into the auto parts category.
In recent months, the story says, "the online retail behemoth has signed deals with auto parts makers Robert Bosch, Federal-Mogul , Dorman Products , and Cardone Industries ... That should send a chill down the spines of executives at auto parts retailers like Auto Zone and O’Reilly Auto Parts."
The story notes that Amazon seems to be significantly undercutting traditional auto parts stores on price, and even is offering same-day delivery in a number of markets. And, "it’s even paying the parts makers more than they generally get from retailers. In the short-run that could hurt Amazon’s results. But in the long-run it will only cement Amazon’s reputation as the 'everything store,' and could give it a chance to get even more access to the average consumer’s wallet."
http://www.morningnewsbeat.com/News/Detail/51218/2017-01-24/
I live in an Amazon Now area...I could ask Alexa to order me a remanned steering rack for a 97 Accord, and it could arrive in 2 hours with my membership to Prime. Just think, my new-ish parts could fail on me after 2 days on the road, and I didnt even have to get out of my chair to get them! I love technology 
Amazon's vehicle part search technology is way behind what you'd see on a site like RockAuto or most brick and mortar parts stores' websites - until it's easy to search by year / make / model / engine, Amazon probably won't grab a lot of the auto parts market.
MadScientistMatt wrote:
Amazon's vehicle part search technology is way behind what you'd see on a site like RockAuto or most brick and mortar parts stores' websites - until it's easy to search by year / make / model / engine, Amazon probably won't grab a lot of the auto parts market.
It's partly true, however if you use one site (RA, AZ, etc) to get the part number, you can look that number up on Amazon and buy.
Not as easy but not difficult at all
MadScientistMatt wrote:
Amazon's vehicle part search technology is way behind what you'd see on a site like RockAuto or most brick and mortar parts stores' websites - until it's easy to search by year / make / model / engine, Amazon probably won't grab a lot of the auto parts market.
I buy parts off Amazon occasionally. Generally, I only buy if I'm on there looking for something else because every time I set out with the goal in mind of buying a specific part the results are iffy and I need to spend a bunch of time figuring out if it'll actually work or not. A lot of it is due to the vendors on Amazon and some of it is due to the way that the search results are filtered (poorly or in 200 semi-related categories).
Usually, it's easier to buy off RockAuto or one of the brick and mortar stores as I know it'll fit.
I am ambivalent towards Wal-Mart so I don't much care what they're planning. To avoid a flounder I'll leave it there. Really the only things I buy there are Bosch filters and Mobil 1 oil and I wouldn't even do that if anyone else was even remotely competitive without making me jump through the coupon hoop.
After being on the other side of Wal-Marx, I want as little to do with them as possible.
I live in Houston and they're just putting the roof on a brand new Walmart near my house. I wonder..........
One thing Amazon will never be able to do is let me walk behind the counter and fidget around until I find a random radiator hose with the right bends and length to fit my engine swap. But, for some specifics like oil filters and brake pads, I could see telling Alexa to order them for me being convenient. Especially if Ive ordered them before, and shes able to go to my order history - I know theyll be right.
Hal
UltraDork
1/24/17 8:02 p.m.
How is this WalMart thing different from what Costco does now and has for a while?
Hal wrote:
How is this WalMart thing different from what Costco does now and has for a while?
Dont need a membership card.
Also, does Costco do used? I thought they were only used (in fairness, Im too lazy to google it).
