Carvana Tips Its Toe in Brick-and-Mortar as Amazon Doubles Down on Used Cars
Car retail has never stood still. Over the past decade, the story was simple: digital-first players storming the gates. Carvana became the poster child with glass vending machines and one-click delivery. Amazon, meanwhile, sat on the sidelines until late 2024.
Now, both are changing course. Carvana just bought its first franchise dealership. Amazon is listing used cars in Los Angeles. At first glance, these moves look small. But zoom out, and you can see the experiments that may reshape automotive retail.
Carvana’s Brick-and-Mortar Experiment
In February 2025, Carvana closed on Jerry Seiner Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram in Casa Grande, Arizona. The store was quietly rebranded as Casa Grande CDJR. All employees were kept. A spokesperson described it as “a small test in a single market.”
Why does this matter?
Margins & Service: Used-car profits are volatile. New-car franchises come with factory incentives, warranty work, and fixed-ops revenue streams digital players can’t match.
Learning Curve: Operating a franchise gives Carvana firsthand exposure to local dynamics, factory relations, and service ops—insights it never had running pure digital.
Infrastructure Buildout: This fits Carvana’s broader play. After acquiring ADESA’s U.S. auctions in 2022, it has been converting sites into reconditioning hubs. Seattle, Kansas City, and Boston now house combined inspection-recon centers, fueling next-day delivery. The Arizona franchise is another puzzle piece in creating local fulfillment.
This doesn’t mean Carvana is abandoning online. It means they’re hedging, testing if a hybrid approach unlocks the recurring revenue their model has lacked.
Amazon’s Used-Car Play
On the other side, Amazon has taken the opposite path: extending its digital muscle.
New-Car Launch: Amazon Autos debuted in December 2024 with Hyundai. By mid-2025, it had spread from 48 cities to more than 130.
Used-Car Expansion: In August 2025, Amazon quietly layered in used and CPO vehicles—starting in Los Angeles. The offer included a 3-day/300-mile return policy, 30-day warranties, free Experian history reports, and fixed pricing. No haggling.
Dealer & Fleet Partners: Initially limited to Hyundai stores, Amazon plans to open to more brands. Hertz Car Sales has already joined, listing rental returns with 115-point inspections, 12-month warranties, and 7-day buybacks in Dallas, Houston, LA, and Seattle.
Amazon isn’t trying to own dealerships. It’s building a marketplace. Cars now sit on the same platform as groceries and gadgets. That’s powerful reach, paired with rich consumer data.
Connecting the Dots
Carvana moving offline. Amazon moving deeper online. On the surface, opposites. But together they signal the same truth: retail isn’t binary. The future is hybrid.
Omnichannel is table stakes. Buyers want to start online, but still test-drive, trade-in, or resolve issues face-to-face.
Logistics is strategy. Carvana’s recon hubs and Amazon’s 75-mile geofences show that speed and proximity matter more than branding.
Service is the profit center. Carvana needs warranty and fixed-ops to stabilize revenue. Amazon gains exposure through partners like Hertz without carrying the overhead.
Regulation is still the referee. Franchise laws and consumer-finance rules will shape how far either can go.
A Learner’s View
I’ll admit, I underestimated how fast these shifts would happen. Amazon added used cars just eight months after launching new-car sales. Carvana, after its near-collapse in 2022–2023, returned to brick-and-mortar faster than anyone expected.
What look like bold pivots from the outside are, inside, careful experiments. Small, controlled tests designed to answer: Can digital operators thrive in a hybrid world?
The Anti-Hero’s Warning
Some once believed digital platforms would steamroll traditional dealers. The pandemic made it feel inevitable. But they where wrong about the resilience of physical infrastructure. Service bays, local trust, and fixed-ops revenue still anchor the business.
Carvana learned the hard way crushed under debt and inventory mistakes that pure-digital scale isn’t bulletproof. Amazon faces its own risks: convincing dealers it’s a partner, not a parasite, and avoiding being blamed when deals sour.
Looking Ahead
Will Carvana buy more stores? Will Amazon expand beyond Hyundai and Hertz? The future is unwritten. But three lessons are clear:
Hybrid models will dominate. Digital convenience + physical infrastructure is the winning blend.
Data is the new gross. Whoever owns the insights on consumer behavior and vehicle history will control the customer journey.
Loyalty comes from trust. Transparent pricing, return options, and reliable service will define winners more than flashy branding.
Carvana and Amazon are running live experiments. The rest of us are watching, learning, and adjusting in real time. The future of automotive retail isn’t either/or it’s both.
And it’s coming faster than most of us thought.
