Carvana opened its first Michigan vending machine in Novi this past week.
Hometownlife.com
It’s hard to miss Novi’s newest used car business.
Carvana is the newest business to open in the Adell Center off of Novi Road and Interstate 96, joining Texas Roadhouse. Carvana, which sells used vehicles completely online, has recently stocked up its eight-story tower with more than two dozen vehicles just waiting to be claimed by their buyers.
The facility serves as a “vending machine” for used vehicles of all makes and models: no purchases are made at the site. Customers simply pick up the vehicle they ordered through the company’s website. From there, customers have seven days to try out the vehicle and return it if they’re not satisfied.
“You get a week to live with your vehicle,” said Amy O’Hara, associate director of communications for Carvana.
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There are plenty of vehicles to pick from when shoppers log on: Arizona-based Carvana listed more than 21,000 vehicles for sale nationwide as of Thursday afternoon. All the vehicles in the vending machine in Novi are sold and are waiting for customers to come and drop their Carvana coin into the slot to bring their vehicle down the elevator and get it ready to drive. From there, buyers have very little paperwork to sign before they head out on the road with their new vehicle. Carvana provides financing options for those interested, which can also be done online.
Customers have a wealth of knowledge about the vehicle at their fingertips before buying. In addition to the make, model, year number and mileage, the company provides a 360-degree look inside the used car and highlights any small imperfections and why they remain.
“We could fix it, but we don’t want to pass that cost onto the customer,” said David Coulter, a vending machine specialist for the company. “You can look all the way around the car. You can even look inside of it.”
The company also can deliver to customers’ homes: O’Hara said Carvana has done that in the metro Detroit market since 2017.
The tower is Carvana’s first vehicle vending machine in Michigan and 26th nationwide. Others are located outside Indianapolis, Chicago and Cleveland, O’Hara said. She declined to discuss if any other vending machines could come to Michigan in the future.
Latest business to open at Adell Center
The development is one of two open at the new Adell Center complex built at the site of the former Novi Expo Center. Texas Roadhouse opened several weeks ago and there are several other businesses in the works: Planet Fitness is also under construction, as is an iFLY indoor skydiving facility. A pair of hotels are also expected to come to the site as well.
Opening the facility in Novi, O’Hara said, was a decision the company made to fit into its image of an experience. Many customers, she said, will make traveling to pick their car up an experience for posting on social media and staying in town for a while. Having other things to do in the area goes along with what the company is trying to accomplish.
She mentioned the story of one customer who traveled from California to Arizona to purchase a vehicle and then planned to head out on a vacation from there.
“He really made an experience out of it,” O’Hara said. “It depends on the customer.”
Those interested in purchasing a vehicle can begin the process at carvana.com.
Contact reporter David Veselenak at [email protected] or 734-678-6728. Follow him on Twitter @davidveselenak.
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