Carvana brings ‘car vending machine’ to the Motor City

Detroit need not panic, the city’s new brick-and-glass structure is simply an automated fulfillment center for online car purchases.

Carvana is opening a “car vending machine” in Novi, Michigan, a northern suburb of metro Detroit. Standing eight stories tall and holding 27 vehicles, the vending machine is designed to offer a fast and convenient pickup option for customers who purchase a vehicle on the Carvana omnichannel platform for buying and selling used cars.

In as little as 10 minutes, customers can shop more than 15,000 vehicles on the site, finance, purchase, trade-in, and schedule as-soon-as-next-day pickup at the car vending site or touchless home delivery of that vehicle. (Area residents can also sell their current vehicle to Carvana regardless of whether they are purchasing a replacement.) Customers who decide to pick up their car at the vending kiosk are greeted by a customer “advocate.” 

By appointment only, customers can select a day and time convenient for them, at which time they will be the only customer inside the vending machine. They receive a commemorative, oversized Carvana coin to activate the vending process, and then watch as their vehicle descends the all-glass tower. The process takes only minutes, according to the company. 

Instead of a pre-purchase test drive, vehicles come with a seven-day return policy. All vehicles pass a 150-point inspection, have no frame damage, and have never been in a reported accident. 

Carvana’s newest car vending machine is the first of its kind in the state of Michigan, and the 26th in the U.S. Additional car vending machines are located in Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, Florida, Maryland, Arizona, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and California. 

“When we debuted the new way to buy a car in Detroit in 2017, we were proud to become a part of a community known for its automotive innovation,” said Ernie Garcia, founder and CEO of Carvana. “That was a big moment for us—at the time we didn’t know how big. Three years later, we’re continuing to contribute innovations to the Motor City with our signature car vending machine.”