Online vehicle marketplace Joydrive aims to make the car buying experience a bit like filling an Amazon shopping cart, or browsing for movie titles on Netflix. According to the company’s CEO Hunter Gorham, Joydrive has merged vehicle buying and e-commerce.
“We have brought dealerships into the 21st century by offering them an easy-to-implement e-commerce solution; and we offer consumers exactly what they want: the opportunity to buy a new or used car without ever stepping into a dealership,” he said. “The result is a national marketplace where customers are offered competitive and haggle-free prices, nearly every brand with one consistent buying experience, fast home delivery, a five-day return period, and follow-up on service accessible after the purchase.”
The company claims it can save car shoppers about six hours, on average, that they would spend lurking in a dealership, and a user-friendly dashboard helps guide the shopper through all the necessary steps, from trade-in to financing, and including a five-day return period. (You can see a video about how it works here.)
It seems to be going to plan. In nine months, Joydrive has grown from 500 used vehicles in to more than 12,000 vehicles in six states, and it’s now the largest online auto marketplace in the U.S. The company hopes to expand nationwide by the end of this year. To this end, Joydrive has just added the world’s largest Chrysler Dodge Jeep Dealer to its club.
Dave Smith Motors, located in Kellogg, Idaho, announced this week that it plans to partner with Joydrive. The dealership, which was acquired by FJ Auto Partners Inc. of Plano, Texas in 2015, has a reputation for embracing the Internet as a vehicle sales tool and ranks high on Ward’s Auto e-Dealer 100 list. In partnership with Joydrive, Dave Smith Motors plans to offer consumers 100 percent online car shopping with no dealership visits necessary.
According to Joydrive, the site is the first to supply a consistent buying experience with competing dealerships united to one common platform.
“Joydrive is not a middleman like other services,” said Gorham. “A middleman still makes you go to a dealership for six hours on a Saturdayand go through 90 percent of the traditional car buying rigamarole.”
