One can’t buy a car on Amazon but research one

You still can’t purchase an automobile on Amazon, however you can do almost everything else.

On Thursday, the company released Amazon Vehicles, what it’s calling an online “automotive community”. There, consumers can investigate cars, look for car parts and accessories and read and write reviews of cars.

The automobile research location, as Amazon terms it, offers visitors access to automobile specifications, images, videos and client reviews for both new and older vehicle designs.

It’s an extension of Amazon’s Automotive shop, which is more of a straight Amazon purchasing page for parts, accessories and care items. The Vehicles website is more along the lines of Consumer Reports, AutoTrader, Cars.com and TrueCar, with easy-to-search specifications on cars and trucks.

The reviews are still sporadic but might turn into a beneficial resource for potential automobile purchasers, particularly those who are comfortable with shopping and browsing on Amazon.

Clients can likewise chat amongst themselves by means of Amazon’s “Customer Questions & Answers,” which enables them to ask other consumers questions about particular vehicles or trucks.

The site does not enable Amazon consumers anything near one-click shopping to buy a car, and isn’t most likely to anytime soon. Several states have franchise laws to secure car dealerships, which have actually made it tough for automobile makers to sell directly to customers, or in some cases to do online sales.

Amazon’s been making other ventures into the auto industry. On Monday it revealed a four-day pilot program that allowed customers in Los Angeles and Orange county to purchase a 2017 Hyundai Elantra to test drive, by means of the Amazon site. The program was just arranged for two weekends, August 20th– 21st and August 27th– 28th.