Big Box? Nissan Note the First-Ever Car You Can 'Buy' On Amazon

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Big Box? Nissan Note the First-Ever Car You Can 'Buy' On Amazon

Posted by timothy on Thursday September 26, 2013 @04:53AM from the ok-but-put-the-other-packages-in-there-too dept.

cartechboy writes "You knew the day was coming when they started selling diapers. Amazon is now dipping its toe into car sales by selling a single car: the 2014 Nissan Versa Note. Amazon users hit a real live Versa Note product page, but instead of "Add to cart" you provide your ZIP code so Amazon can connect you with a nearby Nissan dealer. The first 100 Versa Note customers whose car purchases are initiated through Amazon receive $1,000 Amazon gift cards. Best part: Customers who end up actually buying the Note *will* receive them via boxed home delivery. Now, that's a big box." (The linked article says that "some" customers will get their Versa boxed; maybe this is only if you specify gift wrapping.)

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That's nice and all, but... by ButchDeLoria · 2013-09-26 04:54 · Score: 5, Funny

How long until we can download that car?
1. Re:That's nice and all, but... by norriefc · 2013-09-26 05:10 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  You wouldn't download a car
2. Re:That's nice and all, but... by fredrated · 2013-09-26 05:13 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Why not download the specs for use in my 3D printer?
3. Re:That's nice and all, but... by TheSpoom · 2013-09-26 05:32 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Every time I saw that ad, I thought to myself, "Nope, I'd totally download a car. Why wouldn't you?"
  
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4. Re:That's nice and all, but... by Anubis+IV · 2013-09-26 05:36 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Why not download the specs for use in my 3D printer?
  Whooosh.
  Though I was thinking the same thing. >_>
I wish this was real by h4rr4r · 2013-09-26 05:00 · Score: 5, Interesting

It just sends you to a dealer. I wish you could buy cars like everything else. No instead you have to fuck around with dealers who try to add fees, refuse to special order cars, try to convince you to take what they have in stock, or try to show you crap you are not interested in.
Car dealers please go out of business.
1. Re:I wish this was real by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · 2013-09-26 05:49 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Sounds like my experience in buying vehicles. For some reason wanting a vehicle with a manual transmission that isn't a civic or real sports car causes sales people at dealerships to look at you like you are retarded, especially if it is a truck or SUV. The last time I bought a vehicle there were a grand total of 6 that I could afford and met my requirements in a 100 mile radius. I also hate only being able to get certain equipment as part of a package that includes a bunch of crap I don't want or need. Why should I have to get the premium audio upgrade + leather trimmed steering wheel + heated seats if I all I want is the uprated locking front and rear axles.
  
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  Time to offend someone
2. Re:I wish this was real by h4rr4r · 2013-09-26 06:22 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Grow up, jackass. I have no problem telling them off. What I have a limited amount of is patience and time.
  I want to be able to order the car I want, like it appears you can do with the design your ford website thing or whatever. I do not want to check to see what numbskull ordered what options for their lot.
  Car salesmen are not specialists, most know less about the cars than I do. They are not on your side and are not worth paying.
3. Re:I wish this was real by pla · 2013-09-26 06:23 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Or stop being a prima donna and blaming the world for your social dysfunction or because you don't have the backbone to deal with salesmen.
  
  Not a matter of backbone, but rather, of the pointlessness of it all. I don't make it a habit of intentionally dealing with wolves, either, even though a modern firearm will make short work of them. I simply have no interest in the whole negotiating game. For my last car, I found what I wanted, went to the nearest dealer, took it for a ride, came back and told the salesperson what I would pay for it (a fair price, not the most profitable customer of the day but not a loss, either). As soon as she started to play the "I'll need to talk with my manager" bullshit, I headed for the door (and would have left) when she backpedaled faster than Lance Armstrong on Oprah. I drove it home half an hour later after filling out the annoying ream of paper (getting rid of that wouldn't suck, either, but I realize most of it doesn't have anything to do with the actual dealer).
  
  Specialists and middlemen exist for a reason, I pay them to make my life easier.
  
  No, they don't. You haven't bought a car in a while, have you?
  
  You don't get to customize them anymore. You pick one of a small number (half a dozen or so) of equally ugly colors with stupid names you don't even recognize, you pick one of a small number (less than three, usually) of standard trims, and you might have one or two options you can select (like alloy vs steel wheels); in most cases, upgrading to option-X requires upgrading the entire trim (or buying it after-market). Oh, make no mistake, I have no doubt you could get it with whatever you want. But whether they say it or not, you will pay for trim-package-B when they "throw in for free" the 17" rims.
  
  But the best part about all that? You could just as easily choose all those options via the dropdown size/color/etc boxes Amazon already has. So no, I don't have any use whatsoever for salesmen; and those particular middlemen haven't counted as "specialists" in a good 20 years (if they ever did, which I somewhat doubt).
  
  Now, as for this listing on Amazon - Amazingly enough, I currently need a new car. And I have considered that exact car as an option. I went to that page fully intending to add it to my cart and order (you won't do much better than $1000 off a $14k car anywhere else, so paying MSRP really doesn't much matter here)... And sure, I understand that a "real" dealer would technically have sold it to me, but at least I wouldn't have needed to actually deal with them.
  
  And as one further perk, most dealers won't actually let you put a whole car on plastic (usually limiting it to something like $5k or 10% as a down-payment), but that woudln't present a problem on Amazon... Except... It did, and in fact, just cost them a sale. That page doesn't sell you a car, it amounts to nothing but an ad. You can't just buy it there and check out, "Purchase or lease must be completed at Nissan dealer within 30 days of submitting your contact request". You don't buy a car at that page, Nissan buys you as a sales lead.
  
  So fuck you, car dealers, and fuck you too, Amazon - Oh, and fuck you too, Slashvertisement on the FP. I can't wait for Tesla to come out with something under $30k; Once they do, I'll never go to a physical dealership again in my life.
4. Re:I wish this was real by tlhIngan · 2013-09-26 07:53 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  You don't get to customize them anymore. You pick one of a small number (half a dozen or so) of equally ugly colors with stupid names you don't even recognize, you pick one of a small number (less than three, usually) of standard trims, and you might have one or two options you can select (like alloy vs steel wheels); in most cases, upgrading to option-X requires upgrading the entire trim (or buying it after-market). Oh, make no mistake, I have no doubt you could get it with whatever you want. But whether they say it or not, you will pay for trim-package-B when they "throw in for free" the 17" rims.
  There's a science behind it, and it turns out customers prefer the limited options overwhelmingly to having the ability to pick and choose every little thing. It also turns out to be surprisingly cheaper because you get to standardize parts.
  The trim package one is annoying, but sometimes it's essential because if you want say, leather seats, they come with a bum warmer (because most people buy them with bum warmers in the past, so it's easier to build one seat than two - one with and one without), which requires a button for your dashboard to control it. But that button also requires an extra fusebox relay and a interior control computer to manage it. Of course, the computer software isn't flexible so if you get it with that option, you get the onboard navigation system as well, which means you need the upgraded trim level just to get leather seats.
  Navigation systems generally cause this because to put in the screen requires electronics changes and the dash changes, which means again, upgraded trim level because you're changing so many things (navigation means you need a central screen, perhsps interaction buttons on the steering wheel, integration with the instrument cluster screen, etc. which changes everything.
  Do this more than a few times and the number of parts and assemblies required balloons immensely which just complicates the supply line, complicates the car computer software etc. etc. etc.
$1000 off? by MMC+Monster · 2013-09-26 05:01 · Score: 4, Interesting

Can I pay them an extra $1000 and buy directly from amazon? Why get a dealer involved?
(Not that I'm interested in a Nissan Versa. But my point is the same. Car dealers are the scum of the Earth.)

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Re:No a real Amazon item by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · 2013-09-26 05:04 · Score: 4, Insightful

Exactly. We can't let just anyone sell new cars. Otherwise, how would car dealers get their cut? Harumph! Harumph!
Finally by Dachannien · 2013-09-26 05:05 · Score: 4, Funny

Finally, a package that the delivery guy will really, really regret drop-kicking off the back of the truck.
1. Re:Finally by femtobyte · 2013-09-26 05:22 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  The trick to proper delivery by forklift is to find a long approach path, so you can get up to full rolling speed in advance. Then, coordinate tipping down the forklift blades with slamming on the brakes, and you should be able to toss the package over the recipient's fence with ease. Bonus points for lifting the package by skewering the forklift blades through it, instead of coming from underneath.
Bug your state legislators by tepples · 2013-09-26 05:11 · Score: 4, Insightful

If the Tesla Motors saga is to be believed, this failure of local dealers to serve their respective markets is something that you should mention to your state legislators.
Re:Buying without driving? by pixelpusher220 · 2013-09-26 05:59 · Score: 4, Insightful

Because I drove my friends/parents/rental car and liked it?

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