It's no wonder that BMW's i Venture is an investor in the company. With millennials making up 50 percent of Shift's customer base, it should be on the radar of any dealer or automaker looking to appeal to a demographic that's become accustomed to nearly everything being delivered to their home. If you're a used car dealer in a place like Wichita, Kansas, where Shift might not open its own office, the idea of being the one place in town that makes it super easy for potential customers to buy a car could be too good to pass up. Sort of like the super-sellers on eBay that use the auction site to sell their goods without having to launch their own sites or deal with e-commerce issues.

But that might be ok with Shift.īy subscribing, you are agreeing to Engadget's Terms and Privacy Policy.Ĭo-founder and CEO George Arison told Engadget that in the future, there's a potential for someone with an inventory of cars in a market the company wouldn't necessarily enter to be a super-seller on Shift using the startup's platform. There's no real reason why an automaker couldn't nudge its dealers to use its own version of an app for scheduled off-site test-drives. So while it's currently the only player that'll come to your home or office to let you test drive a car, it's certainly not going to be the last. Shift's biggest competitor was the defunct Beepi, which did the same thing as Shift, but shuttered and sold for parts. In the car-selling market, it's joined by Carvana, which also delivers a car to owners but requires you opt to buy it first.

Launched in 2013, Shift joined a growing number of automotive startups hoping to change the status quo. No driving across town, the county, or the state to roll around in a vehicle and more importantly no pushy sales or financing people. If you schedule one of these drives and decide that this is your new whip, you can buy it right then and there using the delivery person's iPad. Fortunately, there's a new way to buy a vehicle that doesn't even involve you leaving the house.īased out of San Francisco, Shift will deliver a car to the home of a potential buyer for them to test-drive. You end up scouring tons of random Craigslist listings and dreading the moment a used car dealer sits you down with the hyper-aggressive loan officer.

Especially if you're looking to save some cash by purchasing something used.

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