Wal-Mart Store Inc. will dip its toes into car sales starting in April in a partnership with CarSaver, AutoNation and potential dealerships. Walmart is the country's largest retailer and AutoNation is its largest new-vehicle retailer.
Wal-Mart Store Inc. will dip its toes into car sales starting in April in a partnership with CarSaver, AutoNation and potential dealerships.
The Automotive News reports CarSaver will launch its program in Walmart stores in Dallas, Houston, Oklahoma City and Phoenix on April 1. If the program goes well, the goal is to have it in stores nationwide within two years.
Walmart is the country's largest retailer and AutoNation is its largest new-vehicle retailer.
CarSaver will allow its users to shop, finance and insure vehicles through its website, touch-screen kiosks or with on-site staff members.
The program can connect users with dealerships within 15 minutes of the store they're in, in which it aims to cut out some of the pressure from shopping for a new ride.
Sean Wolfington, CarSaver's CEO, told the Automotive News that he modeled the Walmart partnership off of Costco's, Walmart's top competition.
"I was impressed with Costco's program and how much easier it was for the dealership because consumers trusted Costco and appreciated the haggle-free pricing and hassle-free experience," the man, who managed Costco's program 20 years ago, told the publication. "With the reach that Wal-Mart has, this could be a very large-scale buying program, and I think dealers are going to want to participate in it."
CarSaver and Walmart ran a pilot program in Stuart, Florida in April 2016, in which Wolfington tells the Auto News that more than half of its appointments led to sales at the 20 participating dealerships. He also said that the program aims to match Costco in selling more than 1,000 vehicles a year at each participating store.
Business Insider reports that if the program expands to 450 Walmart stores, "it could become a major threat to Costco's service."