National online used car dealership expanding service to Charlotte and throughout NC

A national e-commerce used car dealer is expanding its service to Charlotte, Raleigh and throughout North Carolina.

Vroom, with headquarters in New York and Texas, is broadening its reach by adding an “Extended Mile” hub in Statesville, north of Charlotte, which is similar to the current last mile hub there. The “extended reach” means Vroom will be able to serve a much wider geographic area.

The Statesville site will be one of Vroom’s largest hubs in the country holding up to 1,000 vehicles, Vroom’s Chief Logistics Officer Mary Kay Wegner told the Observer exclusively.

Vroom is expanding in a growing field of online-only use car retailers such as Carvana and EchoPark Automotive all competing with traditional used car sales dealerships.

Founded 10 years ago, Vroom is an e-commerce platform that offers personalized concierge service to buy and sell used vehicles online, where the company drops off the car wherever the customer wants.

“We continue to see the consumer base expand, people that want that online buying experience,” Wegner said, “customers that want a wider selection of vehicles that they can search through. Customers that don’t want to deal with haggling at the dealer that want transparent pricing.”

In December, Vroom opened its first Extended Mile hub in Orlando, Florida. The company also has last mile hubs in several other cities, including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Seattle.

Why is Vroom expanding?

In North Carolina from last January to December 2021, Vroom customer vehicle purchases rose 244% and vehicles sold to the e-commerce company increased 339%.

“There’s definitely a move underway where consumers want that easy online transparent buying experience with a broader portfolio of vehicles they can shop from,” Wegner said. “And the trend that we see in North Carolina is something that we’re experiencing all across the country.”

What the expansion means

Vroom has delivered to customers in Statesville for the last decade, with local concierge pickup and delivery service.

Now the Statesville hub is expanding to an extended mile hub to service a 300-mile radius that will include the Charlotte area, as well as Winston-Salem and Raleigh, Wegner said.

The Extended Mile Hub expansion means Vroom is available to 2.6 million North Carolina residents in 658 ZIP codes, according to the company.

“We’re able to reach the entire state with this concierge level service essentially,” Wegner said.

The new service also means being able to add more vehicles to its stock with its supplier partner in Statesville, Wegner said. That hub is in the Interstate 77 and Turnersburg area.

The Statesville hub has added two staff members for a total of nine full-time employees and continues to expand as growth in vehicle purchases and selling cars increases, Wegner said. Plus, the company has trucks for delivery and pickup of vehicles.

How Vroom works

Vroom Transactions are completed essentially all online.

The company buys used vehicles from individuals with an online offer, then a Vroom staff member picks up the vehicle and payment is made to the customer with a couple days, Wegner explained.

The vehicle is then reconditioned, then posted on Vroom’s website.

Used car buyers explore Vroom.com to choose a vehicle, create an account, check customer financing and trade-in options, upload needed documents like insurance information and driver’s license, make a deposit and sign forms.

Then the car is delivered with temporary tags. Customers have seven days or 250 mile “to make sure it’s right for you,” according to Vroom’s website.

What’s next in car sales?

Vroom is competing in a growing field of online used car retailers, too.

Carvana debuted its eight-store “car vending machine” in 2018 in Charlotte. and in 2020, opened a $35 million facility opened in Concord. In 2020, Sonic Automotive added a retail hub on Independence Boulevard to expand its vehicle capacity at EchoPark, which focuses on buying and selling cars through its website or retail locations.

But Wegner said Vroom’s top competitors are the 40,000 conventional used car dealerships across the country.

“Our main service offering is to improve the experience of traditional car sales experience,” Wegner said.

By 2027, the global used cars market value is predicted to grow to $1.3 trillion, up from $828.2 billion in 2019, according to Allied Market Research.

The expansion of Vroom’s last mile hubs and extended mile service helps meet a growing demand. Last year, Vroom added over 30 hubs across the country, and the company expects to see the same this year, Wegner said.

“With the chip shortage that new car manufacturers are experiencing (because of the pandemic) it has put even more demand on the used car market,” Wegner said. She said because there are fewer new cars available due to supply chain challenges, new car buyers are also looking at the used car market to meet their transportation needs.

“We don’t see growth slowing,” Wegner said, “and we’ll continue to expand the network.”

This story was originally published February 15, 2022 at 11:36 AM with the headline "National online used car dealership expanding service to Charlotte and throughout NC."