A used-car ”vending machine” is under construction in Orlando along Interstate 4. The four-year-old company behind the project is Phoenix-based Carvana, an auto dealership group that encourages customers to take delivery of cars or fetch them at a multi-level “vending” buildings, like the one it’s building at 3511 Rio Vista Avenue in Orlando. Carvana has similar “vending machines” in other cities including Atlanta, Houston, Jacksonville and Raleigh.
Carvana paid $1.6 million for 2.84 acres next to I-4, where city documents indicate the company is building an eight-story vehicle storage and display structure. Carvana customers who purchase a vehicle enter similar glassy buildings around the country where the vehicle is “vended” through a coin-insertion mechanism. [Orlando Sentinel] — Mike Seemuth