Used-car seller Carvana expanded its services into Richmond, Va., at the end of June. This marks Carvana’s first location in Virginia, but its 14th overall.
Carvana also plans to open physical locations in more than a dozen new markets by the end of 2016, and “will continue to expand at a similar pace” beyond that, the company’s chief executive and founder, Ernie Garcia, said.
Carvana is “growing responsibly,” Garcia said, but “fast growth is hard because you have to hire great people and train great people, and I think just executing on that is a challenge.”
Other than increasing its geographic expansion, Carvana is focusing on improving the customer experience, and to do that the company keeps a “startup mindset” in order to remain customer-centric, Garcia said.
“The need to innovate and adopt technology — that mindset to ensure you always view the customer experience through the lenses of technology — that’s always true,” he added. “All these companies, ourselves included, should continue to look at what tools are coming available and how to create the best customer experience and that requires you change at speed of technology.”
The auto finance industry is clearly on the cusp of change, particularly with startups and rideshares joining the market, but “it’s hard for any one player to have a massive impact because the industry is so, so large that it just takes time,” Garcia said. “I think all of the pieces are on the board to make it clear the industry is going to change, and needs to change.”
Through all of these partnerships and emerging companies, the industry is beginning to see “clear, early signs of meaningful change on horizon,” he added.
