Carvana is known for being one of the nation’s biggest online used car retailers. But the company has quietly purchased multiple physical dealerships in the United States from Stellantis, which owns popular car brands like Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge and RAM, in recent months.
Carvana reported in regulatory filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it purchased six dealerships from Stellantis for a total of $171 million in late 2025 and early 2026. The company also purchased a seventh Stellantis dealership in April, according to multiple published reports.
Carvana and Stellantis both declined to comment on the purchases.
Ernest Garcia, a co-founder of Carvana who also serves as its president, CEO and chairman, demurred when asked about the Stellantis dealership acquisitions on a call with Carvana investors in April.
“It’s still early,” he said. “So stay tuned. We’ll share more when it’s time to share more.”
The USA TODAY Cars team took a look at what the move by one of the nation’s biggest online retailers to acquire more physical dealerships could mean for its future and car buyers’ experience.
What Is Carvana, and Where Does It Rank among Online Car Dealers?
Carvana is one of the biggest U.S. online car retailers. It competes with companies such as CarGurus, CarMax, Autotrader and DriveTime.
Carvana sold 596,641 cars in 2025, according to sales figures reported by the company in January. The company says on its website that its “mission is to change the way people buy and sell cars.” Carvana was founded in 2012 by Garcia and two partners. The company celebrated selling its four millionth car in October 2024.
What Does Carvana’s Move to Buy Dealerships Mean for Car Buyers?
Carvana’s move to buy brick-and-mortar car dealerships from Stellantis could allow it to compete more with one of its main competitors, CarMax, which has both a large online presence and big network of physical dealerships across the United States.
CarMax has 261 dealerships with locations in 41 states, according to its website. Carvana by contrast operates 39 car vending machines in various states in addition to the seven recently purchased Stellantis dealerships, according to a post on its website.
Opening up more physical locations could be crucial to Carvana’s long-term success because only 30% of car buyers said they were interested in buying cars completely online, according to a study released by Cox Automotive in January 2026.
The number dipped even lower for buyers of new cars, 18% of whom said they want to make such a purchase completely online.
Here’s how car buyers speaking with Cox ranked their preferred shopping tools:
- Third Party Website: 75%
- Physical Dealership: 59%
- Search Engines: 41%
- Used Online Retailer: 30%
- Social Media: 26%
- Automaker Website: 25%
- AI Site: 12%
What Do Analysts Think about Carvana’s Move into Physical Dealerships?
Erin Keating, an executive analyst for Cox Automotive, said in an interview with USA TODAY that the statistics show why online retailers like Carvana may think now is the time to dabble in the brick-and-mortar side of the car sales business.
“At the end of the day, the statistics show that most people want to be able to shop online, and they may be comfortable taking it to the point of getting a quote online, but they want to go to dealerships when it’s time to complete the sale,” she said. “Carvana has a certain used car business, but the new car business is a different breed.”
Keating said there may be other advantages to Carvana in owning the physical dealerships it purchased from Stellantis, including that they would have access to used cars shoppers at those locations trade in, which they could then turn around and sell on their existing online marketplace.
“Tying up with a manufacturer gets them access to used cars as they come in, so it could help with acquisitions,” she said.
But Keating predicted that it would be a while before most car shoppers are prepared to buy a car without seeing and testing them in person.
“I still think we’re a ways off from people feeling comfortable buying cars online without seeing them and testing them out,” she said.
Reporting by Keith Laing, USA TODAY / USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
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