Shift Technologies Brings Its Online Auto Dealership To Sacramento

Source: Sacramento Business Journal, Mark Anderson
Photo: Used-car marketplace Shift Technologies has expanded to the Sacramento region. (SHIFT)

Used car-buying and sales website Shift Technologies Inc. today added Sacramento among its first cities, the company said.

San Francisco-based Shift is backed by investors including Lithia Motors Inc. (NYSE: LAD), Alliance Ventures, BMW iVentures and Goldman Sachs Investment Partners.

In 2018, Shift sold 8,500 used cars, a 70% increase from the previous year, according to the company. Shift projects sales of up to 15,000 cars this year.

The company says it seeks to make car-buying fast, convenient, fair and accessible. It offers instant quotes, financing and at-home pickup and delivery. Its used cars go through a 150-point inspection and come with a five-day guarantee.

Shift also launched service today in Portland, Oregon, which brings the company to nine cities, including San Jose, San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Riverside, Orange County and Oakland.

“Consumers in these areas, as with our existing markets in California, desire the convenience of shopping at home and having the concierge come to them on their schedule,” said Toby Russell, co-CEO of Shift, in a news release. “Shift is uniquely poised to bring the car-buying and car-selling experience to them.”

Shift is far from the first car-buying and delivery service in Sacramento. In the 1990s, a handful of local credit unions created a service where they would negotiate, finance and deliver cars to their members.

One of the recent success stories in the industry is Tempe, Arizona-based Carvana Co. (NYSE: CVNA), founded in 2012, which sells, finances and takes trades of used cars online. Carvana is famous for its multistory car vending machines in some locations. Though the Sacramento region doesn’t yet have a vending center, Carvana does service the area.

In 2015, Palo Alto startup Beepi promised to Uber-ize the used-car business in Sacramento, when it made Sacramento one of its first markets for its high-end auto-buying and selling concierge and delivery service. Beepi stopped serving the Sacramento region before running out of money at the end of 2016, according to an article in Forbes.

https://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2019/04/23/shift-technologies-brings-its-online-auto