Carvana launches its first test drive center at a dealership, with more to come

Carvana just announced something rather unusual. It turned a pre-existing car dealership into a test drive center, with an emphasis on "customer exploration and discovery."

This particular location is in Dallas, but the company has been buying up dealerships throughout the country , with plans for more test drive centers. These dealerships will sell new vehicles from Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram, so it looks like consumers will not be able to try out used cars.

So what's the difference between this and a standard car dealership? Carvana says that the staff will "focus on support, not sales." It says they will be around to "answer questions" but will direct customers to the website or app for purchasing.

Otherwise, people will be able to test drive whatever vehicle they want, with no real expectations of a purchase. The company says they want "customers to experience them in a hands-on way, whether they are ready to purchase or just having fun."

The design is also markedly different from a typical car dealership. There are seats and plants everywhere, in addition to a large 10'x10' cube of LED screens. Customers can use a QR code to control this display from a phone, which lets them cycle through available cars and the like. Once finished, it'll display a map to where the vehicle is located on the lot.

All cars on the lot are unlocked and clustered by model for "easy side-by-side comparisons." Consumers can open doors, climb inside and take a peek at the interior. Once ready for a test drive, a button gets pressed on the app and a staffer pulls a duplicate of the vehicle they've been checking out.

These test drives are unsupervised, with "no hard sell." Staffers provide a suggested route and wait at the dealership for the vehicle to return. Of course, they have your name, email, phone number and a copy of your driver's license, so don't get any funny ideas.

This seems like a fun idea for those in the market for a car, or just for those looking for a novel way to waste an afternoon. This strategy should also strengthen Carvana's overall business . Selling new cars gives it more access to customer-trade-ins, which can fill up its inventory of used cars. It also gives the company new revenue streams that have long-been moneymakers for dealerships, like vehicle service, maintenance and parts.