Carvana granted option to invest in Slate Auto!

[GaRailroader]

I imagine if Carvana is their delivery partner they will deliver it to your residence if you want. You won’t need to go to the vending machine.(Perhaps they would charge extra for home delivery?). I didn’t even have the option to drop my truck off when I sold my Colorado to them. They showed up and inspected it. Paid for it and got the title and then sent a rollback to pick it up later in the day.

 

[KevinRS]

While carvana might be a partner, I can't see them being the only partner for fulfillment. They just don't have enough locations that I can see, unless they are going to do it significantly beyond the "vending machines" I am seeing mention of "customer hubs" if you aren't near a VM but they aren't shown anywhere.
Apparently they sold 596k vehicles in 2025, I can't see that happening through the 37 VMs and Slate would be a significant bump in those deliveries.

 

[cadblu]

While carvana might be a partner, I can't see them being the only partner for fulfillment. They just don't have enough locations that I can see, unless they are going to do it significantly beyond the "vending machines" I am seeing mention of "customer hubs" if you aren't near a VM but they aren't shown anywhere.

Excellent point! Actually, I considered CarMax a contender since they partnered with RepairPal in 2017, giving their customers access to RepairPal’s network. CarMax also made a five-million-dollar investment in RepairPal at the time. Nobody said the Carvana partnership would be exclusive.

 

[cadblu]

Does this open up opportunities to trade your current vehicle around the time you can order a Slate, assuming a successful future partnership with Carvana?

How does this sound:
Drive your old clunker to Carvana, drive home in a new Slate!

 

[GaRailroader]

Carvana is primarily an online retailer with home delivery as a core service. I don’t think they would be hampered by lack of density of the physical locations since most of their business doesn’t involve the physical locations other than perhaps as a storage site for inventory.

Go to their website and look. The listings will say free shipping get it tomorrow or get it Saturday. I can’t tell where the cars are physically located. I think they would be a perfect fit for Slate. Perhaps they could put some demo models at their physical locations for those that want a test drive.

 

[KevinRS]

I would expect a significant number of buyers of Slate to be expecting to be able to not pay for delivery and pick up the truck within a conservative estimate of the standard battery's range of their home. While I could make that from the nearest Carvana VM, many wouldn't be able to.

 

[GaRailroader]

I would expect a significant number of buyers of Slate to be expecting to be able to not pay for delivery and pick up the truck within a conservative estimate of the standard battery's range of their home. While I could make that from the nearest Carvana VM, many wouldn't be able to.

My guess is that if Carvana is the service provider that you will pay a flat delivery fee to Slate and Carvana is going to deliver it to the address of your choice. If you have a trade they will pick-up your trade at the same time they drop off your Slate. I sold a vehicle to Carvana, I live less than 25 miles from a vending machine, and they gave me no option to drop the vehicle off at their location and they didn’t reduce my sale price by a pick-up fee.

The other perk for Carvana of getting this contract with Slate is that it will give them direct access to a lot more trade-ins to also make money on. I would bet that on average trade quality of a buyer buying a new car is better than that of a buyer buying a used car.

For the heck of it, I put in the details of my 2018 Model 3 to see what they would give me for it. I didn’t accept their offer which is good for 7 days. They do send you updated offers periodically with their current price they are willing to pay. I still get emails from them on the Nissan Leaf I sold last year and it is interesting to see how the value fluctuates.

 

[KevinRS]

As far as we know, from the details on the Slate site, there will be an additional charge to have the truck delivered to you, as opposed to going to whatever site they arrange for you to pick it up at. I can see carvana being the actual delivery partner, but unless things have changed that will be with an additional charge, and you can save that charge by picking it up at whatever local/regional or whatever lot they set up.

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

Yes! Here comes my Slate rolling down the vending machine:

That would be cool! Anyone know where or how to get enough quarters?

 

[Dreadnought]

Imagine a different vending machine setup. Like the slate builder page but with an actual drop to pick up your machine right there.

 

[sodamo]

Imagine a different vending machine setup. Like the slate builder page but with an actual drop to pick up your machine right there.

With only the choice of battery, very doable. Maybe include a discount coupon for accessories.

 

[Tran]

Relevant article on this:

Carvana’s bet on Slate is ACTUALLY a bet on itself, as the future of automotive retail

https://electrek.co/2026/06/05/carvanas-bet-on-slate-is-actually-a-bet-on-itself-as-the-future-of-automotive-retail/

 

[ScooterAsheville]

Slate came up again on Autoline After Hours this week, regarding the June price release and the Carvana news. As usual, an industry insider guest analyst scoffed at Slate's odds and uttered "niche".

I was surprised by the scornful dismissal. I'm sitting on the fence with Slate. But I still give them 50-50 odds. On the one hand, they might pull a Maverick and be a runaway hit (a half million sold and headed to a million fast). On the other hand, they might be a disaster waiting to happen - a few fanboy sales, and then a whole lot of nothing.

And I don't think anybody has a clue which scenario is going to happen. Had I been that guest, I would have quoted Mr Spock: "No analysis due to insufficient information, Captain.".

 

[ScooterAsheville]

A great Slate sales incentive just occured to me. If you buy a Slate, you get options on one free share of Slate stock in any future IPO.

 

[sodamo]

A great Slate sales incentive just occured to me. If you buy a Slate, you get options on one free share of Slate stock in any future IPO.

That would be awesome.