First, Amazon offered a service that would let delivery people drop off packages inside your house. And now, it’s letting them deliver those packages to your car.
The retail giant on Tuesday announced a new in-car delivery service as part of its Amazon Key offering. The service will allow Amazon customers to remotely allow delivery people to access their vehicles and drop packages into their trunks. Better yet, there’s no additional cost to have packages delivered to the car.
Amazon unveiled its Amazon Key service last year. At the time, Amazon Key focused solely on allowing customers to have packages delivered inside the home rather than have those packages left outside on the porch. Amazon Key is compatible with specific door locks and only allowed in select markets. Still, it’s part of a broader push by Amazon to expand delivery options and make those deliveries more convenient for customers.
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Amazon’s new in-car delivery takes that a step further by offering the option to have packages delivered to wherever a customer’s car is. So rather than wait to get home to pick up a package, customers can walk out to the car and get that product they’ve been waiting for all day.
In order to use the service, Amazon Prime members (non-Prime members don’t qualify) will first need to download the Amazon Key app and link their Amazon accounts to a connected car service like OnStar. Once that’s complete, they can buy a product on Amazon and select the “in-car” delivery option. On the day of the delivery, they’ll be given a four-hour delivery window. When the delivery person is on the way to their location, they’ll get another notification. Once they give Amazon Key permission for the delivery person to unlock the door, the package can be delivered in the trunk. They’ll then get a notification when the package is delivered and be able to see when the trunk was opened and closed.
While that may all sound simple enough, there are some caveats to consider.
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For one, the service is only available in 37 cities and their surrounding areas. Additionally, it’s only offered to those driving cars with model years of 2015 or newer made by Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, and Volvo. Those who have an older car or a make other than those vehicles are out of luck.
Amazon (AMZN) said in a statement that it plans to add more cities and more car models as time goes on. It stopped short of saying exactly when those additional areas and car models will be added to the service.
The car’s placement is also important. If it’s not in a publicly accessible area or is outside the delivery zone in a particular area, in-car delivery won’t be available.
Amazon’s new in-car delivery is available now. If you’re interested in finding out whether you qualify for the program, Amazon has a handy tool on its Key page to help you out.
