(The Center Square) – As modern times increase the demand for online car sales and home delivery, Illinois lawmakers have changed the law to formally embrace the convenience of services like Carvana.
With the help of a coalition of Illinois customers, e-commerce platform Carvana spearheaded a campaign to update the state’s vehicle sales laws in relation to home delivery. The online automotive retailer announced the success of the campaign and the bill’s endorsement.
“What this legislation does is it modernizes Illinois law regulating home delivery of cars so that it ensures consumers can continue to benefit from this really popular, convenient and efficient method of buying a car,” said Wilson Munsil, Carvana spokesman and senior corporate counsel, to The Center Square. “We think working families, those who are managing disabilities, people who live in communities without easy access to a car dealership, all of them will benefit from this new state law protecting home delivery.”
Earlier this year, Carvana admitted to violating Illinois law and agreed to follow new consumer protection restrictions. That agreement, announced in January, allowed Carvana to continue conducting business in Illinois and ended a legal dispute that began May 2022 when the Illinois Secretary of State suspended its business license.
The bill the company spearheaded in the spring legislative session was sponsored by state Sen. Patrick Joyce, D-Essex, and drew unanimous support from both the House and Senate before being signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
More than 15,000 Illinois residents joined a campaign to change the law in clear support of car deliveries. Carvana launched the campaign through DeliverMyCarHome.com. The goal was to make it easy for consumers to be heard.
“We were first of all thrilled with the groundswell of support from Illinois consumers, everything from writing letters to their lawmakers, signing a petition to support home delivery to appearing in videos we produced telling their own home delivery stories,” Munsil said.
He explained that the state’s more than 50-year-old vehicle sales laws did not formally address home delivery of cars. By modernizing the law, the convenience of home delivery will be protected.
“We think this legislation is a win-win-win for customers, the auto industry at large and the policymakers of Illinois,” Munsil said.
Besides helping Carvana, the bill also benefits other car dealerships and their customers.
Carvana, an e-commerce outlet for auto sales and purchases, has been serving Illinois since 2014, a company news release said. More than 95,000 residents have taken advantage of this route to car sales and purchases.