Looks like Visalia’s midstate location and available industrial acreage has attracted another major e-commerce company that could bring some 700 new jobs to town.
Arizona-based Carvana used car dealer has filed plans to build a 172,000 sf vehicle inspection and reconditioning center (called IRC) in the Visalia Industrial Park. A site plan review hearing will be held April 1 to discuss the $42 million project that will be located at the NE corner of Riggin and Kelsey. The site is next to Amazon on former ag land planted to an orchard (zoned industrial) and now owned by Seefried Industries. It is the first development on a 284 acre industrial parcel that was only recently annexed into the city limits.Seefried acquired the land not far from the new Costco from the Ritchie family on the city’s northern tier.
The site plan says the big auto inspection complex will need 100 acres to accommodate thousands of parking places. Work will carry on daily but customers won’t ever visit the place.
Carvana has filed an operational statement along with their plans submitted to the city describing the facility.”The project creates high-quality jobs, including vehicle technicians,operations staff, and administrative personnel. At capacity the project will generate more than 700 full time jobs. Employee Benefits: In addition to Statutory Benefits, Carvana offers on the job training programs, education reimbursement through Carvana KEYS, and tool,ASE and CDL reimbursement.”
Carvana uses an e-commerce platform to buy and sell used cars. It brings the car to the buyer by bypassing the usual dealer-centered buying process.Like some other auto retailers ,they say they are a no-haggle seller.
The new center will provide vehicle acquisition, inspection and reconditioning of cars and is expected to serve Central California transactions.
The publicly-traded company has several other large-scale inspection and reconditioning centers in the state, including in Tracy and Rocklin, north of Sacramento.
Founded in 2012, Carvana, like other e-commerce companies, pushes to speed customer deliveries-now including same-day service when you can both order and receive your car.
By comparison, the Rocklin center is 190,000 ft.² and sits on about 73 acres. It serves as a major hub for Northern California fulfillment and support same-day delivery to the Bay Area. In 2025 Carvana converted a 150 acre wholesale auction site owned by the company ADESA to a Carvana IRC in Tracy and has almost 25,000 parking spaces that support this regional retail and wholesale reconditioning center. There’s also a center in the LA area and some 17 across the nation.
With the operation of these IRC inspection and reconditioning centers, Carvana touts that it carries on a detailed inspection, mechanical repair,detailing and photography process to market the car. Here you could find a paint booth,mixing rooms, detailing and mechanical repair stations. Every vehicle undergoes a 150-point inspection to ensure it has no reported accidents, frame damage, or fire/flood damage.
The company says based on the inspection results, vehicles receive necessary mechanical
work to bring them up to standard. This includes typical vehicular maintenance such as oil changes, fluid
checks and top-offs, replacement of worn tires, new brake pads/rotors,
and other small-scale repairs.Crucially, the facility is designed for standard maintenance, and will not
perform major processes like engine rebuilds or extensive body work.
Battle of rivals
The new Carvana complex follows their rival – used car giant Carmax – who set up in Visalia last year in a 59,000 ft.² showroom on Hillsdale in the industrial park. For Carmax, this was the 250th location for what was said to be the largest used car dealer in the nation.
Both companies say they simplify the buying and selling of used cars online, although Carmax allows the customer to inspect the car at the dealership while the Carvana customer doesn’t see their car until it arrives at their house. Carvana does have a 7-day return policy while Carmax offers a 30-day return.
Now it appears as the e-commerce king. Amazon may enter the car business as well, expected to work with existing automobile dealer networks to help them compete against the onslaught of e-commerce companies. As it is,the traditional car dealers’ hold on car sales for both new and used vehicles continues to be tested.
Sources say Amazon Autos is a dealer-first digital marketplace that’s helping the traditional brick-and-mortar retailers expand their reach through its e-commerce prowess. Llocal dealers will list their vehicle inventory on the Amazon Autos marketplace and will retain control of the transaction, pricing, service agreements, and financing. Buyers will be able to browse Amazon vehicle listings, process a trade-in, submit a down payment, apply for financing, and schedule a pickup time through a typical Amazon shopping experience.
Visalia appears to the turf these e-commerce companies compete on, If Visalia is the host, Seefried is the cook as developer to bring in industrial clients like Carvana here, Amazon in other markets and Ace Hardware who came to Visalia to expand its e-commerce sales a few years ago.
In Visalia, Seefried built and leased the 1.2 million square-foot Ace Hardware distribution center on Plaza Drive — now in full operation. In related news, Ace Hardware has installed a $30 million conveyor system expected to automate deliveries from Visalia to all parts of California in a speedy manner. The end result is expected to be higher e-commerce sales from Visalia that boost the city’s sales tax revenue as well as property tax. Visalia residents are becoming aware of the trend as a Visalia Rotary Club recently toured the huge complex.
By contrast Visalia economic benefits will not include collecting sales tax on each Carvana sale since Visalia will not be considered as the point of sale.