Carvana- good way to buy?
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Anonymous
| Has anyone used Carvana to buy a certified preowned car? Inventory is much better than our local dealers and prices are decent but I have no idea how reputable it is. |
Anonymous
Prices are not decent, based on my experience buying a car last March. But things may have changed. |
Anonymous
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I think there have been a handful of posts on this before with mixed results, but I'll throw my two cents in.
I was looking at a specific year, make and model of a car (2010-2012 Porsche Boxster). Carvana's prices for those specific models were several thousand below what dealers nationwide were offering. It seems to me this must have been a glitch for several weeks in their pricing algorithm that has since been fixed. This was at the start of the surge in used car prices so that may have been why. I normally would not have used a "service" like Carvana - preferring instead to work with a private owner with service records or a dealer where I could physically test-drive the car before putting money down, etc. I also wanted the ability to take the car to a mechanic and have it inspected before purchase. There was such a demand for those cars at the time that no dealer would authorize a potential customer taking it to a mechanic for a PPI, as the cars were selling within 3-4 days of being posted on AutoTrader, etc. However, Carvana offers the 7-day money-back guarantee which allowed me to take the car to a mechanic and ensure the car had been well-cared for. That was a big positive. Second positive was what I thought was a competitive price, and third positive was that they handled the inspection/registration/plates very efficiently, and also did an oil change before I took delivery. Now to the negatives: As soon as you click purchase and complete the transaction, you get a call stating that in order for them to hold the car, you must show proof of insurance of the car (that you don't have) within 24 hours or they will cancel the order. Not too terrible, but a hasty call to my insurance agent. Next, I arranged to pick up the car on a Saturday at one of their "centers" approximately 3 hours away (the car had to be shipped from AZ so I had already waited a week or two for it to be shipped cross-country to the center). About 20 minutes before we left at 9am to pick up the car, I got an email, not a call, from Carvana stating that the car was not ready for pickup and that I would need to reschedule. I called their customer service pretty irate, and they basically said too bad, to reschedule delivery or pickup in several weeks. I attempted to schedule delivery to my home at this point, but that would have been another 3 weeks wait. Keep in mind that at this point, I was essentially insuring a car I did not know when I would have possession of, or if the car was actually in their inventory. I called another CS representative a few days later who was far more helpful. They offered to deliver it a week later to a Wal-Mart parking lot about 30 minutes away, and offered to reimburse me $200 for the hassle of planning a day off to pick up the car the first time. A little sketchy, but sure enough a delivery truck with my Porsche arrived in a Wal-Mart parking lot, the car was accurately described, test drive worked out, I signed the paperwork, and then brought it straight to a specialist mechanic who confirmed it was in good shape. Never heard about the $200 again, delivery driver knew nothing, then about a month later, a $200 check showed up in the mail. Final negative: Carvana brags they put new tires on the car if necessary. They put on four $80 Chinese Wal-Mart tires on mine. I would have much preferred whatever quality tires were previously on it with 10,000 miles of tread life left rather than what they installed. So, overall, it took me about a month from down payment until I had a car in my possession. At least 3-4 calls with customer service, and a fair amount of uploading pictures of myself, my license, etc. So ultimately a lot more hassle than going to a dealer and walking away with a car several hours later. If you have a specific model of car that you are looking for, I would definitely use them - they accurately reported imperfections on the car, and the 7 day guarantee allows you time to have a mechanic spend a day looking over it. If you are just scrolling through their pages looking for cars that catch your eye, I would just use a traditional dealership. The fact that, from what I know, Carvana is owned/managed by current/former car dealership owners tells you a lot. It is not some magical new way to buy a car. |
Anonymous
| OP - 15:06 thank you so much for sharing your experience in detail! I’ve probably been a little too suckered by the ads on TV to make it look like you click a few things online and it shows up at your house the next day! But of course it makes sense it would be more complicated. I appreciate the insights. |
Anonymous
No problem! Glad to help. |
Anonymous
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We bought a 2020 Subaru Forester from Carvana with no issues in December. The car was delivered to our house on the day we were originally told, I think it was a week after we purchased it. It was spotless and in better condition than we thought it would be in and the test drive went great. We took it to a Subaru dealership the next day for a used car inspection and they said it was fine. Title and registration came before our temporary plate was expired.
After we purchased it, and while we were waiting for it to be delivered, I read so many bad reviews about delays, never receiving the title or registration, dirty vehicles, defects not pictured. Maybe we just got lucky, but it really was the easiest car buying experience we've ever had. Let me know if you have any questions! |
Anonymous
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Has anyone had to return a car bought on carvana? Bc that’s the kicker- you can’t do a test drive until you buy. But then you have seven days to return. But I wonder how easy/painless that process really is.
Carvana just gave us an astronomical price for our crappy minivan. The ease with which they bought the thing definitely turned us off buying with them! |
Anonymous
Pp who bought the Subaru, we only looked at cars that had a clean Carfax report. The cars we considered only had one previous owner and recorded regular maintenance appointments. We also found the pictures to be accurate. |