Online car dealerships like Carvana often have a bad reputation. In theory, these companies allow you to buy a car entirely online without ever talking to a salesman. Yet, they have also caused all sorts of headaches for drivers across America. I was either brave enough or stupid enough to chance Carvana not just once, but twice. I had such a great time that I don’t think I’ll ever go to a used car dealership again.
Back in January, I did something out of the ordinary for me and got a car that wasn’t at the bottom of its depreciation curve. I picked up a 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata, finally fulfilling a goal I’ve had since driving a Miata ND for the first time at the Chicago Auto Show. To date, it remains one of my favorite cars, and while I was reluctant to get it at first, I’m so happy I did. My wife is, too, as she also now has a flashy car to ride around in.
You might have noticed that, when I wrote my story about the Miata in February, I didn’t mention where I got the car or how much I paid for it. This Miata was one of the rare instances where I got a car from a dealership. But I didn’t choose any random dealership. Instead, it was Carvana. The Miata is now the second car we’ve purchased from Carvana, and I’m convinced I’ll never go to a regular used car dealer again. A lot of it is because Carvana, and companies like it, have strategically eliminated the worst part about buying a used car: the dealership experience.
Buying A Used Car Is Like Pulling Teeth
Being the car writer in my family and friend circle means I’m almost always the first call that a non-car person makes when purchasing a vehicle. I have lost count of how many car dealerships I’ve been in, how many spiels I’ve heard from salesmen, and how many bad deals I’ve seen people willingly sign on the dotted line for. Honestly, I’m so done with it.
My parents usually start their search by calling up some dealers. My parents are usually told what they want to hear, so we pile into a vehicle and drive out. What then occurs is a painful process that takes all day. We find out that the person on the phone wasn’t in the sales department, and the vehicle they said existed had just been “sold.” Then, my parents are offered a list of vehicles that do exist, none of which can tow 7,000 pounds. Sometimes, a dealer just doesn’t have a tow vehicle, even though the person on the phone said there were plenty in stock. So we leave after burning a few hours of time.
In one instance, a salesman insisted with a totally straight face that a new Chevrolet Equinox could tow a 7,000-pound trailer. My parents didn’t know any better, so they didn’t question it. I did know better, and I called the salesman out. For the record, an Equinox tows 1,500 pounds.
Typically, we spend all day at a few dealers just to walk out with nothing. It doesn’t get better when my parents find a suitable vehicle. Now it’s time to negotiate, and remember, they have to negotiate with someone who negotiates for a living. Oh, then there’s the fun of all of the dealer add-ons.
When all is said and done, both my parents and I feel like we’ve fought a long battle, and somehow it feels like we’ve still lost in the end.
I’ve had terrible dealer experiences entirely on my own. In 2012, I saved up enough money to buy my first Smart Fortwo. At first, I tried to get a cheap used one. Every dealer I went to offered me $200 on my trade, a 2001 Kia Rio, and tried marking up the Smart with “necessary” add-ons. The last straw was when I went to a certain dealer and, as I was working out the deal on the Smart, I turned my head and saw a dealer employee doing handbrake drifts in my Kia.
[Ed Note: For the record, I bought my 2021 BMW i3S from a car dealer, and it was easy as pie. I found the car online, I paid the advertised price, and the dealer shipped it across the country to me in California. I also work with Galpin here in LA, and Galpin has a great reputation. But obviously, mileage varies. -DT]
I ended up driving my Kia straight to CarMax, which offered me $750. I then went to Loeber Motors Lincolnwood and drove home a brand-new Smart that night.
Really, the only two pleasant times I’ve had buying a car for myself in a physical dealer were when I bought two of my Smarts new. The only other positive experience I can think of was when Sheryl bought her Scion iQ, but even that wasn’t entirely kosher. If you remember the post I wrote on that experience, I praised the dealership for “fixing” the rusty fender. They actually covered it in Bondo and paint. The repair didn’t even last a year before rust started appearing on the surface again.
So, this is a very long way of saying that I’m so done with buying used cars from dealerships. I don’t enjoy negotiating, I hate hidden fees, and I don’t like burning a whole day just to buy a car. What has worked for me is getting cars from an unexpected source, Carvana.
Carvana Sucks Sometimes
I say “unexpected” because Carvana has an absolutely dreadful reputation. A few years ago, I wrote a dive into all of the ways that Carvana sucks. Carvana’s issues go far back, too. Here’s what I wrote in 2022:
In 2018, Carvana caught the attention of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, specifically the state’s Department of Banking and Securities, Compliance Office. The state says it found that Carvana failed to operate within the state’s Consumer Credit Code. Pennsylvania said Carvana had entered into installment sales contracts with customers since 2014 without having a license to do so. From Pennsylvania’s filing:
The Office contends that Carvana entered into installment sale contracts with Pennsylvania consumers while not licensed as an installment seller in Pennsylvania from January 2014 to present.
Carvana believes it was not required to be licensed pursuant to the CCC for financing vehicle sales if it did not have a dealership in Pennsylvania.
Carvana entered into a settlement agreement with Pennsylvania, where it paid $117,375 in fines in exchange for a Pennsylvania dealer license.
But that was just the tip of the iceberg. From my report:
In 2019 and 2020, Carvana customers on Reddit began reporting title delays and sometimes just not receiving a title at all. This apparently escalated to the point when in 2021, Carvana’s handling of vehicle documents became national news. In December 2021, News 4 JAX reported that the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles was suing Carvana because the company allegedly took too long to issue titles and other documents. Florida law requires dealers to turn over title and registration documents to buyers within 30 days, and Carvana was allegedly failing to do that, WFLA reports. According to WFLA, Florida state regulators claim that Carvana’s document issues in Florida went back to February 2020 and even though the state issued titles on time, Carvana took up to eight months to deliver them.
[…]
This meant that customers couldn’t even drive the cars that they purchased. That Florida report mentions similar title issues reported in California, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas. In Texas reports look awfully familiar, with customers purchasing vehicles from Carvana in 2020 and apparently only sometimes receiving documents. KPRC Houston profiled a Texas Carvana customer who purchased a 2018 Hyundai Elantra. They were reportedly forced to drive on numerous temporary license plates while waiting for documents from Carvana.
[…]
The Illinois Secretary of State was next to take aim at Carvana. Here in Illinois, dealerships have 20 days to provide customers titles. Like in the aforementioned states, Fox Business reports, Carvana allegedly failed to do that.
On May 10, 2022, the state of Illinois banned Carvana from operating in the state due to the above, in addition to issuing out-of-state temporary plates to Illinois residents, failing to process title paperwork, and failing to use a licensed remitter for temporary plates.
If you thought all of that was bad, there’s also the fact that, as my report pointed out, Carvana has also allegedly sold stolen cars to multiple customers. Don’t think it was just Carvana, either, as the once popular online car dealer, Vroom, also found itself in hot water for the allegedly illegal handling of vehicle title paperwork. Update: Vroom also shut down operations in 2024.
All of that ignores the fact that the car you get might not be in the condition that the website said it was in. Carvana proudly proclaims that it performs a 150-point inspection on every car it sells. Yet, in my experience, Carvana sells cars that clearly fail parts of that inspection. So, at best, the inspection isn’t always as thorough as advertised. There are countless threads on the Internet of people getting broken cars from Carvana.
We Bought A Car From Carvana
To its credit, Carvana did clean up some of its practices. It settled lawsuits, got state bans lifted, and is seemingly doing better about getting drivers their documents. It’s not perfect. Carvana still appears in the news every now and then for title issues or selling an allegedly stolen vehicle, but conditions don’t seem to be as bad as they were in 2022 and 2023.
I’ve also noticed that Carvana has corrected some of its pricing. I track values for Smarts, and for years, Carvana had the worst deals I had ever seen. It was only a couple of years ago when Carvana would seriously try to sell you a 2015 Smart Fortwo Pure with over 50,000 miles for $15,000. That was especially insane when you remember that a new Smart Pure had a price of $13,270 in 2015. Nowadays, the Smarts sold by Carvana are still overpriced, but at least they’re a bit closer to reality.
So then, why the heck are Sheryl and I two-time customers? I just spent so many words talking about why Carvana sucks. As I’ve found out over the years, it is possible to get a decent experience from Carvana; you just have to do some research.
Our first Carvana purchase was in 2021 after my wife had gone through five cars that failed her in a row. Like me, Sheryl quickly grew tired of the used car dealership runaround, so she logged onto Vroom and Carvana and started shopping. Eventually, we landed on a 2010 Toyota Prius from Carvana. We liked this car because it had a great service history, no reported crashes, and had lived its entire life down south.
The Carvana experience was a breath of fresh air. There was no haggling, no high-pressure sales environment, no games, no hidden fees, no etched glass, no TruCoat, or none of that nonsense. The price she saw was the price she paid, plus interest, of course.
Carvana didn’t patent this experience. Saturn was the pioneer of the “no-haggle” dealership experience, and it was continued by the likes of CarMax. Carvana only took the experience online. In doing so, Carvana made buying a car alarmingly easy. The Prius was even delivered to our door for free.
There was no way the Prius actually passed Carvana’s inspection. Carvana said that the Prius had only a few scratches. In reality, the right headlight was a fishbowl of water, one of the 12V sockets did not work, the rear window defroster killed the radio’s antenna when turned on, and the urethane steering wheel had light peeling.
Carvana’s cars ship with a seven-day, no-questions-asked return policy and a 100-day limited warranty. The warranty is administered through SilverRock, and the twist is that SilverRock doesn’t want to pay dealership prices for repairs. So, your warranty is honored only at some car repair chains and some independent mechanics. Also, SilverRock might fight the shop over covering the repair. As one shop owner who wishes to remain anonymous recently told me, SilverRock didn’t cover a CV joint replacement until the joint was actively clicking.
In our case, none of the shops that were approved by SilverRock worked on hybrids. Ultimately, we had the issues repaired by a Toyota dealership, and SilverRock reluctantly agreed to reimburse us. Apparently, SilverRock does fix some things. If your Carvana car has issues that you can’t live with, just use that seven-day return window.
Aside from that hiccup, the Prius was a great car. Sheryl drove that car something like 50,000 miles, and the only issue we ever had with it was a bad 12-volt battery. Otherwise, it always worked without failure. That experience with Carvana turned Sheryl into a fan.
If anything, Carvana makes it too easy to lock yourself into a terrible financial decision by having so few barriers.
Then I Got Another Carvana Car
When I started shopping for the Miata, I visited the normal places like Facebook and used car dealer websites. But the longer I stared at over a dozen listings at dealers across the country, the more I dreaded even picking up the phone. All of those memories of dealing with used car dealers welled up, and I didn’t want any part of it.
So, just like Sheryl did in 2021, I logged onto Carvana. I was in love the second I found the Miata that’s now parked in front of my apartment. It was a one-owner car with fantastic documented history. I even found the original owner of the car on a Miata forum. The price, $18,000, also appeared to be fair, too. I checked as many car value tools as I could find, and pretty much all of them said that Carvana’s asking price was slightly high, but within my car’s private party value range, assuming the condition was as good as advertised
That was good enough for me, so I paid off half the car immediately and threw the other half into financing from my bank. Carvana’s in-house financing had worse terms. Anyway, once again, all of it was entirely seamless. I bought the car online, signed the paperwork online, didn’t have to negotiate, and didn’t have to worry about silly add-ons. I didn’t even speak with a human. It was so good. Could I have gotten a better deal by negotiating? Absolutely, but also, keeping my sanity was worth it.
Carvana was even kind enough to tell me that the Miata was so low to the ground that they weren’t going to attempt putting it on one of its nifty rollback trucks for fear of scraping the bumper. They asked me to pick it up at a nearby Carvana “vending machine.” Amusingly, the Carvana people were also too scared to put it in the vending machine, too. So they parked it in a space outside. You know what? That was cool.
Picking up the car was just as painless as buying it. I flashed my insurance to a Carvana employee, and then he gave me the keys to the car and took my picture. I didn’t get to use the gimmicky vending machine, but I got to keep the giant coin, and I did get to watch a couple literally jump with joy as their Nissan Rogue descended down the tower.
As far as my Miata goes? I wrote about it already, and it’s still just as awesome as the day I got it. Carvana’s condition description was on point, and I’ve needed nothing fixed on the vehicle.
While I’m sure there are enough negative Carvana experiences out there to fill multiple articles, getting two cars from Carvana has gone so well that I don’t think I’m even going to consider a regular used car dealer for pre-owned purchases anymore. That’s how much I’ve been turned off from regular car dealerships.
Do Your Homework
To be clear, the cars from Carvana are not any better or worse than the cars found at typical used car dealerships. Assume your car did not get the 150-point inspection that Carvana advertises. Check the Carfax, Google the car’s VIN, and study the photos very carefully. When you get the car, get it inspected right away. Don’t be afraid to use the return policy and unravel the purchase.
Also, be sure to check the values for the car you want to buy. Carvana still has a problem with overpricing some cars. The risk here is that you don’t want to be so deeply underwater that you’re in the Mariana Trench the second you sign the dotted line. Also be sure to shop around for financing, as you might be able to get a better deal than what Carvana offers. Your bank or credit union might have a decent car financing offer!
If you do your homework, take your time, and shop around, I think it’s possible to have a good Carvana experience. Is this the future of car buying? Honestly, I have no idea. But I know where I’m shopping the next time I want a car that’s not a $3,000 hooptie from Facebook.
To be clear, this isn’t at all an endorsement of Carvana itself. As I detailed above, the company sort of sucks. But the model of selling cars entirely online, no dealership or salespeople needed? Oh, I love that.
My current car is a Carvana purchase. 2015 GTI 2-door, 6-speed, Performance Package. They delivered it to my house, dropped it in the driveway, and while I was out for a test drive they loaded my G8 onto the truck. They really made the whole transaction low-effort. For a low-mileage VW, the car was far from perfect, but it was exactly what I was looking for, so I’ve dealt with a little reconditioning here and there.
I’ve also purchased several cars from CarMax, including our current Chrysler Pacifica, which we’ve been wringing the neck out of since 2018. With the exception of having to go to CarMax versus Carvana coming to me, I’ve preferred the CarMax experience.
The old adage of internet reviews is “an angry customer will go out of their way to leave a bad review, but a happy customer won’t”
Its nice of you to leave a good review on something.
I looked at the carvana website. None of the filters worked. It was a random car generator. Tried a different browser. Same thing. Turned off some add ons. Same thing.
The hell with that, fix the site.
Yeah, I noticed that when writing this. I went there to check what Carvana thinks a Smart is worth right now, and the filters didn’t work. They worked fine a couple of months ago. The encrapification of the web continues, I guess…
Cars.com has been failing me recently too. I’d choose trim levels, but it would show me mostly ones I didn’t choose.
I’ve bought my last four cars from used dealers, BUT all essentially over the phone. It’s really easy to just laugh and hang up when they mention there is a required $2,000 option (yes, I pointed out how a required option is oxymoronic) for an anti-theft device installation. I can’t imagine driving somewhere and sitting down and wasting the time in person for that to pop up at the last minute.
So yeah, Carvana sounds nice, but really no different from calling a dealer ahead, agreeing on a price, and then showing up to sign papers and drive off. All four of my purchases took about 15 minutes in the office and I drove away.
I drove two hours up and back TWICE to have a dealer refuse a reasonable request; it was a hybrid and the battery was at about 50% it’s life, would not charge past that point. I asked for a discount of about $200 on the nope. Tank of gas is it. They would not budge a penny. The damn thing had been sitting on their lot since January. It’s still there right now. I guess they like lot poison.
Assholes, they also tried to keep my deposit. Had to go through credit card company to rip it back.
I don’t understand how dealers like that stay in business.
But your comment does bring up a point in my head. I will say that, one thing Carvana has going for over buying from a dealer is the 7-day return policy. That makes it a lot easier to get a pre-purchase inspection… although I guess you’d call it a post-purchase inspection in this case.
Also, you wouldn’t be on the hook if, say, a turbo blew on the drive home even after a pre-purchase inspection passed at another dealership and left you to limp a car the last 50 miles home at 30mph.
Almost bought from Carvana once, but backed out when I found a cleaner history and manufacturer CPO version of the same vehicle for less money. They don’t always pay the highest amount vs CarMax, but the nearest CarMax is at least 2 hours away one way and they don’t pick up vehicles so always sell to Carvana, never buy the sketchy rejects they probably over paid for.
Congratulations on the Miata, but it sounds like the Prius was not a good transaction given all the obvious issues at delivery so at best that’s 50-50 chance of it being ok based on one repeat customer.
I test-drove a 2-year old car from a dealer, it had passed the “manufacturer X-points CPO inspection” and CPO warranty, even though it had a rear caliper seized solid that made smoke come out of it after a few miles. I checked their “inspection” list and sure enough it had ‘brake inspection and refresh’ on it.
Just as much of a rubber stamp as Carvana’s ‘inspection’.
The point was that it had lower mileage, cost less, and had an extended warranty vs Carvana on a car that’s already pretty reliable, so it wasn’t just that it was cpo, that alone doesn’t win, but all the other factors such as knowing that there wasn’t going to be title issues etc and the ease of walking in with a check and out with the car outweighing the perceived advantage of Carvana. I no longer have that car however we do have another similar to it again.
Have never bought from Carvana, but sold 3 to them. Good experience with no hickeys. I’m impressed how well it works!
How did their offer prices compare to the KBBs?
As I remember, they were inline with the market. All three cars were about 1 year old, so the market was easy to predict. One of the sales was mid-Covid. Actually made a bit on that one. Bought a new Forester the second week of Covid, March 2020. Cheap! 14 months later sold it to Carvana and made about $600.
Thanks.
I’ve bought only a few cars in my now-extended lifetime. The first few (1967 well-rusted Bug, a one-year old 1981 Corolla) were bought from people that I knew. I bought new a 1986 MR2 and a 2004 Acura TL from dealers. I walked out of the first dealer for the MR2 because they played all the cliched games. Calling around, I found a dealer to give me a good price over the phone and he stuck to it. The Acura was rare at the time and I was lucky to even find one with navigation, let alone in my favorite green color with tan interior. I happily paid MSRP.
Purchased a new Toyota Highlander online (well, really via email and mail for the check) in 2000! Dealers in my area (SF Bay) wanted too much money and I found a dealer in Southern CA that had a FWD in dark green that he couldn’t unload. Saved $4000 and had it shipped up to Northern CA for $350. We are still driving it.
My last (probably in both senses) purchase is the 2027 Chevrolet Bolt EV. That came from a dealer, since I got $10,000 from a local government entity to dispose of my Acura (they could never get the Highlander away from my wife). They limited the purchase to specified dealers. I wasn’t anxious to unload the Acura (flawlessly reliable) but the deal was too good to pass up. Now with gas prices, I look smart.
As an old I am still leery of buying a car before getting to drive and inspect it. I get there is the return policy but that is harder than just saying no and driving off the lot and looking else ware.
As someone who also dreads the dealership experience, maybe I’ll finally give an online used dealer a go next time I’m in the market.
I’ve sold two cars to Carvana and both times the transaction was seamless. I haven’t bought anything from them, but I have bought two cars from CarMax. Both ND Miatas, in fact. The no-haggle, upfront pricing is a breath of fresh air and worth paying the premium prices in a lot of cases.
I buy my cars from those who have the car I want at a price I’m willing to pay, but it’s increasingly becoming one of those two places mainly to avoid the shady dealership games.
When it comes to trade-ins, at least with CarMax, even though they say their offer is non-negotiable, there is some wiggle room if you play it right. The last time I traded to CarMax, I told them I had an offer for x dollars already (from Carvana, and the number I told CarMax was a little higher, just for fun) and they needed to at least match it. They did.
> Carvana said that the Prius had only a few scratches. In reality, the right headlight was a fishbowl of water, one of the 12V sockets did not work, the rear window defroster killed the radio’s antenna when turned on, and the urethane steering wheel had light peeling.
> the Prius was a great car. Sheryl drove that car something like 50,000 miles, and the only issue we ever had with it was a bad 12-volt battery. Otherwise, it always worked without failure.
> That experience with Carvana turned Sheryl into a fan.
It reads more like driving a Prius turned Sheryl into a fan in spite of Carvana. Kind of like reverse Stockholm syndrome by proxy. Or something.
I can only hope that better ways to buy cars continues to get more popular.
Kinda explains the number of articles recently that refer to the growing panic in the dealership association.
I’m sure they just gotta pool a littel bit of lobby money to get state legislatures to lesgislate whatever they need.
I ordered my car from the Russian online car sales site Ivanacar. There were a Lada problems.
COTD!
I just got a 2021 Mustang (with the Pony package) for my newly driving daughter from Carvana last week and it was a shockingly painless process. Price was solid (slightly high, but not unreasonably so), and I took great care to find a car that wasn’t fleet/rental, and this one had scrupulous service records from the Ford dealership. I
t also has never seen a snow day. Will probably need to get a coating applied to the paint as black shows everything, but it’s pretty much exactly as it was represented online.
Did you get a title for the Miata?
In Illinois, the lender (my bank) holds onto the title until it gets paid off. This sometimes comes with the quirk of the lender losing the title over the length of the loan. I experienced this firsthand when Mercedes-Benz Financial Services couldn’t send me the title to my 2012 Smart because they lost it. Then they ignored me for years instead of fixing it. That was a fun lawsuit.
The dog ate my title.
In Ohio we now have digital titles. When my care was paid off, the bank sent me a notice that they had removed the lien and if I wanted a hard copy I had to go to the BMV for it. I expect a similar notice next month now that my wife’s car is paid off.
I’m not sure how I feel about that though. On one hand, I’ve always had a file with the title in it and I place value on physical media so this is a little uncomfortable. On the other hand, I suspect that getting a copy will be much easier than if I had lost a physical copy and needed the replacement.
I had to get a title for my Focus last fall in Columbus. Five minutes and $6 later, I had it in my hand.
Do you have any way of knowing if Carvana sent the title to the lender within the timeframe they’re required to?
I did the “dealer never sent me title” dance a million years ago, included having to do the bonded title thing, and fear of Carvana doing that to me again has totally spooked me on them.
I do not. I suppose that was sort of the problem with Mercedes-Benz Financial Services. Nobody bothered to make sure the title existed until it was time to mail it to me.
The benefit of being married to a lawyer is that a company screwing up only puts more cash in my pocket. MBFS had to send me a new title and pay me $3k.
I had a friend who bought a motorcycle and his bank list some loan documents and guessed wrong on the APR while forging new ones. His lawyer got paid, he got the motorcycle and the bank didn’t get paid. It was all he talked about for a year.
The only car I ever purchased from Carvana was a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland RWD, in 2018. This was before they had their vending machine here in OKC and they were all out of rollback trucks for my area, so the Carvana employee delivered it to my house and then I drove him home. The purchase price went pretty smoothly, and it was actually cheaper than it should have been because someone fat-fingered the odometer reading as 75,000 miles when it actually had 45,000. I also got the SilverRock protection plan and, at the time, they did cover a leaky radiator at the CJDR service department, as well as a failed TCU.
The next year, 2019, my friend purchased a well-equipped 2016 Lexus RX 450h from Carvana, not because he wanted to, but because used ones were exceedingly difficult to find. He still has it, and I don’t recall him mentioning any problems with using a local credit union for financing, either.
I’m curious why you decided to go down the warranty path vs. just returning the car in that 7-day window? What did Toyota fix out of that problem list? I’m assuming the headlight and the electrical issues, but did they do anything for the scratches and steering wheel?
I fully get the appeal of not dealing with dealership salespeople, but it’s stuff like this that scares me off of fully buying a car online. It’s really easy to ignore customers if they can only reach you via email or phone, but you can’t exactly hide if there’s a giant physical location your customers can go to and/or put on blast with local media.
The best dealership experience I’ve ever had was a tiny one-man used EV dealership. All prices were fixed and very reasonable since he had extremely low overhead. Since it was just him, test-drives were on your own (and this was pre-COVID when that was VERY unusual), and he said “keep it for the afternoon, I close at 5”. We drove it around a bit, liked it, and he just asked for a check for the sale price (which already included all the registration fees), he filled out the forms, we signed, and he handed us the keys and the title. Not a single upsell, no extended warranty BS, no “oh I’ll mail the title later”. I was stunned, and I asked him why he operated like that. He replied “Eh, it’s how I would want to be treated”. I guess the fact that tiny little used car dealership is still around and going strong speaks for itself.
We were able to get everything but the steering wheel fixed by the dealership. Sheryl puts a steering wheel cover in every car she owns, so the peeling was a non-issue to her.
Would you mind sharing the name of the dealer? I would love to deal with someone like that.
My best dealer experience was out of state at Hare Chevy in Illinois, negotiated through text, i flew in and picked me up at the airport and the paperwork was smooth. In and out in about an hour and change cause I arrived super early and they were still detailing the car.
Platt Auto Group in Portland, OR. I have no ties there other than that car I bought from them years ago, but they still have a 4.9 star Google rating, so they must still be doing something right.
I’ve sold three cars to Carvana – they simply offered more, way more than anyone else. And each experience was amazing, they gave a quote, we doublechecked it as it was better than anyplace else local or online (including CarMax), they showed up on time, they handed me the money and they took the car away. End of story. But I can’t imagine paying what they wanted afterward for any of them.
The article does not read like much of an endorsement of Carvana beyond that most regular dealers do in fact suck. That Prius – If you had seen it on ANY car lot, you would have seen the headlight and just kept walking. It worked out because you MADE it work out instead of sampling the 7day guarantee, most people I think would have just refused to accept it in the first place.
The Miata is great because it appears that the previous owner REALLY took care of it and likely sold it to Carvana because it was somewhat modified and Carvana likely gave him WAY more money than anyone else was offering them. And it avoided anybody coming to his door and driving his car. I do not believe it has anything to do with Carvana itself and does not mean Carvana has reformed itself. It’s probably a decent place to buy a car though if you’re 99 percent of the market and just need something to drive and are willing to deal with something of a crapshoot.
I’m not really endorsing Carvana at all, just the concept it operates under. I tried to make that clear by listing out all the reasons Carvana itself sort of sucks.
Those are a few assumptions about how Sheryl and I deal with cars. If I saw that Prius on a used car lot and the dealer said they’d fix the issues for free, sure, we would have still bought it. SilverRock eventually paid for the repairs and everything was fine. The other Prii on Carvana at the time either had higher miles, a higher price, or had spent their entire lives in the Midwest/East, which we specifically didn’t want. I’d rather have a headlight replaced than deal with rusty fasteners.
The iQ had some surface rust when we got it, and we didn’t buy it until the dealer said it would fix the rust for free. So we aren’t afraid of a few issues if we can work something out to get them fixed. Unfortunately, the rust repair was cut rate work…
As for the Miata, I lucked out in being able to find the previous owner and talking with him. But I was willing to roll the dice and give that 7-day return policy a test run.
The word “endorsement” in relation to Carvana could probably have been used differently by me, in the end I suppose I mean that your experience doesn’t at all give me any confidence in buying from them or any other entity without seeing and sampling the product before handing over money, at the very least wondering about how will they really be in refunding my money after seven days and if I traded something in I believe that is gone for good…In my mind a car with those issues is worth less than one without those issues, no matter if they were corrected eventually.
Not that it’s relevant really, had I seen the Prius on a lot and the dealer said they would fix it, I would not take it until it had been fixed but I would also be very concerned about what did I not see that also had not been fixed. A headlight full of water is pretty hard to miss…And not common. At least not in my experience.
But I AM glad that you specifically tend to respond to people commenting on your posts, and at length if you deem it necessary, thank you for that!
Weirdly, the dealer found out that the cause of the water ingress was that someone installed the right bulb incorrectly, and it melted through the housing until it wasn’t watertight. Whether that was Carvana or the previous owner, I’m not sure. But it was fascinating to see the bulb-shaped gash in the plastic.
Also, thank you for commenting! Y’all definitely keep me sharp. I like to think I’ve taken reader input to improve myself.
I think the Miata comes under the heading of “even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while”. She got lucky. I would not have accepted the Prius. I too have sold cars to both CarMax and Carvana, I have never been the slightest bit tempted to buy a car from them. When I bought my Mercedes wagon, Carvana had a seemingly comparable one for $5K more money. I bought mine from a higher-end used car dealer in Orlando, the transaction could not have been smoother.
I have bought a number of cars sight-unseen other than copious pictures, but they were all well-used and relatively speaking, couch cushion money. And I was still prepared to get back on a plane and fly home if I got there and it didn’t meet expectations.
The real death blow to the dealership model as we’ve known it historically won’t be because of Carvana alone, nor will it be the manufacturers, or AI.
It’s gonna be a self inflicted blow.
When I started my career in car sales, I was very lucky. I landed at a small rural store, with only 2 other dealerships in the entire county. Everything was ALWAYS on the up and up, we had great hours, we had a general manager that oversaw nearly every single deal, a sales manager that was one of the kindest human beings I’ve ever met, an F&I guy that was extremely ethical and made sure the products and warranties we sold were all the real deal. We didn’t push snake oil coatings, we did full ceramic coatings, actual scotchgard, Mopar warranties. We sent cars known for trouble to the auction, we RECOMMENDED people to take older used cars overnight and have them inspected. We were paid a good salary, and a flat 300 a car for anything we sold over 15 cars in a month. When we had an appointment on any car, we immediately went out and looked them over, took them up the road to drive the car and to make sure they had gas. We did almost everything ahead of time over email or phone possible to maximize efficiency. We liked to go from first handshake to driving home within an hour, 2 hours was the most unless we had some issue getting a bank approval.
I used to own a shop, so they often had me put cars up on the lift for the other salespeople and walk the customers under the vehicle, showing them everything. We went over the carfax on every single vehicle. We followed up with every customer the day after the sale, and again a week later, and then 6 months down the road. This was non-negotiable.
We averaged about 100-120 cars a month, and I’d say well over half that number consisted of repeat customers. People loved us. If it wasn’t an hour commute and they had better healthcare, I’d still be there.
But boy oh boy, you wouldn’t BELIEVE some of the stories I heard. Some from coworkers who had spent time at other stores, some from the customers, but all bad. And I’m sure we pissed someone off a time or two, but our general manager gave his business card to nearly every customer, with the direct line to his desk if an issue arose. And he answered. Every. Call.
Unfortunately I found out over 6 or so years that we were a rarity. I’m still a member of a few car sales pages on Facebook, and my goodness the things you see on the daily are mind blowing!
When there are this many places doing business the wrong way in the age of instant information, it won’t be long before the walls start crumbling down.
Unfortunately, being a car dealer is kind if a sweetheart thing for the owner of the store. As ling as you can finance the operation, the sales happen without all that “expensive effort.”
People buy DESPITE the experience. And it’s crappy- so many dealers have to replace every customer. They have high turnover and idiot salespeople. It’s not unreasonable the way your dealer ran. Cars are expensive and mysterious. It’s a huge commitment as a buyer. And these are people who are part of your community. Take care of them.
But I’m not a well connected wealthy guy with lines of credit and a business that’s shielded by legal and regulatory capture.
The no-haggle convenience of places like Carvana and Carmax is worth a bit of a premium sometimes. I’ve also had good experiences at legacy dealerships, but it always comes down to the particular dealership and it’s management.
I’ve generally bought new cars since about 2003, but last week I bought a car at auction on Hagerty. There were 200+ pictures, so I think I know what I’m getting, but I’m receiving it tomorrow, so we’ll see. It was a private party selling, so I used the “Certified checkout” process. It cost a couple hundred $, but they handle all the details. I received the title yesterday. I arranged my own car transport, but they can do that for you too. All in all it’s been a simple process.
Hey, all three of you are smiling in that pic!!
As long as I get the 150_point Inspection list, so I can go through it with the car myself, I think I’d be fine.
I will never get tired of people shitting on dealership sales departments.
Agreed. I bought a 2021 BMW off the local Carmax lot and it was such a great experience. One of the best parts was they had such a well curated inventory. Every type of car was pretty much in great condition and seemingly no surprises. You don’t get to the used car lot and suddenly see the angle the photos didn’t show with damage. That’s false advertising. None of that at Carmax. They highlight the tiniest of imperfections in photos. I assume Carvana is similar in that respect.
I wasn’t even looking for the car I ended up buying. Wasn’t even on my radar. as I walked their huge lot, a lot they NEVER bother you at as you browse. A car caught my eye. I drove it, I loved it, I bought it. It was all so painless.
Curated? CarMax doesn’t even wash the cars, so how would they be looking for evidence of a poor respray or undisclosed accident? And how would a buyer know to look for that? I know you can return a car, but that’s the opposite of curated.
I can’t even imagine what you’re talking about. They don’t wash the cars? You’re kidding, right? All the shiny cars out on the lot are dust free and gleaming from what? Magic? But they weren’t washed? Huh?
Have you even been to a Carmax lot? Rhetorical.
Vroom died a few years ago
Oh snap, how’d I miss that? Added an update. Thanks!
Carvana is pretty much the only game in town for online only, though Carmax can more or less do it too if you want. I had the option to do so when I bought my Accord, but I’m still too old fashioned to buy a car without a test drive, so I had it shipped to a local store so I could review it before committing.
When I bought my ND Miata, I bought it from a Kia dealer. Again they were able to do a full remote deal, but it was a quick flight and a 3 hour drive home so I decided to book a round trip flight, then canceled the return when I decided I wanted the car. I brought a cashiers check, they knew it was a cash deal and I was in and out of finance in under 30 minutes.
I SELL my cars to Carvana because they always seem to pay ridiculously high prices…Which leads me to believe they have to charge a lot more to cover that cost.
How do they do it? Well, according to some analysts, they are a shell game between companies their founders control, with losses being shuffled off the Carvana books.
Enjoy em while they’re here I guess.
The one part I can’t seem to math out is why some cars on Carvana are priced so much worse/better than others. Like, I will never, ever buy a Smart on Carvana because the prices are darn near a scam. But then some cars have an okay asking price. I wonder if there’s an algorithm they use or something.
it is entirely possible that they know you’ve been looking for Smart cars based on cookies on your computer.
Joke’s on them, because I’m not so desperate for a sixth Smart that I’ll pay more than MSRP for one. 🙂
It might be like the whole bananas pricing thing at the grocery store.
“The answer is simple: volume.”
We lose money on every sale, but we make it up on volume.