Experience with Carvana?

Carvana was so disappointing on Drag Race. Her lip synch game needs A LOT of work.

I wanted to ask this same question, ElderLez.

I hope people respond, but I don't think that many here have experience with Carvana.

It's kind of a unique thing that many people haven't tried yet.

I tried to buy a car through Carvana, not sell one (the estimate they gave me for trade-in was thousands less than others). The delivery date kept being delayed and delayed and delayed and I finally just cancelled the order.

I've never dealt with Carvana, but have read a good deal about it and unfortunately most of what I read was bad. The last I heard was that the whole operation was hanging on by a shoestring.

What companies were the other offers R3?

Do not buy from Carvana. Many of the cars they sell are stolen and once you buy it could be taken away from you once the cops track it down and you won’t get your money back.

Speaking from personal experience.

Just stay the hell away from used cars. Yes they’re slightly cheaper but if you go with a new car you’ll have a warranty and other benefits.

I’ve always had bad experiences buying used cars. Never with new cars.

I sold through Carvana a few years ago. They gave me $5000, which was much more than I thought I’d get. Made me wonder how much they would sell it for. I wouldn’t buy from them.

To be clear, I am not interested in buying from them. I am only asking about selling.

So selling was smooth R7?

Also interested in anyone with experience selling to Vroom

We did Carmax but that is perhaps a different setup. All I know is that once they give you an offer it's good for some specific amount of time.

We sold to Carvana but it was at that period when used cars were in short supply/high demand. It couldn't have been easier: they sent an appraiser to our house, inspected the vehicle, gave us a price (several thousand $ over what the local car lot offered us as a trade in), then had us sign all the paperwork and wrote us a check. The next day a flatbed truck came and took it away.

I sold through Carmax in 2021 and it could not have been smoother. I also got a quote from a local place, thinking because Carmax is a name brand they might have higher margins and offer me less. The Carmax quote was significantly higher and the local place gave me some bullshit about something mysterious being wrong with the car. No experience with Carvana.

I’ve almost always bought used cars and haven’t had bad experiences, but the price differential between new and used might be less these days.

R9 yes, I sold through Carvana and it was very smooth.

I also sold another car, my late father’s, through Carmax and that was also smooth.

I don’t know if it’s still going on but Carvana was barred from doing business in my area for a time for breaking laws like not sending new titles to the DMV, giving out of state tags to local buyers, and selling cars that weren’t able to pass inspection.

My experience was FABULOUS

I haven't used Carvana, but like others here I sold my car through Carmax. I sold it in 2020, a low mileage 2015 Honda Fit. I got 14k for it, which was more than I anticipated. It super easy, and very quick. I walked from there to my closest bank branch, deposited the check, then took the light rail home.

Had you already cleaned out your car, r17? Or did you have a big box of all the stuff in your glove and storage compartments, cubby holes, trunk, etc. with you on the light rail?

EL, what make and model, year range are you looking for?

Just selling R19. Our new care is scheduled to arrive soon after Christmas.

I really hate it when the vending machine gets stuck and you have to whack it over and over.

I used Vroom (a similar service) a few years ago, They offered me more than I paid for my car (during the pandemic) . They never adjusted the value, delivered the car when they said they would and it was in the condition they advertised.

R18, I had already cleaned the car. I decided in advance that as long as they offered me 12k, I would be selling it. Since they offered me more than that, I took the offer. I figured if I didn't sell it, I could put my stuff back in it (mainly tire pump, and other safety/tools that I kept in a storage bin in the back, so it was easy to remove/put back.)

Carvana was banned in several jurisdictions because they took way to long to properly transfer titles. I assume that may have been resolved. However, Carmax has a sterling reputation, and you should try them as well.

Carmax gives you nothing for your car.

[quote] Just stay the hell away from used cars. Yes they’re slightly cheaper but if you go with a new car you’ll have a warranty and other benefits. I’ve always had bad experiences buying used cars. Never with new cars.

So, nobody should ever buy a used car. This sounds tenable.

When we used Carmax it was a plan B.

We originally wanted to work with our Audi dealer, who kept calling and sending emails for 2-3 years about, please come and sell us/trade in your car and we'll give you a great deal.....and we answered one of those mailings and they wanted to give us 10K toward a trade in (the blue book value was 24,000-28,000).

Carmax didn't quite give us that but they were double what the dealership offered and we were OK with that. We might have gotten 25K if we'd sold it ourselves and been patient but we didn't want to deal with private buyers and any issues with payments from them, etc. - just let the pros handle it.

We’ll need to buy out the lease to in order to sell so maximizing our payment is important in this case. I don’t want to lose money if we are doing extra work. Does Carmax provide a quote in advance?

R28 They do, ElderLez. I think they gave us the quote with a certain period where it was valid (a week to ten days if I recall correctly).

I'm not sure if the fact that it's currently under lease would complicate that process, though.

We have to get it out of lease to make this happen. (I just made the final lease payment) we’ll need to call (insert car manufacturer name) financial services on Monday and get wire transfer instructions for the remaining value and request that they overnight the title. Then off we go to the DMV to transfer the title to our name, which’s be another week’s wait.

Thanks for the responses. We wound up selling to CarMax, which gave us the highest offer once the car was finally in our name. Carvana was a bit of a bait and switch - very high offer while we were still in the lease and then thousands less after we had bought.

Had a good experience with Caravan. They gave us the highest quote for a 4 year old car. All negotiation was all done over the phone. They sent someone to look at the car and confirm the mileage. The guy barely looked the car and never drove it. They then sent a flatbed truck to our house to pick up the car. Payment was wired within 24 hours.

Probably. Like Turbo Tax lies about you getting twice as much refund the whole time you’re doing your form.