Does anyone have experience with Carvana?

[alamo5000]

I recently had a family member pass away so I had to assist with taking care of some of the affairs. I have a car that needs to go now so I am wondering if anyone has experience with Carvana or something similar?

Rather than just a 'good' or 'bad' I am kind of wondering how websites like that operate and what to expect should I attempt to deal with them.

Also if that doesn't work out, if anyone can recommend a good website or other place to advertise please let me know. In the old days people just called up the local newspaper or went to AutoTrader. I am not sure if the latter is still a thing or not.

 

[Huskydriver]

Highly recommend Car Max over carvana... You will get a check on the spot

 

[mahlv]

I sold a car to carmax not long ago. Did their "appraisal" online, which sometimes you'll get an offer and others you'll have to take the car in to one of their locations. I did get an online offer, went to a location, they took about 2 hours, but walked out with a check for the amount they offered. Nothing special as far as the deal goes, maybe could have sat on the car for a few weeks and gotten a few more bucks.

 

[EddieNFL]

We sold the FILs Nissan after he passed. Local dealer paid us more than Carvana offered. No, the dealer did not know the offer and still beat it by more than $600.

 

[alamo5000]

I sold a car to carmax not long ago. Did their "appraisal" online, which sometimes you'll get an offer and others you'll have to take the car in to one of their locations. I did get an online offer, went to a location, they took about 2 hours, but walked out with a check for the amount they offered. Nothing special as far as the deal goes, maybe could have sat on the car for a few weeks and gotten a few more bucks.

Like how much off of the valuation did you get? Was it like obscenely stupid or was it 'ok'?

The car I have now has a sale value of $33,500 and a trade in of $29,500... I am wondering about how much I would walk away with if I went to carmax...

 

[mahlv]

Like how much off of the valuation did you get? Was it like obscenely stupid or was it 'ok'?

The car I have now has a sale value of $33,500 and a trade in of $29,500... I am wondering about how much I would walk away with if I went to carmax...

It's easy enough to just enter the vehicle info on their site. I got about 2-3k over what I expected in trade. They listed it 2 days later for 3k more than they paid me.

 

[mahlv]

Oddly enough, we are at a carmax now getting a vehicle appraised. Plan is to use their offer as leverage on a deal we are committed to on a new rig. Dealers might pay more, but then you gotta wade through their slime and argue your way out of their clutches. Carmax could give a shit either way.

 

[alamo5000]

OK. I've formulated a plan. I will stop by a dealer that is local to me that showed interest in the vehicle. If they turn out to be buttholes or whatever I will make the trip to Carmax. The dealer is like 20 minutes away and the Carmax is like an hour each way.

Thanks for the input everyone.

 

[rjacobs]

I sold a car on vroom recently. Got 2k more than the KBB trade in value.

Transaction took about 2.5 weeks total but was pretty painless otherwise.

 

[Huskydriver]

OK. I've formulated a plan. I will stop by a dealer that is local to me that showed interest in the vehicle. If they turn out to be buttholes or whatever I will make the trip to Carmax. The dealer is like 20 minutes away and the Carmax is like an hour each way.

Thanks for the input everyone.

You can get your offer from CarMax online in like 2 seconds and it was about 2k more than any of the dealers around me would offer. Carvana was about 600 more but I preferred to have a check that day

 

[DocRDS]

Carvana had a consumer alert in the DFW area with titles not being transfered in a timely fashion to the DMV causing cars to get repossessed.

CBS Texas - Breaking Local News, First Alert Weather & I-Team Investigations

Latest breaking news from CBS11 KTVT-TV | KTXA-TV.

dfw.cbslocal.com

 

[Doc68]

They took out 6 months of payments from my daughter bank account over 8 months ago now....they said it was a mistake...they still havent returned the money....enough said.

Doc

 

[rjacobs]

Carvana had a consumer alert in the DFW area with titles not being transfered in a timely fashion to the DMV causing cars to get repossessed.

CBS Texas - Breaking Local News, First Alert Weather & I-Team Investigations

Latest breaking news from CBS11 KTVT-TV | KTXA-TV.

dfw.cbslocal.com

The only thing I will comment on is how FUCKED UP Texas is with their titling...

Last year they went to e-titles if you have a lien holder... so the state keeps an electronic record of the title with the lien holder on it. OK, I get it, no real reason to send a paper title to the lien holder with their info on it. Well when turning an e-title into a real title, the state has "up to" 30 days to send it out plus mailing time(and we all know how quick that is). So whether you paid the car off, sold it, traded it in, etc... it can take "up to" 30 days, plus mailing time, to receive the paper title to then be able to take the next step...

Well problem is when you sell a vehicle private party the new owner has 30 days from date of sale to register and title the new vehicle or they are assessed penalties... Well when the seller doesnt get a title until 30+ days has already elapsed, the buyer is fucked... Dealerships at least get 60 days to get everything squared away. I sold a truck this spring and the title was on e-title(this is how I learned of all this fuckery). I ended up sending him a new title application form with a different date on it so he didnt get screwed by any penalties... cause its not his fault.

 

[mewillis]

I had a leased Acura RDX 4 months left on a $275 payment plus the $300 return fee. Carvana gave me $4000 more than the buyout on the lease to purchase, plus I didn't have to pay the $1400 in payments/return cost. Win/Win for me. I will use them again for sure, smooth as silk. I went with the check route rather than the bank transfer they recommend just in case, as at that point they take your title and your car and at least it would be some sort of theft/fraud to issue a check and it bounce. YMMV but I went on 2 friends who had similar experiences.

 

[seanh]

One thing people don't do when they sell their vehicles, wash/clean. I'm not talking about your monthly wash….. shampoo the carpets, Clean all the dash corners with a Q tip, steam clean engine bay, clean haze off headlights. Basically professionally cleaned to lot/showroom condition. It's an easy 500 bucks to add to the value of the vehicle.

 

[alamo5000]

I sold a car on vroom recently. Got 2k more than the KBB trade in value.

Transaction took about 2.5 weeks total but was pretty painless otherwise.

If you Google vroom BBB, they now have a 1.14 stars out of 5 and have an F rating. They had their BBB accreditation completely revoked.

That scares me.

I did give them a chance. I just got all the paperwork needed to sell to them actually.

If they pay me I don't care what their BBB rating is, but it is kinda scary knowing about so many complaints.

 

[kimbergoldmatch]

Avoid Carvana and at least stop by Carmax for an offer.

 

[kimbergoldmatch]

More Carvana title problems. Carvana Florida

 

[rjacobs]

If you Google vroom BBB, they now have a 1.14 stars out of 5 and have an F rating. They had their BBB accreditation completely revoked.

That scares me.

I did give them a chance. I just got all the paperwork needed to sell to them actually.

If they pay me I don't care what their BBB rating is, but it is kinda scary knowing about so many complaints.

Here was my experience I posted on another forum. Dates are November.

Did the online appraisal on the 7th, accepted it the next day on the 8th. Had a docusign package on the 9th(might have been late on the 8th).

Got the FedEx on the 11th I think(maybe Friday the 12th, I was out of town working), sent back Monday the 15th. It was just a Texas power of attorney form so you may or may not have any fedex stuff come from them. They included a return fedex overnight label.

Got an email that Wednesday(17th) with the info on their transport company contact and to give it 2-3 business days for them to reach out to me. Guy called me the next day(Thursday the 18th) and said "somebody will be in touch within 2-3 days".

Didnt hear shit in "2-3 days" so I called Tuesday the 23rd since I was leaving out of town for 2 weeks Dec 1 and wanted this shit done before hand. Guy calls me Tuesday night(still 23rd) and asks "2-3pm tomorrow(24th) work for you" "yea come get this thing". Guy shows up at 310, loads up, emails me bill of lading while im standing there. Took a pic of the odometer and a pic of the car on the guys trailer and he was gone. I went inside and emailed Vroom a copy of the bill of lading as well as the pic of the odometer and car sitting on the guys trailer.

Friday after Thanksgiving I see money in my account to pay me the overage from my loan and I got an email from Vroom stating as such as well as a FedEx tracking number for the check going to the lien holder. Monday the 29th I see the FedEx delivered and later that day(might have been the next morning) my loan zero'd out.

So right at 3 weeks total time and I am sure had I not called both the transport company and Vroom direct things would have drug on longer.

I did NOT CANCEL my insurance until the loan paid off. I figured if they fuck me, I just call my insurance and explain the situation and worse case I am out my $500 deductible and let them fight with Vroom.

As far as I understand it, Vroom has been in business for a long time, just not really nationwide. Was called Texas Auto Direct. They had a big dealership down in Houston and they would do fly and drive or ship and obviously local sales.

 

[alamo5000]

Thanks everyone. Transaction is complete. Waiting for the check to clear now.

I initially started out with VROOM. They technically had the best offer but their F rating at the BBB and their one star reviews scared me off.

I was then going to go with Carmax, but before I went I decided to put all the information in online just to make sure. Sure enough their offer was lower than what I was willing to accept. It's a good thing I did that because the location closest to me is an hour away and arranging a ride back was a hassle.

Just for kicks and giggles I input the information into Carvana. The offer was decent and right in line with what I was expecting. They were almost $2000 dollars better than Carmax. That said I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop and to have some two week wait time. Except none of that happened. I input the information yesterday and it let me schedule for today. The people showed up like they said, inspected everything and handed me a check. They took the car and now I am just waiting for the check to clear.

In any case the offer was in between Vroom and Carmax, but the process was extremely easy and they came to me. I didn't have to arrange a ride back or any of that. Overall, as of now it was one of the most painless transactions ever. Unless the check bounces or something like that I would consider myself a satisfied customer.

 

[mewillis]

Carmax in my area is a joke they are more into selling than buying it seems to me, thousands lower than Carvana and as you state they come to you with a check in hand. Being a skeptic is a good thing but your experience mirrored mine. Congrats on the deal........

 

[mahlv]

I was pretty disappointed in our recent carmax dealing, 180deg from the previous business I had with them, enough so that I feel bad having recommended them here. Took 1 1/2 hours for them to lowball an offer to us, all the while groups of employees sitting around playing on phones, groups laughing and carying on, basically the optics started pissing me off after 30 minutes of waiting and started noticing the grabbassery. Guess I run my business a little different, I know better now.

 

[mewillis]

So true mahlv, Making a car deal is only second to the Dentist in my experience!!! I have done all of my purchases over the phone for the last 5 vehicles then fine tune it in person for the most recent one. It's difficult to find dealers who will still "negotiate" but they are out there.