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My Carvana Experience

7K views 11 replies 8 participants last post by  mundan101 
#1 ·
I have been trying to buy a Volt from Carvana for the past 3 weeks or so.

I like their business model...but the best model still needs to be executed. So far, I have come up empty.

My first experience was just "one of those things".

The car was damaged by the transport driver, and after two weeks of effort, I was back to square one.

I quickly found another 2014 (just added to their "In Demand"), same color, but with 11,000 fewer miles (21k) and also with a back-up camera and heated seats...all for an extra $1k. I reserved it.

10 days later I get my 2 day preview via their 360 degree tour which according to Carvana "lets the buyer know exactly what they are getting". All chips, scratches, scrapes etc are annotated and shown via close-up photos.

This car only had 3 very minor flaws noted: a couple very small chips on the front edge of the hood, a small scratch ahead of the left rear wheel well, and several small, light scratches on the spoiler.

I mashed the "Continue with Purchase" button.

The car arrived today for pick up. Once I was within 15 feet of the car I thought, this cannot be the car I purchased!

The 3 small noted flaws did not represent even 5% of the damage to the car. It had quite a few chips, abrasions and scratches all around the vehicle, virtually all of them more significant than the 3 noted. The upper part of the driver side doors had so many scratches it looked like someone with a rodeo buckle had rubbed that buckle for and aft along the doors...there had to be several dozen small (one inch) scratches running every which way. It also appeared as though someone had tried to buff them out but gave up. The paint all around this two foot by 3 inch area was dulled.

The vertical section of the rear hatch had 3 significant abrasions that looked like someone had opened the hatch and it contacted the inside of the closed garage door (oops...I guess there wasn't enough room). Numerous other repaired chips and unrepaired scratches and abrasions.

I was VERY disappointed in the condition of the car and declined to purchase on the spot.

So now, after 3+ weeks, I am back to square one.

I spent a half hour on the phone with Carvana Corporate this afternoon, giving them an hones assessment of the failure of their system in this instance.

Of course they were very apologetic...but I had to tell them that at this point I am so gun-shy I don't know if I can give them a third chance.

I promise to update this post as any new developments arise.

I really wanted to give this method a shot...it seems like a good model. But honestly, the 5 cars I've purchased on Ebay were more accurately described than this Volt.

I hope this was not indicative of how they execute in general.

YMMV...


Tim
 
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#2 · (Edited)
I just purchased my Volt from Carvana last month. My experience was the opposite of yours. Honestly, I've had purchases on Amazon that were more of a headache than it was to buy this car.

I had been burned by a local dealer selling a car out from under me while I was in the process of signing papers on it (long story, but let's just say that the salesperson really dropped the ball), so I started looking online. My brother had purchased his Chevy Traverse from Carvana about a year ago and picked it up from their giant gimmicky car vending machine in Nashville, where he lives. He was very happy with his experience.

I was specifically looking for a Volt with leather, and I happened to find a 2014 on their site that was in my price range and in the color I wanted. It had just come off lease in Florida. It was listed as having cloth seats, but the carfax indicated that the dealer had installed leather about a month after it originally left the lot, so I think they had actually priced it a bit too low, as their pricing is based on KBB. There were a few minor flaws and scratches noted, but nothing that looked like a deal-breaker. I pulled the trigger and used a $500 referral discount that my brother gave me, which actually priced it cheaper than I would have paid at the dealer for the other car I was going to buy.

I opted to have the car delivered. It would have been close to $800 to have it delivered to my house west of Detroit. My parents live about 90 minutes away in northern Ohio, and I found that it was free to have it delivered to their house, as it fell within the 100-mile free delivery radius of their new Cleveland office. They showed up exactly when they said they would. They unloaded it, and I did a visual inspection. I didn't see any flaws that weren't listed in the photos online, so I took it for a 20 minute test drive. I only wish they had charged it before they brought it over, but the rep said that it had only arrived in Cleveland that morning, so there wasn't enough time to get it charged with the L1 charger.

We signed the paperwork, which took about 15 minutes, as I had already filled most of it out online. They gave me a bag of carvana-branded goodies (travel mug, candy, sunglasses, etc.) and told me that I had a week to return it if I wasn't happy, no questions asked. Then I drove it 90 miles back home. No issues with it so far, and I'm extremely happy with how everything went. I really can't see myself wasting time jumping through hoops in a dealer showroom again.

BTW, if you do decide to go through with a purchase through them and you don't already have one, I've got a $500 referral discount code I can send you.

I'd post some pics, but my post count is too low. :p
 
#4 · (Edited)
https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/16/c...ntial-exits-to-fair-and-then-dgdg-broke-down/

Beepi, which is identical, just folded, after seeing how much more ($7000ish) they offered me for my Acrua than CarMax, I knew there was no way it could last...The Beepi experience of selling the Acura to was fairly smooth, they communicated well and every step of the way...I tried to repeat the experience for the Volt in July, the process was severely broken, nothing happened without you contacting them first...Even to get my appraisal it took multiple phone calls and a week...Once received I had another car buyer (Trade in Solutions) beat the Beepi offer...
 
#9 ·
Although I'm generally not a fan of extended warranties, as I understand it, you have until the end of the 7-day test period to decide whether or not to get one of the carvana extended warranties and this then supercedes the free 100 day warranty.
But I'm wondering if those of you who bought and didn't get the warranty whether or not silverock (who does the carvana warranties) solicits you later on with the same sort of offer.
 
#10 ·
Just wanted to share our Carvana experience from this weekend, for anyone that might find it useful.

I am a happy 3+ year volt owner. My wife has really been wanting to get an EV as well after living with the volt, but has had her eye on the BMW i3. I was not completely on board with the i3, but we test drove one last weekend at a used lot...and must say I was really impressed. For looking small on the outside, it seems super roomy on the inside...was not expecting that. She loves the look of the i3, and it has grown on me (especially after test driving).

So, we decided to look on Carvana as there were not many i3's to choose from locally. Carvana had 6, one of which was exactly what she wanted (white, 20" rims, etc). Carfax was clean, 1 owner, 2015, with 12k miles, 2+ factory warranty. We decided to take a chance and ordered it that day from Carvana, Saturday (5/27). We choose the following Friday (6/2) for delivery during checkout.

Since Monday was Memorial Day, Tuesday was the first business day after the purchase to get my Credit Union and Carvana to handle the paperwork...which they did and the deal was finalized on Wed. Was really quick! I did call both Carvana and my CU several times Tues/Wed to be sure they were not waiting on the other.

Carvana contacted us on Wed to verify the Friday delivery day. Unfortunately, Thurs morning they called to let us know the car transporter was delayed one day, and if we could take delivery Saturday instead of Friday. We could, but were disappointed in the delay. They apologized many times. However, later in the day Thurs they called back to let us know the transporter had made up the time and would be in St. Louis Friday and they could deliver as originally planned if we were OK with that, which we were. While this was a glitch, they did communicate well and often, and were able to keep our original delivery date in the end.

The day of delivery, we were anxious...and quite honestly I was still skeptical as this all seemed to easy and good to be true. However, at 10:30 (on time) up pulls a really cool looking Carvana truck with our i3 on it. The young lady jumped out and was super nice and excited for us. She even brought flowers, 2 $25 gift cards, and a bag of goodies for my wife. The car had balloons in it as well. It is hard to describe, but between actually getting the car, all the excitement of the driver, and the goodies....it was like a super special day and not like any other car purchase ever.

As for the i3, it looked super...they had really detailed it up. The only negative was it had very little charge for our test drive. This was because it showed up in St. Louis the morning of delivery. That was OK though, as even a short test drive showed it was great. We checked tires, all turn signals, test charged it, looked for windshield cracks, tire tread, ac/heat, etc....but it all was like new.

We have 7 days to return it or keep it. My wife has been driving it lots, and will be keeping it for sure! It was such a great experience we jokingly keep saying "Do we need another car?"...it was so easy and FUN to purchase this way.

Hopefully this helps others on the fence. I was really skeptical of Carvana after reading lots of online reviews, seemed people either loved it or hated it. We are so glad we gave it a chance, and if it had not worked out we would just decline the car on delivery or return it in the 7 day window....but my wife already loves the car!

Will post some pics as well.
 
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