Carvana Reviews - How It Works, Warranty, Financing, Returns

I purchased a vehicle from Carvana on August 17th. The process was smooth, but my delivery got pushed back from the initial date due to transportation issues with Carvana. I did not make a fuss, as I do comprehend that things happen.

Well on Wednesday, September 15th, I turned my car on and the AC was pouring out heat, and as we know, Texas is hot! I took the car into the dealership, and I recall Dot telling me that Carvana comes with 100 days Limited Warranty (by the way, love her, she rocks!). I got a call from the dealership a few minutes ago informing me that they did find other issues with the car and they informed the representative that's handling the claim of all the other issues such as the oil leak and so forth well the warranty will not cover the cost of the leaks that's been there for some time per the dealer representative.

I am so disappointed that they sold me a car that has issues with no forewarning. I have recommended so many people to this company due to the easy-going process. My sister just bought a new SUV, and I have a couple of friends looking into making purchases. This one bad experience has tainted my perception of them. I love Dot and the easy-going process, however, if they know that their vehicles have issues, they need to please disclose that information, and not deceive their customers.

I would still recommend these guys to family and friends but tell them to approach with caution.

Bottom Line: Yes, I would recommend this to a friend

The process was fairly seamless, but no communication at all with their finance people yet (GO FINANCIAL). I do find that somewhat odd. I got financed in minutes, but still haven't heard from anyone about setting up my payment preference. I picked up my car today, no "gift bag," which I really don't care about, and no "souvenir coin," which is okay (was told they were out of coins). I bought a $40 K CTS-V and only received one key, ain't happy about that.

The car is really nice with very low mileage. I am taking it tomorrow for a pre-purchase inspection. It does have a hot oil odor, but hopefully some idiot just spilled oil during their oil change pre-delivery maintenance. So we shall see. Stay tuned.

Bottom Line: Yes, I would recommend this to a friend

When my Civic was flooded from Hurricane Harvey, I was uncomfortable purchasing a car from a dealership in a flood-soaked area. I knew there would be a lot of fraud going on selling cars.

Carvana seemed to be a good idea for the situation I was in. The process as a whole was okay, but it's best if you know exactly what car you're looking for before even considering it.

I chose a Mazda3, and it was delivered with a few issues. First, there was a piece of plastic missing from the front and a large scratch on the front and back that wasn't disclosed in the listing. I was under the impression from the delivery driver that I could take it to Mazda to at least get the plastic piece replaced. Mazda wanted to charge me for it. Since the car was used, I understand it wasn't going to be perfect, but I just expected it to be in the condition they had it listed. They also listed the wrong color. They advertised it as "meteor gray" when in fact it was "titanium flash."

Had I purchased it from a dealership, I would have insisted this be fixed before purchase. This is a little more difficult buying a car online. Had I turned it away, I probably would have had the same experience with any car. Altogether, Carvana is a legitimate company, and it's great you avoid dealership fees and can skip bullying from the finance office. Would I buy from Carvana again? Sure, if my area ever floods again.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

The purchase and pick up process was excellent and the return policy is great. I question their "150-point inspection."

The car was $2,010 more than the same color, make, and model car at a local dealership. The local dealer car has fewer miles but also has front bumper damage. I decided to go with a car without bumper damage that's gone through the certified process.

As soon as I turned the car on during pickup, there was a warning light. It was minor, just a low battery in the keyfob which they promptly remedied, to their credit.

The day after I picked up the car, I got it inspected. Within a few seconds, the mechanic showed me how the paint on the front bumper didn't match. He also showed me how one of the tabs holding the bumper on was broken. Basically, it had the same damage as the other car I decided not to buy.

Also, the cargo cover was missing. I called Carvana and told them it was missing, and their response was that it's not in the pictures, so it's on me. Now, how exactly am I supposed to know to look for something missing when I don't have experience with that make and model car? It's just like the person who posted the review that a "set of keys" is the key and the fob, not 2 keys. Doesn't make a lot of sense. Now I'm worried about what else I don't know enough to check for or ask about.

Lastly, while they were up front and specifically pointed out light scratches on one door panel, they missed some much deeper gouges inside the car that are not visible in the pictures.

I really don't know how they can miss some of this stuff with their extensive 150 point inspection they keep touting. All in all, with what I know now, I paid way too much for the car, so it's being returned. Yay for the return policy!

All in all, it's a good alternative to a traditional dealership, but be very careful and get your car inspected within the return window.

Bottom Line: Yes, I would recommend this to a friend

I was on the verge of purchasing a VW Golf TDI. They come in 4 trims: Launch, S, SE, SEL (from low to high). I was seeking SELs and found several on the site. The prices and quality of the cars seemed good. Upon further inspection (looking at detailed specs, the window sticker, and VW's VIN Check site), I found that multiple (at least 3) SEL listings were actually for the lesser S trim. Ok, this might not seem like a huge deal. Most people would catch it prior to purchase. However, it led me to wonder if this was a practice of deception or a simple mistake. Hopefully the latter but it's made me leery.

In short, I'd do 3rd party research on their cars whenever possible. I notified Carvana of the error on the vehicle listing I was researching. It was updated within 24 hours. Kudos for that but there are still other incorrect listings with the same issue.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

Carvana has pretty much any toy you could want...for about $2k over the standard list price. At least they ship for free. It's a good idea but the company is excruciatingly unorganized (many people complain about late deliveries, no contact, and no registration). This was enough to scare me off from buying a vehicle from them, but I did sell them mine.

They gave me a very fair price for it and did come pick it up, but the weeks before were not worth the hassle. Various 'computer glitches.' I had gone 100% through the process of purchasing a vehicle from them only to be called and told the vehicle had already been sold days ago. And this was after they had already hit my credit and applied me for a loan, and NO ONE will return your phone calls, even when they promise they will. Once I logged into my account to see, to my horror, that my account was on the final step to purchasing a $40k Chevy Tahoe, which is never a vehicle I even looked at!

Various emails asking me to re-verify information for the car I sold to them and telling me to accept my offer even though I had done so numerous times. Weeks after they took my car away, I am still getting emails asking if I am still interested in selling it to them. Get it together! Also, convenient that they don't actually allow customers to post reviews on their website...

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I don't know how Carvana with any degree of believability can say that they offer cars "priced well below the average Kelley Blue Book Values." I have looked at MANY cars on Carvana, Car Gurus, cars.com and CarMax, CarSense sites, and Carvana is always the HIGHEST price, most times by $1500 - $2500 above the current market.

Which makes sense, because they need to cover the costs of trucking (both delivering cars and picking up trade-in vehicles) as well as all the mechanics who do their 150-point inspections, buyers for their used cars, customer service reps (the Carvana "Customer Advocates" as they call them) and the rest of their support staff, from photographers to webmasters to truck drivers.

I'm in the market for a used 2011-2014 Camaro 2SS with a long list of options, and I've looked at MANY of these vehicles on Carvana (they currently have two that piqued my interest), and they're consistently higher than other dealers by a considerable margin. Yes, they provide a level of convenience and a "hassle-free experience," but the car buyer pays for it.

It's true what they say, "There's no free lunch." If there's a good product and added value offered, someone has to pay for it!

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

This concept has been interesting to me since I first had seen it. I probably wouldn't have started this process if it were not for my Credit Union being in partnership with Carvana. I know my bank has my best interest. We don't have our car yet, but we just got a week delay in getting it fixed. Our loan application expires the day before. I am hoping we don't experience what many have on here about getting a car that is not listed. I have documented everything in the listing, including screenshots of everything advertised with time stamps. I am glad we get seven days because we are purchasing our second EV and I will go through everything in this car to ensure all is in order.

The customer service is stellar. Right up there with top companies customer service. We are getting this car because we have a two-door and we are adopting my niece who has special needs and having a two-door car is not good for a special needs child who doesn't like small spaces. We need this vehicle to be reliable and honest given. Really hoping for the best. I will update my review once we get the car and try it out. The one thing I don't get is how they say they look it over but then delay because they learned more.

Bottom Line: Yes, I would recommend this to a friend

I had a polarizing experience in buying from Carvana for the first time. There were parts I loved and parts I was very unimpressed with in my experience.

Here are the things that I was impressed with and did enjoy about my experience. I am a huge fan of convenience and prefer not to deal with people directly as most of them are not intelligent enough or are too incentivized by their own agenda to sell me a car. So the "convenience" aspect of Carvana ranked very high with me. The online process of looking at and purchasing a vehicle sight unseen can be unsettling. But their online chat feature and the one time I did have to speak live to an associate it was excellent. All questions were answered, they were extremely knowledgeable and the assurance of a 7-day basic "test drive" with a no-questions-asked return policy was phenomenal. All cars should be afforded this length of time to consider.

I did start to discover a few problems when the car was to be delivered to my front door. The Carvana carrier truck apparently broke down that day, so I had to take an Uber to their Carvana facility in Frisco. Inconvenient and a little odd that they didn't have another carrier, but they even paid for the Uber ride. So, no big deal. I received the car, and it was spotless. The gal that helped me was super nice and the paperwork to sign for the vehicle took less than 2 minutes. I could have been out in 5 minutes if I chose. And I did. So, I now have this car in my possession, and the 7-day clock has started.

I noticed some cosmetic things that weren't disclosed on the website on this vehicle. An interior feature button was broken, a cosmetic small piece of trim on the door fell off, there was a big scratch on the rear bumper under the hatch not disclosed, and that was about it. I called into Carvana and told them the problems. They asked me to email in photos of the issues and that they would get back to me shortly. In 3 days I did get an email response, and I was impressed that they offered me a $350 check to cover the costs to fix everything. Perfect! No negotiating, no backing away from their responsibility, they (Carvana) just did the right thing. So, A+ for that experience.

Two days later (realize I'm still in my 7-day grace period), I am in a massive rainstorm in Oklahoma. Time to flip on my wipers for the first time. Now was not a good time to learn that the wipers were so worn out that they were stripping away from their housing. They were like spaghetti noodles going over my windshield. In fact, the metal housing scratched the windshield in the process. So I had to drive with them off, which was not fun. I immediately went and got them replaced myself. Remember, this company claims a 150-point "rigorous" inspection of all their vehicles before selling them. Yet they missed windshield wiper blades so destroyed you couldn't miss it if you just turned them on. Doesn't add up. So, this caused me to question just how thorough this alleged inspection was by Carvana. Moving on...

Later that day, I am running through all the diagnostic reports this car provides as it is thorough being a Porsche Cayenne. I pull up the oil level on the vehicle, and it shows the level to be critically low. Additionally, the car is telling me that the oil needs to be changed immediately. Carvana assured me that this car had received an oil change just before it was delivered. Now the car is saying otherwise. I call Carvana and ask about this and they claim that the vehicle settings just need to be re-set by a Porsche dealership noting that the oil had been changed. I would have bought that explanation except that the actual "oil levels" on the car are showing critically LOW. Doesn't add up... again. So I press Carvana on this issue and they agree to pay for a Porsche Dealership to change the oil in the vehicle. Hmmmm...I guess that I am happy they agreed to do that but does it not imply guilt? Who knows?

So, I am going to write that "yes" I would recommend Carvana as the benefits far outweigh the challenges. It is a pre-owned vehicle I purchased so there are going to be things NOT perfect about the car. I get that. But if you are going to CLAIM that you do such a rigorous investigation of the vehicle, there shouldn't be much that is obvious that is missed (like wiper blades falling off).

From a post-purchase perspective, they have been great. No debating and TWICE after going back to them to fix stuff, they have agreed to the right thing and just pay me. They don't want the car back, and I don't want to give it back. So, they make it easy/clean and simple which is smart.

If you are considering buying from Carvana, ask to SEE a report of the 150-point inspection FIRST. Then when you get the car, go over that list or consider taking it to a dealership so they can do it for you. It won't be free, but it will give you leverage to go back to Carvana.

All told, I would buy from them again.

Bottom Line: Yes, I would recommend this to a friend

I gave Carvana a couple of chances. I am sure their upper management let them down.

The first car I bought they told me there was a problem with the engine and I had to wait almost two weeks to get it (the car was a 2009 Audi TTS). I then ordered a 2016 BMW 228 I with 3k miles on it. After having it and pondering over it, I took it back a day later after investigating the peeling of the paint and finding out where the car came from, it looked like it had been involved in a hail storm and was hastily fixed. The paint was peeling, there was residue paint on the sunroof plastic, and you could see trash all over where the paint was resprayed. It was a shame as I really liked the car and thought I was getting a great deal.

The second car I got I didn’t even leave the Cemding machine with it, a 2014 BMW M235 I Silver. The pictures on the web looked good, except the wheels looked dirty. When I ordered it I asked for the car to be clean when I picked it up. The car was dirty and smelled foul, I really wanted to buy this car, but it had more scratches on the car than advertised. The scratches that were fixed were actually spotted in with a different color paint, and they stood out. The engine was burning oil, and the transmission was slipping. I really think the car had the stuffing knocked out of it. It had pretty low miles but was seriously molested, in my opinion. The tires were lucky if they had 2000 miles left on them. It was a poor representation of a nice car.

Everyone I spoke to was really nice. The staff at the vending machine in Charlotte were awesome. I really wanted this to work out as they were giving me $2k more for my trade in. I just didn’t have a warm fuzzy feeling.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend

I found a truck that I was really interested in, a 2012 Tundra with 35,000 miles. Too good to be true right? Right after reviewing the Carfax, I noticed a discrepancy in the mileage. I called and asked how come the miles all the sudden has gone down to 30,000 miles when you guys listed it? The answer was they made a mistake and put the wrong picture with this car. The correct odor reading should be 83k so they will correct the mileage on the Carfax and their website. Then they insisted the price was right and will not be lowered.

Fast forward two weeks, thought I’d see if there were any new trucks and I find the same 2012 with the correct miles and a new lower price. I have instantly interested again, so I call to ask a few questions. Why when I try and purchase this truck it’s still trying to charge me old price? The customer service rep was one of the most unhelpful people I’ve ever spoken to. She was going to have to call me back to correct a price on my order I asked her have you tried to restart my order and she said no never thought to do that. I asked her about some of the features of the car, and all she was doing was looking at the same thing I could see. What is the point of that? How could you trust what they show you if the pictures are correct? How could you trust what they say when they don’t have any real information to look at? I don’t know that I’m brave enough to spend my money here no matter how good the deal looks.

Issues with this service:

1. Incompetent sales representatives.

2. Inaccurate photos of vehicles.

3. Photos of vehicles are not detailed enough to give you all the information. Look at CarMax, you can tell what the car looks like from the photos.

Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend