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

I selected a low mileage car at nearly three years old. On the website, it looked clean, with a few "level 1 scratches," which I would consider normal. Providing the information to CARVANA online was tedious, and required proof of money (I was buying the car outright) at the time I selected the car. The car took a week to arrive, and I went to pick it up.

The car was in a very poor state. Every leather seat had surface damage, there were scratches along every door sill, there was damage along eight inches of the outer edge of every door, which had been spot painted without opening the door, so the door seal rubber had paint on it. There were two spots on the roof of about 1" each where the paint was completely removed. For a car at 33,000 miles it looked worse than my current car (which has done 160,000).

The person "helping" me just said, "do you want the car or not." No apology for wasting my time, no acknowledgment that there was a problem, and no service attitude.

Just a horrible experience. I went to a dealer and found a completely clean car, a year younger, at a much higher spec, for $1,500 more. I won't use Carvana again, so I went to delete my account, but there is no online mechanism to do that.

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

I started a purchase of a minivan that Carvana stated had a power liftgate - a critical minivan feature that is either part of an expensive options package, or it's only available on an upgraded trim that costs thousands more than the base trim. But after I looked more closely at information from Carfax, it appeared to me that the minivan actually did not have a power liftgate. So I asked Carvana about this, and after a couple of hours their "markup" team confirmed via email that contrary to the Carvana description on the website, there was actually no power liftgate on the car.

So I asked for a price adjustment via email; no response to my email. Then I phoned customer service. The agent said she would "ask" someone else (who? I don't know) and put me on hold for 7-8 minutes. When she got back on the line she said there would be no price adjustment. So I said, "then please cancel the sale." She replied, "Wait a minute, I'm getting a signal to try a couple of things that might help you, let me put you back on hold." So I was put on hold a second time for 7-8 minutes. When she got back, she said, "There will be no price adjustment." So I canceled the sale.

So, what was the point of putting me on hold the second time? Was this agent actually talking to a higher authority when I was on hold, or was she just "icing the customer," a tried-and-true hard sell tactic?

And do you think that it was a mistake that Carvana advertised the non-existent power liftgate? Well, when I canceled the order I told the agent that Carvana must change the car description before offering the car for sale again, to avoid deceiving customers, and the agent promised she would do that. But guess what? When the minivan was listed back on Carvana's website it still showed that it had a power liftgate.

Finally, don't believe the responses by the Carvana rep on this website that they will work with customers when they make a mistake. They have done nothing for me. I endured a credit pull for no reason, so my FICO will fall. I gave them a copy of my license and trade-in title for no reason. And they are not decent enough to even send an apology email. Don't be deceived; there is no "Carvana Family;" it's a marketing ploy.

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

I bought a vehicle from Carvana online and they had it advertised as a 4.3 out of 5.0, which means it’s a very nice vehicle. Well, it showed up less than a 2.5 and had rust, dents, and poorly fixed bug scratches in the paint. The radio was hanging out and the temp controls panel was busted along with the interior destroyed and had fog hair everywhere. The frame was rusted and cracked, and the grill on the front was held on by zip ties! I got pics to prove it all.

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

They get one star because ZERO was not an option. Do not trust any 4.5-star ratings, since it is utterly unlikely those are honest reviews. Carvana sucks! PERIOD! I just had to find the CEO's email to tell him, Mr. Garcia III, about our ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIC experience with them and we really - before this - hoped they would offer a MUCH better experience than regular dealers and CarMax (that relative to Carvana was heaven of car-buying), but Carvana has offered BY FAR the worst experience by any company ever that operates in a non-monopolistic market (so we exclude GA Power and Comcast). So avoid them at all cost in my opinion. That is the short version.

The long version is that they were supposed to be here at 7 PM today so we cleaned out our exchange car and called them 7:03 PM to ask why they were not here and after about 50 minutes on the phone, the rep, Aron, told me that the delivery had tried to contact me to say it has to pass inspection. But THEY LIED, since NOBODY has called my cell phone at that time, or they had the wrong number. Either way, that was the last big issue.

The others were:

1. The rep did not know it is hybrid.

2. They forgot to tell us it comes with a car charger.

3. They dinged the first BMW so we had to change all documents for a new one.

4. They said they would deliver the new BMW, but then a few days later said that it needs a new battery (ok fine, no big deal), but then said it would be done for delivery today at 7 PM and they do not even contact us via text, email, or phone when they cannot/will/do not show up due to "That the car must pass emission inspection and if those lights light up, the car will not pass..."

End of story. HORRIBLE COMPANY, though I really hope they or other online car companies will succeed in improving the car buying experience.

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

I tried to get my automobiles value and was constantly kicked off the site after I gave them my info. I never did get my value, but they got all of my information. What a mistake. Buyer beware!

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

Carvana was the only place I could find the car I wanted so I thought I’d give it a go. I figured the 7-day test drive would be a worry-free way to go. I was so wrong.

I brought a beautiful 2013 beetle convertible TDI. Exactly the car I wanted. The VW service advisors told me that was one of the years to go with so I thought I had made a good choice. Within two days, I had a check engine light. The remainder of my "7-day test drive" the car spend having work done at the dealership. I did get a two-day extension (somehow a manager was never available to speak to me) because if I was given any longer my registration would come too late. Not true. I asked if Carvana could pick the car up at VW and end the deal. They said it has to be a residence. Basically, I was stuck with a questionable vehicle.

I got it back after my two-day extension only to have it not start due to a dead battery a few days later. Fine. I bought a new battery. Four days later, another check engine light. Back to the dealership. Today, another three days later the light pops back on. Thankfully I am still covered under the 100 days service agreement but is ridiculous. I’ve had the car four weeks now and will be making a dealership visit every one of those weeks.

Was this car even mechanically checked?

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

Buyer beware! I bought a 2012 Nissan Leaf (electric car) three weeks ago from Carvana and paid cash. On the day it was delivered, received a call that it was on its way and then it never showed up. When we called the next day we were told that they got lost and never bothered to let us know. When the car was finally delivered the next day, it came with only a 14-mile charge on its battery. Over the next week, we noted that it would not hold a significant charge. Finally, left on a charger for 24 hours, the battery never held over a 42-mile charge. We contacted Carvana and were told that it had been past the 7-day return period (we called the morning of the 8th day), but that if we brought it to a dealer repair facility, SilverRock would cover the repairs under the limited 100-day warranty.

The vehicle was taken to Nissan and no repairs were authorized. We later found that Carvana never brought the paperwork covering the limited warranty with them when the car was delivered. Once the paperwork was finally signed online, it was submitted to SilverRock who then sent the claim back to Carvana. Once I contacted Carvana, I was told that the claim was being reviewed and that I would be getting a call back that afternoon...and...I was not. The next day, the shop informed us that repairs were denied. I was told from Carvana that this was a risk of purchasing a used vehicle. They were fine selling an electric car with a defective battery (essentially the engine!) and that they would not cover it under the 100-day "no-worries" warranty. Beware!

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

It has been a nightmare from the very beginning with you. I had to get 2 loans because it was not clear that I had to pay more than you advertised. This dropped my credit score 10 points. So thanks for that first. Next I had to insure the vehicle so your company could ship the car. This caused me to default on my insurance because I did not have any time to have a safety inspection performed within the 1-week period required by the state. Finally, the car was delivered with dog hair all inside of it. As well as a brake light is inoperative, and the repaint of the bumper is horrible. Rear wiper should have been replaced. Customer service granted me $100 for interior detail but never submitted it.

Your company is garbage as far as I am concerned. Much easier going to the dealer and at least they will fix issues and not give me a runaround! You do nothing but provide customer service and you failed at that miserably. I worked for Audi for 4 years so I know how this process should go. If I worked like your company does I would have lost my job. I will do everything to tell everyone I know how terrible your company is. Really! Dog hair all over the interior. You should be ashamed of yourselves!

Regards,

A very displeased customer.

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

Our vehicle was sold to Carvana and they did not submit the payoff to the bank until we got a notice in the mail nearly two months later that we were late on our car payment. Then, Carvana owed us an additional $400, and it took days to get that figured out. The customer service was very disappointing.

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

The sun visor on the passenger side literally fell off yesterday when my wife was doing her makeup. It won't reattach, and there's now a giant, ugly hole in its place in our new car. I'm guessing they put it on when they were preparing the vehicle, but did a lousy job.

With regards to the registration not being received and the temporary tags set to expire, they've offered to pay for a rental vehicle until the registration arrives. This is promised to be completed on 9/22. I will update this review in the future with the outcome.

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

The process was SO simple. I found the perfect car in less than five minutes, emailed all the paperwork and submitted each document as requested.

The car was to be delivered today at 9 am, and suddenly I received an email asking why we didn't pick our car up. We were scheduled for a delivery and the employees to speak with were either friendly and understanding or condescending and unpleasant. Why would we pick up a car when the whole advertisement is a simple process from home being delivered to you, we clicked delivery and never thought anything about it until the car didn't show up? And when it was discussed, there was never an apology, and the car was not going to be "re-delivered" until later this week, and that was not an option.

We canceled our perfect car and realized dealing with the dealership is clearly less stress than this joke of buying a car before you can even touch it. Great concept but they dropped the ball big time, so upsetting.

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