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

I am not sure why Carvana gets SO much negative feedback. Despite this feedback, I decided to try it and was pleasantly surprised. I can explain why I risked this based on the various complaints that I have read:

Complaint #1: Delayed deliveries. I do understand that if you are in immediate need of a car, a delay can be frustrating. However, this begs the question, if you are in immediate need of a car, why not head over to a nearby dealership?

My Solution to #1: I had a lease that was expiring in 6 weeks, so I gave myself plenty of time in anticipation of any complications.

Result: They did delay the delivery once, but I was mentally prepared and was also at least four weeks from the time this would become an emergency. They not only sent me a little Thank You note for being so patient, along with two very aromatic Carvana candles, but they told me over the phone that they are sending me a check for $200 - $50 for each of the four days my delivery was delayed.

Complaint #2: The car was obviously in an accident and/or had some damage they didn't tell me about, OR the car made a weird noise, OR the car doesn't seem to run right/something isn't working.

My Solution #2: DON'T take delivery of the car IF you notice even a SINGLE THING that may turn out to be a deal breaker! In addition, there is a Carfax available on Carvana's website for every single car in their inventory. Most major accidents that are reported to insurance companies go on here. Many people were saying their car was a fleet or rental car. Again, the Carfax would show this. As a buyer of a used car, do your due diligence, and, I repeat, don't take delivery. This is a NO RISK purchase. Walk around the car and check it out thoroughly. Get inside the car and make sure everything works. Drive the car. My delivery person told me to take as much time as I needed. I was gone for about half an hour. If there is even one thing you don't like, don't take the car.

Result: I did have one key fob that isn't working. I'm assuming it's a battery, but since this has nothing to do with the car itself and they gave me one that DOES work, I decided that I have to be realistic when getting a used car. It's not a mechanical issue, so I'll be looking into this afterward. Everything else about the car was awesome. The car was also cleaned and detailed quite professionally. I had heard from other Carvana customers that dealerships do a much better job, but I disagree. This thing looked like new!

Complaint #3: The car had mechanical issues that I discovered after I took delivery.

My Solution #3: Have a trusted mechanic look it over thoroughly. You have seven days to return it for FREE! I have NEVER purchased a used car without having my family's mechanic inspect it. That is your job as an educated consumer.

Result: My car was from the south (I'm up near the Great Lakes), so my mechanic was in awe of how clean this engine was on this three-year-old car. He gave me the figurative "green light!"

I cannot say enough: The financing went through in about 10 seconds using only a soft pull on my credit, the car is gorgeous and mechanically sound, the delivery person was friendly and patient (the car came with lots of goodies: a reusable water cup with a straw, lip balm, sunglasses, an ice scraper, a windshield shade).

Love this company!

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

Everything seemed OK until I checked around and realized their offer on my trade was $1300 below local dealers. Then they did not complete registration correctly and delayed the delivery date, even though it was their fault. I had to run around and do the job normally covered by the dealership. Stay away from this the prices are high, the trade value abysmal and they do not work with you. A real take it or leave it attitude. Far worse than any dealer I have encountered.

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

This was probably the most epic fail of any major transaction I have had the displeasure of being subjected to. Ordered a Toyota on the weekend, scheduled the delivery on Tuesday. Great. I sign everything and purchase an insurance policy, receive emails confirming as much. Monday I receive an EMAIL explaining that I need to call THEM to reschedule due to an error on their end. I sit on hold for about an hour at work, reschedule for the following Saturday, go back online and sign everything a second time, and then proceed to wait 6 days for my car to arrive. Well, it turns out their system interpreted my signing everything again as an indication the entire order should be canceled. That is correct. Without even emailing me or calling me to let me know, they axed the whole deal for no reason I can properly discern.

Come Saturday afternoon whilst waiting for the Carvana truck to pull up, I noticed that it wasn't. No calls or emails alerting me of anything, so once again I had to call THEM and wait another HOUR to talk to a representative (or "advocate" as they like to call it). They said the vehicle was not ready, nor was it in my name or my city. After waiting another hour, I was informed that their system indicated that I had logged in and canceled the transaction myself, at which point another customer had purchased the vehicle. Nothing could have been further from the truth, of course, and yet Carvana stood by their own flawed, bug-ridden system's logs and refused to return the car to my name. Telling the new owner about the mistake and making them upset was off the table. I called and begged them to reconsider, but they stonewalled me for about 40 minutes with empty apologies. I would never even consider using this hideously broken system again. The dealer would have been so much easier. I'd give a negative number of stars if I could.

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

This has been an awful, stressful experience. We received our first vehicle and it had SO much damage that was not disclosed on the site. Torn seats, keyed dashboard, body damage, and it was filthy inside and out. I wanted to cry. They said to pick out another you have seven days. We did and again damage that was undisclosed. They tried to talk us into keeping the vehicles by offering us $500! There is easily two thousand dollars worth of damage, probably much more, what a joke. Now we had waited for these vehicles so our car has been sold and we are in a terrible situation forced to make an expensive purchase as quickly as possible. Never would I suggest this or do it ever again.

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

Since I wrote this review Carvana has provided me with a link to the Volkswagen owners portal where I am able to view the owners manual (download not available). Carvana also sent me a set of standard floormats.

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

I purchased a car through Carvana a Range Rover Evoque. After a few weeks, I started experiencing problems with the car. The car had hesitation issues which meant it would stop moving and go into neutral mode while making a very loud noise for a minute or 2 then start moving again. This issue happened 5 times over the first 3 months of me owning the car. I took the car to Land Rover garage 3 times and they changed sensors but it did not help. As I write this the car has been at the dealership for the past two weeks. The dealership is saying they cannot fix the car till they experience the problem but they do not have the manpower to drive the car for a long period of time. The car has stopped moving on the highway a few times and it could have ended with me and my children losing my life. Carvana has refused to swap the car for me saying it's a Land Rover problem. Land Rover has refused to take responsibility and asked me to take it back to Carvana. I am now terrified of driving the vehicle. Carvana has refused for me to return a vehicle that has serious safety issues. I will now be seeking legal help. This $30000 purchase has brought me so much pain. Do not use Carvana.

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

I was excited about the concept of Carvana, however, the company really disappointed. The car my wife bought was supposed to go through a thorough inspection. Any mechanic would have noticed the car had been wrecked, however, it had a clean Carfax report so they tried to push it through. As part of any inspection process, a minimum requirement is to test the lights. This would have been hard to do since the wire going to the switch was disconnected. There were scratches around the steering wheel from where the airbag was deployed. Also on this specific car, it has a safety feature on the dash that locks the dash console when in a wreck to prevent anything from hitting the passenger. This device was triggered. They did return my wife’s car as promised, however, when in the seven days they lost the title.

Now the car is back on their site and is pending sale in less than a week after we returned. We gave all the details yet they only 1 in 20 cars pass their inspection.

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

Carvana is terrible when it comes to delivery. We were scheduled more than twice and each time we got bumped. These were times that they made available for us and then when it came time to deliver they could never meet times.

Forcing us to drive to them, or having them drop off at another date.

I still don't have the car after two failed delivery dates and now I'm debating if I should go in a different direction.

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

Carvana tried telling me I had 100,000 more miles than what I have (“according to registry estimates” they said). It didn’t matter after all my trouble, because they indicated they don’t service my area (Maine).

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

The process was great. Everyone I have talked to has been awesome. We had some issues with getting a POA for my husband who is deployed but once we got it, we moved forward. I got a call on the morning that I was supposed to pick it up. Check engine light came on. The salesperson told me I should probably just pick another car out. I called back and asked if they could find out what the exact problem was since it could be a simple fix. They took it to the Toyota dealer and it was a bad battery. Ok, no problem. Rescheduled the pick-up. That went fine. I asked about the tires, I was told that if I get it checked out and the tread was 5 or less then they would replace the tires. I noticed that it wasn’t cleaned properly. Wax on the trim. Wasn’t exactly detailed. Drove it for a couple of days then took it to the Toyota dealer to have it checked out. Shocks leaking, key fob battery needed to be replaced, a fluid leak in the engine (can’t remember which one), windshield wiper fluid empty, tires were 4-5, tire light on (was told when I picked it up it would go off), Toyota said it was a bad sensor, front brake pads needed to be replaced. But the biggest problem is that the entire passenger side has been replaced and repainted. Carfax is clean so if it was an accident then it wasn’t reported. The mechanic said it looked like all new parts on that side. Bad paint job replacing them also. Tape marks and overflow painting visible. It seems that the inspection process is severely lacking. $1000 worth of work needed not including the brake pads. So now I am out $150 to have the car inspected when it should have already been done and I drove it over 400 miles so I owe another $175. I am not going to purchase from them again. I had such high hopes. Now I must deal with car dealers, what I was trying to avoid.

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

I purchased a 2018 Land Rover Velar. The car had many many nicks, dings, and scratches when it was delivered. These cosmetic imperfections were not showed nor indicated on their advertised website.

Also, the activity key (wrist band shape) that was supposed to come with the car (it was seen in the advertised photo) didn't come with it.

I explained these issues to the driver who delivered the car to me, and he promised me to contact the Carvana regarding them.

I got email from Carvana that offering only $100 for those sever cosmetic imperfections. I responded to cover more, but they refused.

Also, the message included the missing activity key, but I couldn't clearly understand what I need to do, so I replied for more detail. Since then, I didn't get any reply back from them even though I sent an email a few more times.

Finally, I called them today because 100 days of Carvana's warranty will expire soon, but they said that they cannot do anything about the activity key since 30 days were passed since the first email.

First of all, it is their fault not delivering the key with car, and also not responding to my reply email for detail. They are now accusing me of not acting in 30 days.

I will not buy any car from Carvana from now on. Their customer service is not satisfactory at all. They are avoiding their big and initial mistakes and laying the blame on the customer by a small mistake.

This will not happen if they deliver the car with everything it supposed to come with.

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