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

Complete scam. I shopped, they ran my credit, offered me terms, I accepted, they called me and congratulated me on my purchase, confirmed my delivery time and place, instructed me to get insurance.

I signed all the contracts, started an insurance policy on the vehicle, and was eagerly awaiting delivery.

Then boom, less than 24 hours prior to delivery they called and said oh yeah, we can't do this unless you give us another 7K down payment. Mind you this is after I've already signed all the contracts and received a call from them telling me everything was good to go. They are no different than any other, "bait and switch" used car lot. Do not waste your time on these dishonest unethical people.

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

I purchased a white 2014 Honda CR-V through Carvana on 11/28/16, and had an awful experience throughout the process. When I made the purchase there was an issue with my paperwork. Not one person from Carvana contacted me to correct the error.

After three-four days of no word on the purchase process, I called Carvana. Once that error was corrected, I was told it would take two weeks to receive my car. I was incredibly disappointed, as the website stated I would receive my car in 7 days.

On 12/11/16 I received a call and a series of texts from the delivery driver stating that my car would arrive on 12/12/16 at 6:00am. Around two hours after the scheduled delivery time, the truck arrived at the agreed upon location. The delivery truck had three cars, none of which were the car I purchased.

He told me that Carvana didn't give him the right car, and he didn't double check the paperwork. I then called Carvana to explain the delivery issue. I spoke with three different people to try to correct the error. I was put on hold for 20 minutes before I hung up. I called back asking to speak with someone else, and was told to call back later. Brittnee Penson, a supervisor, then called me back and told me that I “sound like [I’m] done with this” and wanted to know what it was I wanted her to do.

I have never been treated so rudely by a company. Eventually Teresa Aragon contacted me to correct the error. She asked me to give Carvana another chance by taking some of the delivery fees off of the final price. I agree, and my car is delivered two days later, which of course made me wonder why I had to wait 2 weeks the first time around. After signing for the car, the delivery driver tells me they had to jump the battery to get it onto the truck. I asked him if there was something I was supposed to do to make sure the battery wouldn't die again and he told me no, it seemed to be running fine. I agreed to meet the delivery drivers in a parking lot within a 5 minute walking distance to my house. So, I drove the car to my house, went inside to get my fiancé to show him the car, and the battery died again. We immediately called the delivery guys to come jump the car, because we do not have jumper cables. He says he is about 10 minutes down the road, that it's not his problem our car won't start, and that he will not turn around to jump the car.

I then called Carvana back to explain the situation and they offered to pay for a replacement battery and to tow my car to get the replacement battery installed. The car was dirty inside and out, even though I was promised they would go over the car with a fine tooth comb. I would absolutely never recommend this company to anyone. A word of advice, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

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

I had a number of problems with Carvana, trying to make a purchase.

First, I reserved a vehicle that was in the process of being loaded into their system with the promise that the photos of the vehicle would be online in three days. Almost a week later, it still said the photos would be available in three days. I canceled that reservation and resumed my search.

I found a vehicle that was available for pickup on January 2, which was later than convenient for me but was workable. I went through their purchase with multiple delays (it would have been quicker in a stand alone dealer than these folks took), and finally thought I had everything resolved. Then I was told that the earliest pickup date would be January 3rd. I canceled the order because I have to be out of town on that date, and they reported no way to accommodate my request.

This seemed like a simple transaction, I was trading a car and placing a down payment of $10,000 with only a very small financed amount. The thing to remember with Carvana is that despite their ads on the simplicity of their product delivery, it will take you as long or more than it will at the neighborhood dealer. I wouldn't recommend these guys to anyone.

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

So apparently someone dropped the ball and had me sign the incorrect paperwork and my registration never finalized. Now I am miles away from home as an Irma evacuee with an expired tag and Carvana reps telling me there is nothing they can do. Not even speaking with a freaking desire to try and do anything or attempt to sound empathetic. Honestly, the rep sounded more annoyed than anything, like it was my fault they put the wrong VIN on the paperwork they had me sign. I did everything I was supposed to. I have a car with the tag and taxes paid for but no freaking tag on it to be able to safely drive anywhere. I am practically stranded hundreds of miles away from home and not even just because of Irma anymore. Thanks to Carvana.

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

I regret my decision to purchase a car with Caravan.

It was purchased on December 2, 2016, and I followed up on January 3, 2017, when I did not receive my plates in the mail at that point. They assured me there was a small typo in the VIN and advised me to apply for an extension at the DMV within in the next two weeks.

After a week and a half, I went to the DMV and attempted to apply for this but was told the dealer still hadn't even submitted any registration documents at all! When I called the dealer, they apologized and said they would overnight the required documents, and that they were "waiting for a check from another department." I have been told this same excuse several times now.

I was assured the registration would be delivered after Martin Luther King Day when the temporary plates expired. Sadly, when I returned to the DMV to re-apply for the extension, they told me my temporary plate belonged to a completely different car (2013 Ford)!

My temporary tag has now expired. I have requested to speak to a manager several different times with no response from any manager at this point. The employees I do talk to seem confused. I have filed two complaints with different bureaus of the state. Georgia is very particular about car registrations since they receive a proportionally large amount of revenue from this.

In summary, I am terrified to drive because I cannot legally drive the car that I purchased from Carvana. I have to walk or take public transportation to get around. It is extremely disappointing.

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

So, I purchased a Mercedes GLK for $25,000 in which I paid $22,000 upfront. I was told by the drop off for LJ's that all repairs would be covered in the first 100 days. I was told a window was faulty that morning for no reason, so I should get the car inspected by the dealership, and everything would be handled free of charge. Also, they gave me one key that worked and another key that was for another vehicle.

After getting the inspection, it turns out there were some issues under the hood totaling $1,500 in repairs. When I sent this to Carvana, they tried to run from paying for the repairs. They called the dealership and even tried to talk the mechanics out of their evaluation.

During all of this, the customer service rep also tried to treat me like it was unreasonable for me to send in the repairs. Like I was a nuisance. Carvana is the worst.

By the way, the customer service rep was Natasha Tomlinson, and she even attempted to lie about the correspondence she had sent to me, etc.

Carvana is immature from its people on the top, and on down. If you're a professional, then you'll be dealing with people who aren't on your level if you buy a car from Carvana.

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

I recently purchased a 2015 BMW 3 series, 328i X drive with premium package (VIN# wba3b5g59fns17562) on Carvana.com. I got it at a really good price, and after receiving it, I decided to run the VIN number through the BMW dealership service department to get the vehicle history and make sure the car was still under warranty.

On running the check, BMW advised me that this car was bought back by the dealership from which the previous owner purchased from under the Lemon Law. It had been to the garage around 4-6 times before it reached the 500-mile mark and had multiple issues. It even had a limp transmission issue in the first couple of hundred miles! BMW said they would repair anything like this until the first 50,000 miles or 4 years, but mentioned that this car may have similar issues for the rest of its life.

I immediately called Carvana, and they checked the records themselves and said that they could not sell me this car since it would be a liability on the company and advised me to return it. I asked them if they were just going to reduce the price and resell it on their website, and they said that they would not, and they would have to sell it to an auction.

Soon after, I ended up buying another car with almost five times the mileage and for more money.

A couple of weeks later, after returning it, I decided to go online and see if they were honest about that. To my surprise, they had the same car on sale, and for the same price I paid for it! They are trying to palm off this car onto an unsuspecting buyer. And if everything was fine to resell the car, why didn't they let me keep it?

Please be warned; they may be selling other similar cars that have had major issues and hoping that buyers won't find out until its too late.

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

I was excited to look through the Carvana website and see so many cars are available in the make and model I wanted.

I landed on one with low miles and at a great price and made arrangements to deliver it to a mechanic before accepting the car. Carvana claimed that no accidents had been reported on the car. Within 10 minutes of having the car up on the lift, my mechanic brought me in to look underneath the chassis. It was clear to anyone (including the average car owner) that the car had been in an accident. There was a clear indication of a bad paint job (in multiple places) and Carvana, which claims to do their own analysis of the car, would have easily been able to see that this car had been repaired from an accident of some kind.

Now, I rented a car for a week while I waited for this car to be delivered, wasted a day waiting for the car to be delivered and examined, and then went to the local Lexus dealership and was put in a position of having to buy a car in desperation. Needless to say, I was both disappointed and seriously inconvenienced by Carvana. While they didn't actually lie about the condition of the car (Car Fax had no accident listed), they certainly omitted the truth and could have saved me a great deal of trouble and money in the process.

Do NOT use this service! It's not a scam, but it's not the way to buy a car.

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

Although they pride themselves on identifying blemishes, dents, and dings as part of a "transparent" car buying process, Carvana does not report "surface" rust because it's not a safety issue. You should go into your purchase wary of any car that comes out of the North (snow/salt) and be fully prepared to have a mechanic put the car on a lift to check for rust on the chassis. I did exactly that and promptly arranged to have the car picked up as a result.

I contacted customer service team, and they told me that there are two types of rust, which is insultingly false.

Direct quote from Carvana:

"There are two types of rust: embedded and surface rust. We do not sell any vehicles with embedded rust as it damages the integrity of the vehicle. Surface rust does not damage the vehicle, and so we do not notate it on our site. Embedded rust occurs when it has advanced beyond the surface level and begins to compromise the strength of the metal."

I have three problems with this.

1. "Surface" rust with time will always become "embedded" rust, even when removed from the conditions that create it (i.e. Carvana is happy to sell you a car with pre-cancer, not cancer). The consumer takes the hit on both the increased cost of future repairs when, for example, a bolt breaks off and the mechanic has to re-thread the component and/or replace the component, and a plummeting resale value.

2. Carvana notates the blemishes that you'll see, even though they aren't a safety issue. But they won't note the rust that you can't readily see, even though isn't an immediate safety issue, either.

3. With the amount of rust on this car, Kelley Blue Book would consider it fair to poor condition. Carvana is charging no-haggle prices that equate with good/excellent condition, which require "little to no rust" or "rust-free" respectively. I was open to keeping the car, but not at the amount I paid for it. Although I asked, Carvana offered no alternative to sending the car back.

I was excited about Carvana and super disappointed when I sent the car back. Since Carvana doesn't notate rust, I did not feel that I could trust them enough to purchase another vehicle from them. I would HIGHLY advise that Carvana start noting rust, just like they do with other blemishes that aren't immediate safety issues.

Regarding their customer service, the car was delivery was rescheduled to a later delivery date because of their error, but picked up in a timely manner, and everyone I dealt with was pleasant.

However, service ultimately can't make up for the fact that they don't live to their own standards by providing a transparent buying experience.

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

Well first I must say the staff over the phone are nice. However, the delivery was hell and back.

I started the process on June 19, 2017, and received amazing news on June 29, 2017, from the delivery driver that they are ready to deliver my BMW 3 series at 4 pm at my home in Las Vegas, Nevada. But guess what? The driver was delivering the car in the state of Maryland 2,500 + miles away! The car originated from their Texas location in Frisco, Texas and somehow the car ended on the opposite side of the country on the east coast. Now, how dumb of a mistake can that be? Get it together Carvana.

It is July 4th, and I received an update that the car was now at their Washington DC location and is not even scheduled to be picked up until July 7! And then go cross country from an estimated delivery date of July 12-13! What a screw-up and now the whole process realistically is taking almost a whole month. Not cool.

They apologized and apologized and gave me a whopping refund of $199 delivery fee (discounted the price of vehicle) and a new key since it had only one. Overall not cool and not convenient, as they state with the process of buying a vehicle online. I hope the car gets to the west coast safe and sound. And no, I will not recommend this service. Just go to Carmax.

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