Vroom Review: How It Works, Pros and Cons

I bought a 2013 Toyota Sienna minivan with low miles and all the options I wanted near the end of August 2018. The FedEx package with the purchase documents arrived on August 24, and I FedExed them back along with my down payment that same day. After that, the experience deteriorated. I was told by my sales associate that the vehicle would be delivered no later than two weeks and that most vehicles would be delivered in less time than that. We're here on September 13, 2018, and not only do I not have the vehicle, but I have no idea when I'm going to get it.

They have moved goalposts on me by first saying no, not two weeks, but rather fourteen business days. Then it became fourteen business days from the receipt of my bank's payment. Still no vehicle or delivery date. Every time I call, they try to tell me it's undergoing a quality inspection to make sure it meets the high standards of yadda, yadda, yadda. It's been undergoing a quality inspection now for over ten days.

I called twice yesterday and was told each time the individual would send an email to somebody and follow up with me. Never happened. The only thing I've gotten so far is an email from somebody with delivery support asking if I'm in the Hurricane Florence evacuation zone - I'm not. If they were even partially on the ball, they'd realize that my delivery address was not in the zone. If they were anywhere near the ball, let alone on it, they'd be able to tell me sorry, we can't ship a vehicle to North Carolina until this hurricane passes, expect it on Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday. Nope. Bunch of hooey about that neverending quality inspection - this is a Toyota, not a Yugo, so it shouldn't take this long - and then an empty promise to follow up. Meanwhile, I'm paying for insurance on The Invisible Minivan, and my first payment is coming due on October 1st.

I've given them two stars ONLY because I expect at some point to receive the van I was sold. If that happens, it will be a great vehicle for a fair price. I'm teetering on the brink of one star, though, because that's the level of customer service you're going to experience from these people once they have your money. Spend a little extra, support your local economy and buy from a local dealership. At least you'll leave with a vehicle.

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

Great cars at fair prices, but their follow up on getting the papers and plate to you is horrid. Eight weeks and I still don’t have a plate. My temporary one runs out tomorrow. Now I can’t drive a vehicle that I paid $50k for. This is the second time they have messed up the paperwork. I will not use them again.

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

I give 2 stars because if you like a car, you pick it out, they see if you qualify, and they give you the terms as far as monthly payments, and how much down you have to give...

But here is the bad part: If you don't agree with those terms with that car, then you pick another car, but then they run your credit again for another car, when they have already run your credit for the first car. I mean, come on guys, you keep running my credit, messing up my credit, to see what car is suitable for me. Which means they don't pre-approve! That is not fair, especially if you're trading in your current car and you still owe on it, how do I know if I'm approved or not? I won't know until they run my credit 1000 times to see what I'm approved for...WOW! Not cool for someone who is trying to rebuild credit!

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

I really wanted to like this process of avoiding a dealership. Zero communication after initial purchase communication. Pickup was listed as 4wd, but then after delivery was discovered it wasn’t (Silverado 2500HD Duramax with lift, one would assume it’s 4wd). I called to return, after that phone call I received no responses to emails or calls. I just happened to look out my window one morning before going to the office and saw a car hauler pull up. No heads up at all, if I hadn’t been home, I’m sure this process would be taking even longer. So now 30 days from the start of the process I still don’t have a truck and also don’t have my $10,000 down payment. I received notice mid last week from the lender that the loan was canceled. Every time I’ve called about the return status the two people that handle returns aren’t working. They don’t work weekends and don’t even work some weekdays according to one customer service rep. So if you get lucky and get the vehicle you thought you were buying and don’t have to do a return, it might be ok.

Timeline:

11/26 - initiated purchase.

11/28 - received initial documents.

11/30 - received additional documents.

11/30 - wired funds.

12/10 - vehicle delivered.

12/12 - requested return vehicle was improperly listed as 4wd.

12/18 - vehicle was picked up by the driver with no prior notice I just happened to be home.

12/26 -still no refund.

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

Wholesale cars for retail prices. If it's not hard to find, buy it from a local dealer. I bought a 2017 Wrangler from Vroom that was a special edition and kind of hard to find. Slow to respond or ship. Kept saying the vehicle was still in the inspection process.

The vehicle was delivered 15 days after I wired the money, so not too bad, but I went and met the driver after dark on the side of the road and the driver wanted me to try and inspect that it had no damage. It was covered in road grime (okay I get it was trailered), and leftover wax where it looks like a 5-year-old waxed it. It did have a large ding in the paint on the hood that I would have never seen in the dark. The gas light was on and on E, so I had to find a gas station before I could even take home. Lights on the dash for all the tires were way low on pressure. An inspection was the last thing that was done. Sticky cup holders, etc., 7,993 miles on it and the tires had never been taken off to rotate, nor do we think the oil had even been changed from the factory.

With the one key and no floor mats, it was about $560 at the dealership to get it right and driveable. Buying from a regular dealer, you can assure to pay the same price and have a vehicle ready to go. If it was not hard to find I would for sure send it back! Oh, I also left a message for customer support and never returned calls!

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

As I started my research on which vehicle to purchase and through which company I would buy from, I came across an endless stream of reviews on Vroom that most all revealed that the company was great at selling and bad at following through. I tend to be a glass is half full guy and decided to give them the benefit and wrote the negative reviews off as people that have too high or unrealistic expectations.

Vroom does have an impressive fleet of vehicles to choose from, and I found one I really wanted. My purchase experience was exactly like all the reviews. Great sale, no follow through. The vehicle took exactly a month to get to me. Not the 14-day they promised. And I finally had to drive 65 miles each way to pick it up in Denver. The vehicle also had an additional 97 miles that someone drove in that 30 day time. I expressed my concerns several times in weighting with absolutely no response from management.

I don’t think I would recommend Vroom to a friend.

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

The sales and finance portion of the deal went very smooth. I was assured someone would be in contact with me daily while my purchase was en route...CRICKETS! Finally they email me on Saturday to tell my vehicle will be delivered on Monday and they will call me each day to give a delivery window. It's now 5 pm on Monday. NO CALL. I get sent to voicemail when I call. Their delivery support is crap. Finally get my sales rep on the phone who gets delivery support on the phone who tells me the truck won't be here until tomorrow. I'm so mad I'm tempted to refuse delivery. I cancelled my flight and gave back my rental car based on their assurances. Never again!

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

Really don’t know how to rate this dealer because the dealership itself is a good setup, the people were nice and driving four hours. The process was fairly easy, however, the car we bought was terrible. As soon as we got back home we had to take it to the manufacturer's dealership the next day. So far the water pump and thermostat and gaskets all need to be replaced and now the dealer said the horn isn’t working. They also said there could be further problems after opening up. We gave them a perfect trade and it’s marked up on their site $3800. When we addressed them they said "unfortunately we can’t tell when parts are going to break" and that they would have just done the same thing and take it to the dealer. They said they do inspections. This is a one-year-old car, I don’t know how an inspection could have missed this big problem.

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

I was initially very excited about this vehicle and eagerly put down a $500 hold based on the online pictures and the repeated assurances from the sales person that the $500 would be added back in once the purchase was completed. The car was shipped very quickly, which is an anomaly according to the other reviews I read. The delivery driver was great about communicating with me during the transit from Texas and I was able to meet him a parking lot near my house for easy offloading. As soon as I saw the vehicle, I was not at all excited about the color as it didn't look much like the candy apple red vehicle that I saw on the website (it was more of a maroon red). The car arrived dirty but that was to be expected as it was on the back of a transport trailer and it was raining. During my initial inspection I discovered that repairs had been done at some point to the rear bumper and the repair paint job was easily detectable to someone familiar with auto body repair work. There was no mention of an accident in the Carfax report, but that doesn't mean anything either. Overall though, the exterior was not too bad.

However, upon opening the doors and observing the interior, I was both surprised and disappointed by the lack of detailing and basic cleaning that went into this car. The interior was an off white color and it showed all kinds of stains and damage that I wouldn't have expected in a four year old car at that price. The deal breaker, however, was the black rubber tape (more like tar) that surrounded the inside of the top of the drivers door. Clearly, someone was trying to minimize the road noise that was coming through the top of the drivers door (right by your left ear) with horrible looking putty tape. A test drive confirmed the noise issue and I decided let my wife be the deciding vote (it was to be her car after all). She drove the car for about 25-30 miles and could not stand the road noise coming from the window.

We decided to have the car picked up and discovered that we would not get our $500 hold money back (I can't be too mad about that because it's in the darn contract, in spite of what I was initially told). The pickup was scheduled and within a couple of days, the driver contacted me for directions and pick up date. The driver missed his initial window by about 12 hours, but he was there before noon the next day. As soon as I sent a copy of the bill of lading, Vroom began to process my check. The check arrived within a couple of days, much to my surprise.

All in all, I would have to say that, other than the huge disappointment with the car they sent me and the loss of $500 for the privilege of test-driving their vehicle, the process was as promised. I wanted to be really mad about the $500, but that was my own stupid fault for not researching the contract more thoroughly. From what I read, the nightmare of purchasing an online vehicle may have been narrowly avoided by sending it back right away. I do NOT feel comfortable trying to buy a car on-line again...I want to SEE it and drive it without having to pay someone $500 for the privilege of looking. Anyway, I cannot say anything negative about the speed of delivery, pickup, or the reimbursement process, much to my relief, but it did cost me $500 for nothing but two weeks of anxiety and disappointment.

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

The process of buying was simple and easy, delivery was decent. That is where the fairy tale ends, was told they would do everything they could to make sure I was satisfied!

1. Paint damage in spots or missing, was told they would have it detailed! Detailing is nice but will not replace missing paint.

2. Window tint damaged in places, was told they would pay to have it "removed" not replaced!

Not at all what I expected, future purchases will be made at a dealership the old fashioned way, unfortunately.

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

As far as the buying experience goes, it was smooth and quick. After the papers were signed it went downhill.

They promise to keep you updated about the delivery. Every day I got an email from someone new. When it was 24 hours out I replied to the email asking for a delivery window (as is promised per their emails) and I received no response so I called the following day and all I got was "we'll have the drive can you soon with an estimate." The drive finally did and delivery went smoothly with him. I was less than impressed, however, that I had just spent the better part of $40K to be delivered a vehicle that was extremely dirty from the trip (to include a temp tag that had endured the bring if the storms along the route and was already falling apart) and to find that I had less than a quarter of a tank of fuel (under 60 miles to empty according to the onboard computer). So, on the day of delivery, before I could even "show off" my new purchase, I had to spend another $80+ to wash and fuel it.

It took over 24 hours for then to follow up on the delivery and that was only through automated emails. When I replied with my displeasure (via email and through their own surveys) I was again greeted with nothing but an automated response. Customer service is non-existent.

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