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Carvana experience?

Cornell

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Who out there has had experience buying a car via Carvana. I'd like to hear the good, bad & the ugly.
 

wackymother

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I studied Carvana extensively when we were looking for a somewhat unusual used car--a Toyota Avalon Hybrid. I decided it wasn't worth it bc their prices were around $2k higher than the local dealers. People pay Carvana a premium so they don't have to haggle, but I don't actually mind haggling--certainly not $2k worth.

With local dealers, I can negotiate to have my own mechanic check out the car I want.
 

Cornell

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I studied Carvana extensively when we were looking for a somewhat unusual used car--a Toyota Avalon Hybrid. I decided it wasn't worth it bc their prices were around $2k higher than the local dealers. People pay Carvana a premium so they don't have to haggle, but I don't actually mind haggling--certainly not $2k worth.

With local dealers, I can negotiate to have my own mechanic check out the car I want.
Carvana you can do the same thing with a mechanic but it's easier. You have 7 days after delivery to drive the car around and have it inspected. WAAAAY easier than having a dealer car inspected.
 

wackymother

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Carvana you can do the same thing with a mechanic but it's easier. You have 7 days after delivery to drive the car around and have it inspected. WAAAAY easier than having a dealer car inspected.

When I was looking, I read a lot of Carvana reviews. Quite a few people were saying that they had problems getting Carvana to take cars back after they had discovered problems within the seven days. Maybe they've improved since then, but the reviews did not inspire complete confidence.
 

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Check out www.vroom.com also. I bought my BMW from them and their prices were less and the transaction was flawless. They have the same 7 day return policy but keep n mind whether them or Carvana neither will refund your transport fee. The same car on a dealer lot can usually be negotiated lower than Carvana/Vroom but they are harder to find. In my case no dealer within 100 miles from us had the vehicle I wanted.
 

wackymother

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Check out www.vroom.com also. I bought my BMW from them and their prices were less and the transaction was flawless. They have the same 7 day return policy but keep n mind whether them or Carvana neither will refund your transport fee. The same car on a dealer lot can usually be negotiated lower than Carvana/Vroom but they are harder to find. In my case no dealer within 100 miles from us had the vehicle I wanted.
Right, good point about local availability. The car we wanted was unusual but not non-existent by us, bc we have about a million car dealers and used-car places within a 30-mile radius. Carvana probably makes more sense if you're in a less car-intensive area.
 

Cornell

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Great info .... thank you. I’m so tired of talking to salespeople at the dealerships. It’s all so shady,

I’m looking for a basic simple first car for my teen daughter
 

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Great info .... thank you. I’m so tired of talking to salespeople at the dealerships. It’s all so shady,

I’m looking for a basic simple first car for my teen daughter
Are you starting your search with TrueCar or such? I do know what you mean! I hear your pain :)
Is there anyone local who can direct you to someone they trust?
There's nothing better than having a trusted soul to call and fix you up!
 

Cornell

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Yes -- I'm doing a ton of research and I'm pretty good at buying cars. However! Buying a used car is a lot more complicated than a new car. I do have some dealer connection friends but so far they aren't finding anything for me that I'm interested in.

No matter what, once I find this car, I have a trusted mechanic that will inspect it before purchase.

Fortunately I don't need the car until 6/1 so I am not under a ton of pressure at this point.

I'm just flabbergasted at the sleazy things dealers are pulling on me. Example: Saturday I looked at a used car that was priced $8K. The dealer would not sell it to me w/o two add'l fees which added up to $3500. These fees were for 1) some sort of mysterious "reconditioning fee" -- which they said they include with the sale of any used car . It's their cost to "fix up the car", huh? 2) a one year maintenance package. $3500 of fees for an $8K car? This was in addition to taxes, doc fees, etc. Are they out of their mind? How stupid do they think I am?
 

Passepartout

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I had very good success with www.cars.com buying my late model pickup. I was able to define a distance I was willing to travel, and found one within that distance, 'Certified' and with warranty. Dealing with that dealer's 'Internet Sales' department I could negotiate, and ended up paying some $2,000 less than a lesser equipped truck at my local dealer's non-negotiable 'no haggle' price.
 

Cornell

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I had very good success with www.cars.com buying my late model pickup. I was able to define a distance I was willing to travel, and found one within that distance, 'Certified' and with warranty. Dealing with that dealer's 'Internet Sales' department I could negotiate, and ended up paying some $2,000 less than a lesser equipped truck at my local dealer's non-negotiable 'no haggle' price.
Yes, I'm using all the sites: Cars.com, Carguru.com, Truecar.com, etc. The issue that I'm facing is that I cannot negotiate a price with the internet sales departments. They are baiting me w/a low "internet price" but then when I get to the dealer they change their tune. It's beyond aggravating. And I'm sick of wasting my time. I've walked out of 4 dealerships in the past 4 weeks b/c they won't honor the price that they've emailed me about.
 

Brett

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Yes, I'm using all the sites: Cars.com, Carguru.com, Truecar.com, etc. The issue that I'm facing is that I cannot negotiate a price with the internet sales departments. They are baiting me w/a low "internet price" but then when I get to the dealer they change their tune. It's beyond aggravating. And I'm sick of wasting my time. I've walked out of 4 dealerships in the past 4 weeks b/c they won't honor the price that they've emailed me about.


that would be very aggravating:confused:
I've used Truecar.com when buying a new car and yes, the dealer wanted to jack the price up after I negotiated over the internet/phone. I eventually got my price - but it's never a pleasant trip to an auto dealer
 

wackymother

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Yes, I'm using all the sites: Cars.com, Carguru.com, Truecar.com, etc. The issue that I'm facing is that I cannot negotiate a price with the internet sales departments. They are baiting me w/a low "internet price" but then when I get to the dealer they change their tune. It's beyond aggravating. And I'm sick of wasting my time. I've walked out of 4 dealerships in the past 4 weeks b/c they won't honor the price that they've emailed me about.

We had the same experience. Definitely take a look at the Yelp reviews (rather than the Cargurus or Cars.com reviews) for the dealership that has the car you want. Sometimes people will post and say, "I got there and they wanted this fee and that fee." Yelp reviews should let you rule out some dealers. The time we had that sudden $2500 add-on (FOR PAYING CASH!!!), it turned out that someone had written a Yelp review that spelled out the additional fees.

On the phone, try to get past the internet sales department--they're just the schedulers. Try looking online to see the director of internet sales and call him/her directly. Tell them you're interested in this particular car and you need the out-the-door price. If he says you have to come in, tell him you're sorry, you just don't have time for that and you'll just try another dealer. (Or you can do this with emails, but I haven't had good luck with that.)

We've had all the experiences you're describing and more. We've had them say that the car is on the lot ready for test driving at $17,000--then when we turned up for our scheduled test drive, the car turned out to be three states away and the salesman actually made fun of us for believing that price; they now wanted $29,000 for the car. (That made it easy not to go back!)

OTOH, we've had some really good experiences with some dealers. Friends recommended a Subaru dealer and they were great. I would buy every used car for the rest of my life from them if only they had what I wanted! We've also bought two cars from two different little mom-and-pop-type used car lots, and as it happened, both of those cars were good and everything went smoothly.
 

Cornell

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We had the same experience. Definitely take a look at the Yelp reviews (rather than the Cargurus or Cars.com reviews) for the dealership that has the car you want. Sometimes people will post and say, "I got there and they wanted this fee and that fee." Yelp reviews should let you rule out some dealers. The time we had that sudden $2500 add-on (FOR PAYING CASH!!!), it turned out that someone had written a Yelp review that spelled out the additional fees.

On the phone, try to get past the internet sales department--they're just the schedulers. Try looking online to see the director of internet sales and call him/her directly. Tell them you're interested in this particular car and you need the out-the-door price. If he says you have to come in, tell him you're sorry, you just don't have time for that and you'll just try another dealer. (Or you can do this with emails, but I haven't had good luck with that.)

We've had all the experiences you're describing and more. We've had them say that the car is on the lot ready for test driving at $17,000--then when we turned up for our scheduled test drive, the car turned out to be three states away and the salesman actually made fun of us for believing that price; they now wanted $29,000 for the car. (That made it easy not to go back!)

OTOH, we've had some really good experiences with some dealers. Friends recommended a Subaru dealer and they were great. I would buy every used car for the rest of my life from them if only they had what I wanted! We've also bought two cars from two different little mom-and-pop-type used car lots, and as it happened, both of those cars were good and everything went smoothly.
Yes -- this is exactly what I'm experiencing. It's disappointing b/c I purchased new Ford Fusion 4 years ago and it was a really good experience. Upfront, honest, professional conversation. That experience lured me into believing that car dealers were past playing all of these games. NOPE -- there are still a lot of sleazy ones out there. You've given me some great advice. Thank you.
 

wackymother

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Yes -- this is exactly what I'm experiencing. It's disappointing b/c I purchased new Ford Fusion 4 years ago and it was a really good experience. Upfront, honest, professional conversation. That experience lured me into believing that car dealers were past playing all of these games. NOPE -- there are still a lot of sleazy ones out there. You've given me some great advice. Thank you.

Does that Ford dealer sell used cars? Could you go there for a used car? Could you call your salesperson there and see if they can recommend a used-car dealer?

The fortunate thing about used cars is that whatever you're interested in, there are LOTS of them. You can always walk away bc there's always another car, even if you want something extremely specific, like we did the last time we were shopping.

We've never bought a new car, so I have nothing BUT used-car shopping info!
 

wackymother

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Oh, one more technique. If the going gets dicey, you can say, "I have $Xk. That's all I've got. If this car will not be $Xk out the door, then I need to leave."

Our friends who recommended the Subaru dealer use that technique--they're nice, so they say, "It's a beautiful car, but I only have $Xk. I wish I had more. I understand if you can't help me out."

I've given up on messing with financing. If you think used-car sales are sleazy, wait till you deal with used-car financing! Car dealers would always rather you took out financing, but it's just a huge infuriating mess.
 

Cornell

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Oh, one more technique. If the going gets dicey, you can say, "I have $Xk. That's all I've got. If this car will not be $Xk out the door, then I need to leave."

Our friends who recommended the Subaru dealer use that technique--they're nice, so they say, "It's a beautiful car, but I only have $Xk. I wish I had more. I understand if you can't help me out."

I've given up on messing with financing. If you think used-car sales are sleazy, wait till you deal with used-car financing! Car dealers would always rather you took out financing, but it's just a huge infuriating mess.
Ok -- update! I looked online at the Ford dealership that I had a good experience from and lo & behold they have a car that would be perfect for my daughter & at my price point. I'm going to test drive it tonight and take a look. It's a cheap car so fortunately I'll pay cash for it. Thanks for the tip - I hope this is a better experience than what I've been dealing with the last few weeks. Stay tuned!
 

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We had good experience with Carmax for our teen. We bought a used car from Carmax and we ended up selling it back after she left for college because she didn't need a car at school. We received a large refund balance on our 5 year warranty protection so total cost ended up no worse than a 3 year lease. Easy peasy.
 

wackymother

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We had good experience with Carmax for our teen. We bought a used car from Carmax and we ended up selling it back after she left for college because she didn't need a car at school. We received a large refund balance on our 5 year warranty protection so total cost ended up no worse than a 3 year lease. Easy peasy.

I forget about Carmax because they don't have any locations near us! But yes, I have a friend in Florida who says they're good.
 

Luanne

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Great info .... thank you. I’m so tired of talking to salespeople at the dealerships. It’s all so shady,

I’m looking for a basic simple first car for my teen daughter
No input on where to buy the car, but input on what to buy. We got a Mazda 3 for our older dd. We bought it new as dh didn't want her to deal with a used car. That car is now 14 years old and still going strong. In fact when dd decided to buy a new car she got another Mazda 3. A friend of hers now has her old one.
 

Cornell

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No input on where to buy the car, but input on what to buy. We got a Mazda 3 for our older dd. We bought it new as dh didn't want her to deal with a used car. That car is now 14 years old and still going strong. In fact when dd decided to buy a new car she got another Mazda 3. A friend of hers now has her old one.
That was one of the cars I test drove! Great used car however it reeked of cigarette smoke so that ruled it out.
 

wackymother

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Are Mazdas expensive to repair, though? We have friends who love them, but when we were looking for cars for our kids, our mechanics said Mazdas are more expensive than Toyotas. Even our Subarus have been more expensive than the Toyotas. (But we needed four-wheel drive for a couple of cars, hence the Subarus. I think Mazdas have four-wheel drive, too?)
 

Luanne

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Are Mazdas expensive to repair, though? We have friends who love them, but when we were looking for cars for our kids, our mechanics said Mazdas are more expensive than Toyotas. Even our Subarus have been more expensive than the Toyotas. (But we needed four-wheel drive for a couple of cars, hence the Subarus. I think Mazdas have four-wheel drive, too?)
I don't remember her needing much, if any, maintenance beyond oil changes. We had a great local mechanic that loved Toyotas, but he thought the Mazdas were great as well. The Mazda 3 doesn't have AWD, but their larger SUVs do.
 

Cornell

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Great news! I went to the Ford dealer where I had a good experience buying my Fusion and had another great experience this evening. Found the perfect car for my daughter and was treated like a customer should be treated. The price they quoted me over the internet didn't change when I arrived and there was no up-sell of any warranties, service plans, etc. It was a very straight-forward experience. The car was exactly what I was needing and will be perfect for my daughter. And the price was absolutely fair. Tomorrow I'm having it inspected by a mechanic but I cannot imagine there will be any issues. There ARE some good car dealerships out there.
 
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wackymother

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Great news! I went to the Ford dealer where I had a good experience buying my Fusion and had another great experience this evening. Found the perfect car for my daughter and was treated like a customer should be treated. The price they quoted me over the internet didn't change when I arrived and there was no up-sell of any warranties, service plans, etc. It was a very straight-forward experience. The car was exactly what I was needing and will be perfect for my daughter. And the price was absolutely fair. Tomorrow I'm having it inspected by a mechanic but I cannot imagine there will be any issues. There ARE some good car dealerships out there.
Excellent! And it's great that you're rewarding a good dealership with your business. Enjoy the new car! And don't forget to write Yelp reviews, including a good one for your Ford dealer.
 
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