Any experience with PURCHASING from Carvana / Vroom / ......

A search turned up threads of people discussing the idea of selling their current truck to Carvana / Vroom / other non-dealership based companies. I am planning to get my wife a new, or maybe very recent used, Highlander or 4Runner in the next year or so, and was wondering if anyone had experiencing with buying from any one of these services. Doesn't have to have been a Toyota, I'm just curious about the pricing, responsiveness, ease of dealing with these new types of car buying services. How far away do they deliver, delivery fees, etc..

Anything I should be aware of beforehand, etc..

Much appreciated.

 

all online car sellers are dealerships. just online.. they can give you a better deal prolly cause they don't have as much overhead. but who do you complain to when your car breaks later and it is in warranty.. you still have to take it to a dealer.
and when they see that you bought it from an online dealer they look at you as if you have a big I hate dealership sign over your head..

 

Look up registration issues. That's all I can really say.

Had a lot of issues with Carvana and my registration.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

Reason I am looking at the option of a home delivery service is that my wife and I are going to be moving later this year, and the areas we are looking at may be a fair distance from any Toyota dealers, and after we move, I will be (trying to) buy her a new Highlander or 4runner. Don't wanna buy it before we move, because I ain't giving any more of my tax dollars to the idiot government of California.

 

Here are some of the many horror stories about Carvana:

 

Almost bought a cummins through Vroom for my farm. Thanks god I did plenty of research prior. They are prolly the worst of the online car sale companies.

 

I bought a truck from Vroom and was happy with the overall experience.

Their policy is once you take delivery of a vehicle, you have a set amount of days to inspect and possibly send back as a rejection of the vehicle. You may or may not forfeit the delivery fee to your location, which can vary since Vroom is originally based in Texas. By now they may have hubs all over other than TX, so if you go thru them, you’ll find out fees if you do business.

Also, since the vehicle I bought was a TX vehicle, it had emissions equipment (CAI) not allowed at the original location that I received the vehicle, found this out when I had to do smog to register. Along those lines, you’d need to go to either local state police to do VIN verification to register with dmv, but I ended up doing that with local AAA office.

Vroom was good at getting financing and overnighting all loan and purchase paperwork and including return postage envelopes. They communicated well as far as getting carrier to drive vehicle to me, the only glitch was the local company that claimed they called for delivery, when I didn’t hear from them until right before they shows up, like a few hours away.

Also, their prices are fixed and no haggling, a feature I liked to not deal with by going to a dealership.

Make sure all the pics of vehicle are satisfactory to you because if there is a feature you are concerned with (type of lift) that isn’t shown, they may not take additional pics and you won’t know until you receive vehicle. It’s been a few years from doing this, so verify any and all terms and limits if you proceed. Good luck!

 

I think selling is real easy. Buying for some has come with some serious problems. Someone here posted a “pro” that had 2nd gen rims and it looked like the suspension had been replaced?

 

No experience because I will never buy something as expensive as a truck or car sight unseen. I always inspect it closely, test drive it.

 

Did you go to college? Did they show you the diploma before?

 

I recently cancelled a tacoma purhase when i saw the fine print from carvana.
Luckily i found a tacoma at a local dealer the next day. Carvanna was offering me a lot for my trade, but the dealership exceeded that offer, and got almost the same truck for 6k less.
If you have time, and no trade, you are better off waiting to see if short term market increases in sales prices are holding or falling once a steady supply chain returns globally.
Or buying a new vehicle that is not in such high demand.

 

lol yes, but even if I didn’t go to college I’m not so trusting as to buy a vehicle sight unseen.
Your analogy is so silly I will pass on a response to that lol

 

Quickest thing I could think of that costs the same as a Tacoma was a year of college.

 

Hopefully any online dealership will have an option of a number of days to “test drive” and can return if you aren’t satisfied, but delivery fees may be forfeited, just depends on terms.

 

Vroom paid me 8k more than the dealer offered for my gti.

 

Ive heard so many horror stories through this. I wouldnt.

 

While that may be true I’ve read many horror stories about VRoom and Carvana I would have to see loads of examples or reviews of people returning a vehicle successfully with no hassle before I swallow that claim.

 

Oh I would sell to them, but then I know exactly what I’m selling. Buying from them however would require them to let me see it, drive it before signing anything.

 

Buying from a dealership and test drive and personal inspection also has no guarantees.

 

A few years ago before the covid troubles, I was doing extensive research for a used Honda Accord. The online places were always more expensive. Couple that with no haggle and that you cant test drive the car before you buy it...no thanks.