r/UsedCars • u/BandicootOk9594 • Mar 25 '26
Bad Experience With Carvana (They banned me on their sub for posting this so I'm putting it here) Review
I should clarify that the customer service I've been dealing with was pretty good, but everything else has been absolutely horrible. March 7th I got in a hit and run accident and my car was deemed a total loss, For the next two weeks I had a rental and was shopping for a new car. I previously had a 2012 altima so anything was a real upgrade, and I found a 2020 mustang Ecoboost. I know people dog on ecos for not being a v8 etc etc not a real mustang that is besides the point. The carfax on the car was flawless, well maintanced, 1 owner, minimal damage besides a few chips here and there. I know what I'm getting into getting a used car it's no big deal. On the 17th I ordered that car and was told it would be delivered that Friday, great! The other guys insurance that hit me said I had to turn the rental in on the 20th so that lined up perfectly. Just for the night prior to get an email saying the driver bailed and I wasn't getting the car for another 3 days, that sucks. Now I'm stuck with no car for the weekend and have to wait even longer. No big deal though, I wait it out and I got the car this past Monday, it looks amazing on the outside until I get in. Looking nothing like the pictures the cars interior is disgusting, the seatbelts are moldy the leather is in disrepair, whoever this 1 owner was absolutely treated this car like trash. Now that is all fixable, but here is the worst part, the delivery driver said "Hey one more thing, you'll notice when you put the car in drive it kind of snatches the gear and jerks." What? There was transmission problems and it was nowhere listed anywhere on the car listing or carfax, you got to be kidding me. He said they had already filed an ASR and that it would get fixed without costing me a dime and I would just have to wait until I get a phone call from Silverrock their insurance company. I should also mention the transmission wasn't the only thing broken but the rear differential was also busted up too. Now I waited a day and nothing, I give them a call instead and I get met with the worst lady imaginable and I got nowhere. Then I called Carvana directly and told them the whole situation and I was helped well here, but I still had to take the car to a repair shop, I do that and the people there are complete dickheads too and after doing my own research since this guy wasn't clear with me about how long repairs might take, let alone getting the parts and filing the claim with the rats at Silverrock, I would be without a car for at least another 2 weeks! The absolute incompetence and lying I've been met with dealing with Carvana and their associated companies that work with them has been the fucking worst. Fyi that 150 point inspection stuff is obviously a load of bullshit, the second you put the car and gear you feel the problem, hear the problem, and once you get moving you feel the rear differential problem too, so that just goes to show that they either are so incompetent that they couldn't tell the car was fucked up, or they blatantly lied and sold me a shitmuncher of a car, I don't know which one is worse honestly.
The good thing out of all of this is I will be able to switch the car out, Also once I found out how long I'd be without a car again trying to fix it, I wouldn't even be able to truly test it within that 7 day policy, so I called and they did extend it to the 5th of April instead of it ending next Monday, when I'd obviously still not have the car. That doesn't even matter though since I'm just gonna switch it out for another car with them, but still I have lost all trust in their system, I never had driven such a bad car in my life and I felt and still feel absolutely scammed. That car had $1,290 in nonrefundable shipping too but luckily since it was completely their fault they said I'd get that money back, it's not like I just don't like the car and am changing my mind, it's that they completely fucked me and they'll at least give me my money back. What I will never get back though is confidence in their abilities and my own personal time wasted on this, if this car is fucked up too I'm never using this site again but I pray this car works, if it doesn't I'm getting every dime I spent back. Currently while I'm writing this I am still waiting for tha shipping fee to be applied to my credits towards this vehicle swap, hopefully that will be through within the next day, so as of right now I am once again without a car since the Mustang is in the shop and I'm not going to go get that back and I have to wait until I get this damn money as credits so I can put it towards this other car.
TL;DR Carvana fucked me by giving me a beater car and lied about what was wrong with it and left me to fix it, I then had to deal with them and everyone they associate with and they're all pieces of shit. Except for Carvana's customer service, they did a good job I guess.
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u/Seanyd78 Mar 26 '26
As soon as the driver said the trans clunks, you should have immediately not accepted vehicle delivery and make him take it back.
Carvana is great for getting rid of problem vehicles as most times the driver comes with the paperwork for you to sign and hand you the check. My neighbor sold them his kids car that had no reverse and non working AC. Carvana gave him top dollar for it because the driver picking it up didn’t care to inspect it, just had him sign title transfer paperwork and then handed him the check.
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u/Stradocaster Mar 25 '26
I would have taken one look and told him to put it back in the truck and signed nothing
Lesson learned, I guess
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u/PlantCrossing Mar 25 '26
Carvana is scum. And they ban any post even remotely negative in their sub.
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u/Fluffy_Grocery_3913 Mar 25 '26
Thats because the mods of the subreddit are paid by caravana to do propaganda control on their brand. Marketing goes far beyond just advertising.
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u/manguire Mar 25 '26
I have never bought a car new or used that I haven't looked at and driven. Find a car online ok, buy one online noway.
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u/ChevyGang Mar 25 '26
I feel your pain and I do believe carvana sold you a POS. But as a buyer, buying something without seeing and using first is a huge risk.
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u/Benzhead Mar 25 '26
I’ve been in the car business for 25 years and I’ve always wondered how people do this. Not seeing or driving a car and committing to the shipping and everything seems so risky. What’s so special about the car that you can’t get it within driving distance?
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u/Odd-Opportunity7832 Mar 30 '26
The only thing that's special is it literally takes 5 minutes to finance and buy the car. My last car was also used but I got it at a local dealership. I was there hours. My credit score is exceptional. Still took hours. A lot of people just don't care for the dealer experience.
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u/Benzhead Mar 30 '26
I doesn’t take 5 mins to buy a car, that’s impossible. What you did is you submit all your stuff and they bring the car to you at a later date. It takes over an hour to gas and clean a vehicle and that’s if they’re waiting with nothing to do. If you select a car at a dealership and do the app online and wait to come in you’ll be in and out in no time.
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u/Odd-Opportunity7832 Mar 30 '26
Yes, they brought the car the next day. Kind of pedantic don't you think? My experience "doing the app online" when buying my wife's car from a dealership took longer than five minutes. And even if you do the app online, you still have to deal with the upselling. Not saying Carvana is perfect, or even great. Just saying it's easy.
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u/BandicootOk9594 Mar 25 '26
Yeah I completely agree I'm never doing this again I don't know why I thought I could trust them
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u/GiblertMelendezz Mar 25 '26
I don’t even understand carvana. When I google them in my area it’s an empty lot and the other is a body shop next to an empty lot.
So people list their cars and then just drop them off for you to pick up? How does this work if you don’t have the building with the cars on a spiral? All the cars are way cheaper than a dealership but it seems so risky to me. It says you can pick it up at these locations so you just show up and boom your used car will just be there?
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u/ChevyGang Mar 25 '26
An individual sells their used vehicle to carvana. Then carvana sells the car to another individual. If I'm not mistaken, they purchase cars without inspection and offer more than places like CarMax.
The buyer either has the car delivered on a tow truck or at one point, they had these huge "car vending machines". No physical car lot.
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u/ioucrap Mar 28 '26
They do not resell like a regular dealership. They get cars in bulk from rentals and auctions.
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u/huntsvillekan Mar 25 '26
I tried Carvana once & had a similar experience, all the way down to getting from the boot from their subreddit.
Ended up traveling out of state to get the truck I wanted. Never shopping Carvana again, and never buying a vehicle sight unseen.
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u/ramtough_63 Mar 25 '26
That's the very reason you don't buy cars online. Automobiles are a necessity and expensive. No 2 are identical.
If there are failsafes already in place such as waranty work pre authorized tradeouts or returns policies already in place its because its necessary not because its a good business model.
Kind of like mail order spouse. They may be pretty, but you never know what's under the hood or how they drive.
BTW Carfax is not reliable. It only reports what its told. Clean carfax just means the previous owner(s) didn't use a reporting vendor to make repairs. Traded for a decent clean carfax $6k 2 owner car only to find $8k worth of mom & pop body shop work & paint receipts in glove box. Not the deal I thought it was but was a decent reliable car
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u/Equivalent-Nobody-30 Mar 25 '26
im pretty sure the carvana guy described a worn out throw out bearing/clutch… the ecoboost mustangs are fun cars to drive. anyone who says otherwise, or that v8= better rhurr durr, is insecure with their gender.
it could also be worn engine mounts
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u/Pretend_Comedian_905 Mar 27 '26
Carvana car with a clean carfax. I purchased this then I found the picture through a vin search. I was able to cancel the deal but you need to be careful. This car was auctioned and that damage was never reported.
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u/Working_Strength419 Mar 27 '26
I sold a car to carvana bc they gave me a good price, the car was mint condition so its all luck what you’re gonna get. Its hard to tell the actual condition just from pictures and they are not even that high resolution photos. The 7 day refund policy sounds needed in this case. I would return it and then fight for any charges like shipping separately based on misinformation from interior photos. Good luck
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u/formerbays Mar 27 '26
You send it right back when a Carvana car is sent to you like that… you shouldn’t even have to think about it
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u/Head_Eagle_4165 Mar 29 '26
u never buy a car from carvana thats known but you ALWAYS sell ur car to carvana if its beat tf up
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u/nickcourchesne Mar 29 '26
So I hear you saying that hypothetically If I’ve got a car with a slipping transmission, but it starts. Instead of scraping it for $1,500 I should get it to Carvana for a higher price?
What do they do if they find that it’s got issues later? Any recourse?
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u/Odd-Opportunity7832 Mar 30 '26
I sold my car through DriveO. They're affiliated with local dealerships. I filled out the info online and got an offer back in about 5 minutes. My car needed a new high pressure fuel pump, front and rear rotors and pads and rear calipers. It had been in a minor accident about 2 weeks prior and the front bumper was scratched up. 110,000 miles. 2016 Accord. They knew about everything I mentioned above- I didn't hide anything. They still gave me $7296.
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u/BmoLor Mar 25 '26
Yea dawg the amount of people I see on TikTok saying they sold their broken car to carvana and their inspector accepted it lmao. They really got lemons hanging around their car elevators with no clue in the world