BBI
I'm currently in the market for a used car and a number of the top deals I'm looking at are through Carvana.com.
You've probably seen their commercials at one time or another. They deliver the cars to you.
"BUY ONLINE. GET IT DELIVERED. LOVE IT OR RETURN IT. THE NEW WAY TO BUY A CAR"
Has anyone bought/sold through Carvana?
Thanks!
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The best you can do is go to a reputable NEW car dealer and ask them what they have on the lot for used cars. Ask the salesmen if there are any cars that you see on the lot that are NOT for sale. If he says "they're ALL for sale".....walk away. Also, any cars that ARE for sale should have NEW or ALMOST new set of matching tires.
Some cars on a used lot should not be for sale, the dealer will wholesale them, and these are the cars that eventually end up on used car lots.
Reputable dealers don't want bad reviews, even on the used car side. They will list near the top of the KBB value for the model year and condition, but the reason they can do this, is because they are fairly confident that it is a good car.
If this is not in the cards for whatever reason, I recommend that you use a service and get the VIN checked out for the history on the vehicle. NOT CARFAX. Verify that whichever service you use will show whether a car has been WHOLESALED or not.
The convenience and pleasure of the Carvana experience makes me think that the traditional used car dealership's days are numbered.
You do have a week to test drive it and good time to take a few long trips and have it serviced by your mechanic to see if anything is wrong with it.
The best you can do is go to a reputable NEW car dealer and ask them what they have on the lot for used cars. Ask the salesmen if there are any cars that you see on the lot that are NOT for sale. If he says "they're ALL for sale".....walk away. Also, any cars that ARE for sale should have NEW or ALMOST new set of matching tires.
Some cars on a used lot should not be for sale, the dealer will wholesale them, and these are the cars that eventually end up on used car lots.
Reputable dealers don't want bad reviews, even on the used car side. They will list near the top of the KBB value for the model year and condition, but the reason they can do this, is because they are fairly confident that it is a good car.
If this is not in the cards for whatever reason, I recommend that you use a service and get the VIN checked out for the history on the vehicle. NOT CARFAX. Verify that whichever service you use will show whether a car has been WHOLESALED or not.
Why would a dealer have cars on the lot that are not for sale?
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Why would a dealer have cars on the lot that are not for sale?
Because it's not a vehicle that the car dealer wants to sell....too many issues....they sell these cars to wholesalers at deep discounts rather than selling them directly to their customers.
Liked it. Thanks!
At the end of the day, I found the Honda I would eventually buy at a big dealership not too far away from me. And it was by far the best car buying experience I've ever had. They had the best initial price from the options I checked out and since their dealers are salary-based, they weren't trying to nickel & dime you on every last thing during the negotiation. Because they are a volume dealership, it was more beneficial for them to churn out deals with less profit(sometimes no profit) than to keep vehicles stagnant on their lots. The experience was so awesomely painless, I'm probably going to be going back to them for all my future car buying needs. And they're not even a Honda dealership!
At the end of the day, I found the Honda I would eventually buy at a big dealership not too far away from me. And it was by far the best car buying experience I've ever had. They had the best initial price from the options I checked out and since their dealers are salary-based, they weren't trying to nickel & dime you on every last thing during the negotiation. Because they are a volume dealership, it was more beneficial for them to churn out deals with less profit(sometimes no profit) than to keep vehicles stagnant on their lots. The experience was so awesomely painless, I'm probably going to be going back to them for all my future car buying needs. And they're not even a Honda dealership!
I had a similar experience recently. I think some car dealers really are trying to change and are much more customer friendly.
Then again, while shopping for a new car for the wife I had an incredibly painful experience with the ole "let me check with the manager" routine and constantly holding back money trying to get me to take a worse deal. It was awful and we walked out while the salesman was "with his manager".
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Because of how flooded the market is with used CR-Vs, I could really take the time to research my options and pricing. Carvana had some vehicles that were intriguing but at the end of the day, all of the options from any of these "buy from a site, we'll deliver you the car" companies had the same commonality: In general, they were more expensive than their used car counterparts by a noticeable margin.
At the end of the day, I found the Honda I would eventually buy at a big dealership not too far away from me. And it was by far the best car buying experience I've ever had. They had the best initial price from the options I checked out and since their dealers are salary-based, they weren't trying to nickel & dime you on every last thing during the negotiation. Because they are a volume dealership, it was more beneficial for them to churn out deals with less profit(sometimes no profit) than to keep vehicles stagnant on their lots. The experience was so awesomely painless, I'm probably going to be going back to them for all my future car buying needs. And they're not even a Honda dealership!
I had a similar experience recently. I think some car dealers really are trying to change and are much more customer friendly.
Then again, while shopping for a new car for the wife I had an incredibly painful experience with the ole "let me check with the manager" routine and constantly holding back money trying to get me to take a worse deal. It was awful and we walked out while the salesman was "with his manager".
Oh I had a couple of those as well. Including one that was especially awful. I wasn't going to finance my purchase. I was paying cash(or via a bank check more accurately). I had this one dealership basically not honor the price they listed on the Cars.com listing because I wouldn't do financing through them. They did the whole "ask my manager" song & dance and ultimately I had these two guys begging me to do their dealer financing and then pay off the loan in a month so that they could get their extra kickback from the bank. All the while claiming that all it would cost me is less than $20 of interest. Nah, no thanks. Walked away and found a better deal(with less miles too).