Carvana

If you’re considering the Carvana experience, my advice – don’t do it! Shopping online in the comfort of my home was nice. Not dealing with pushy salespeople was nice. The ability to customize financing w don’t do it! Shopping online in the comfort of my home was nice. Not dealing with pushy salespeople was nice. The ability to customize financing was nice. But actually getting the car was not so nice. I purchased a 2011 Mercedes C300 with a little over 82,000 miles. When we picked up the car and did our test drive, we almost immediately heard an odd whirring from the transmission. Since we had no experience with the vehicle, we weren’t sure if it was a normal sound. Other than the sound, the car performed perfectly, so we took it home. After about three days, I was still hearing this sound and I decided it would be wise to have it checked out by a mechanic. Carvana’s warranty is serviced by SilverRock. I went to the SilverRock website, found an authorized service provider made took the next available appointment. If you read many Carvana reviews, you will quickly find that they struggle with the titling and licensing process. I can confirm this. In Florida, you can transfer an existing plate to a new vehicle. This saves quite a bit of money. I sent Carvana the necessary information to facilitate this process. About 10 days later, I received a brand-new plate. This required me to go to the DMV, surrender the unnecessary plate and have my old plate transferred to the new vehicle. I then had to paperwork to the state capital in order to get a refund. I did eventually get my money, but this was marginally high on the inconvenience scale. It was nothing compared to what I was about to deal with. I took the car to the service provider on Friday, May 14. The following Monday, the mechanic called and informed me that the differential was going bad. Without going into a bunch of mechanical stuff you don’t need to know about, the bottom line was the only fix was replacing the transmission. Now, let’s stop and think about this for a moment. Carvana’s “trusted partner” supposedly inspected this car. We heard the sound the very first time we drove it. I find it unlikely that the transmission broke on the back of a delivery truck. I also find it implausible that a qualified mechanic didn’t notice a sound indicating a catastrophic transmission failure was imminent. I can only conclude that they ignored it and sold me a broken car. Fortunately, Carvana has a 100-day, 4,000-mile warranty. The mechanic worked with SilverRock and got the replacement approved. He found a suitable rebuilt transmission nearby and could have had it in the shop the following day. But SilverRock insisted on using its own supplier. It took about a week for the replacement to arrive. On May 20, I rented a car. Keep that in mind. It’s important later. Once the replacement transmission arrived, it took the mechanic a couple of days to install. It’s a pretty big job, as you can imagine. When they test drove the car, they discovered the replacement transmission was also defective. So, now we’re back to square 1. SilverRock had to approve another replacement. Then we had to wait another week or so for delivery of replacement two. At that point, SilverRock and their supplier got into a debate about who was going to pay the mechanic for the labor. It took a few days for them to finally resolve that issue. Of course, the mechanic wasn’t about to start work until somebody authorized payment. Meanwhile, I made my first car payment on a car that I’d had in my actual possession a grand total of five days. If you were wondering, this is a very disconcerting feeling. Finally, on June 18, the mechanic completed the work, and I had a fully functioning car. The entire ordeal took 35 days. Thirty-five days. Remember that rental car? Now, Carvana makes a big deal about how they’ll reimburse your rental car expenses. But make sure you read the fine print. It’s capped at $40 a day. A $40 a day rental car isn’t even a thing in the current market. Go price rentals and you will see what I mean. And it was actually worse back in May. On a weekly rate, I paid $54.25 a day. There were a few odd days that were charged at the daily rate of $75. I drove a Camry – so we’re not talking luxury car here. My total bill with taxes and fees came to $1,901.26. SilverRock reimbursed me $1,160. That means I’m out $741.26. SilverRock says, “We are unable to reimburse more than the daily maximum amount.” But they did apologize for my inconvenience. That was nice. I must emphasize that there was no $40 per day rental available. I was going to be out some money. If I had just been dealing with a typical two or three-day repair, no biggie. It’d eat the $50 bucks and go on my way. But I didn’t have a car for over a month. That adds up. I get it – a contract is a contract. But none of this is my fault. It really falls on Carvana. They sold a car with a defective transmission. But their hands are apparently tied as well. Carvana doesn’t reimburse car rental. But the rep was very apologetic. That was nice. Here’s the thing – despite all the inconvenience, despite the fact that I am pretty sure the “trusted partner” knew xxxx good and well that car had a problem, despite the fact that they botched the licensing, I would have left a fairly decent review if they had just said, “You know Mike, we understand this was an awful experience. We’re going to reimburse the remainder of your rental bill.” That’s all I really asked for. I just wanted to put the experience behind me without any more money coming out of my pocket. But that was too much to ask. So, as the saying goes, buyer beware. I am offering you a warning. Don’t do this. More

This has been the worst experience ever. I will never do business with you all again, and I wouldn't even recommend them to my enemies. The original car I purchased was lost ( you read that correctly, they business with you all again, and I wouldn't even recommend them to my enemies. The original car I purchased was lost ( you read that correctly, they lost my car.) I was just told that my delivery was delayed. They would delay it, then reschedule it, then delay it again. Finally after almost 2 weeks, an associate recommended I purchase a different car. I asked if my credit would be checked again ( I don't like the idea of so many hard inquiries as they have a negative impact on scores) and was told no, that my initial hard inquiry was sill valid. Incorrect! They indeed ran my credit again. Fast forward to a week later I finally get my new car. The next morning I am driving in the rain on the expressway and my windshield wipers fly off my NEW CAR into the middle of the highway. I had to pull over, call my husband( it was not even 7am) and he had to go to an auto part store to purchase new wiper blades to install so I could drive home. I was sitting on the side of the expressway for almost an hour. Last, my AC is not blowing cool air and I was told I would be charged $120 to have it checked. WHAT? It's only been a month that I have been doing business with you all and I regret ever aspect of it. More