This is my thorough review for anyone scared of Carvana.
TLDR: Trade in was honored without a problem. My Kia is great, it was smooth, process took one hour. Car is amazing. Don't lie about your trade in, be honest. Get your new car inspected by a trusted mechanic. If anything is wrong they will take it back. Get Carvana care if the car is out of warranty if you don't have another warranty program/can't afford random car repairs.
The longer version:
Just like the rest of you pre-car right now, I saw the horror stories on here about Carvana. I scoured the forums, Tik Tok, reddit, Twitter...etc. I found everything wrong with the entire process. And of course I did this AFTER I made my purchase. I heard everything from terrible cars, stolen cars, broken engines, not as described horror stories, delays, not honoring the offer for trade ins, and of course the offensively delayed registration.
I ordered a 2016 Kia Forte LX while trading in my 2015 Chevy Cruze LT. First off, my Chevy was well taken care. The car had 90K miles and I got it in 2016. They offered a price too goo to pass up! So I was very skeptical when they offered that much. I was prepared for it to be lowered when they came here.
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The Kia Forte had 50K miles on it, and was owned by two people who both didn't drive it that much over the years. The last person who owned it had it repoed...I was very concerned about that. Knowing if you can't afford the car, you typically can't afford to maintain it as well. But I took the risk anyway because of the return policy.
Okay so where does this get us?
I ordered on a Thursday, was promised a delivery of Saturday at 2pm exactly. The entire morning I'm a nervous wreck worrying about having to reset my insurance for another few days, my trade in getting devalued, them not taking it...so on. I was scared of having to drive my car again and getting into an untimely accident because LIFE be like that sometimes...my brain went everywhere. lol.
However...
I get a call at 11:35AM. My dude was showing up in 45 minutes. 40 minutes later, he showed up! My new Kia was sitting there on that back of his truck all black and gorgeous!
TRADE IN EXPERIENCE:
I did not have a 10 minute hit it and quit it, mine was pretty thorough and detailed.
He got out of the truck, introduced himself to me, and told me what we were going to do. He said he would do a basic inspection of my vehicle, verify the Odometer, and let me test drive the Kia. While I did that he would continue looking at my car making sure it was all good to go. Then after I was done test driving, we'd finalize everything if I was happy with the Kia and my trade in was approved.
He did the inspection and approved my trade in. I was still nervous about the price changing but he didn't say anything at this point. He walked around the car, turned it on. He didn't drive it in front of me but he did drive it onto his truck before I got back from test driving the Kia.
I drove the car around 30 minutes or so. Nothing abnormal. Great ride. Clean, AS DESCRIBED TO THE T. No extra scratches, no stains inside. Lights worked, fluid levels were good, tire pressure was good, no cracks on the tires, tires still had their tracks on them, blinkers, wipers, caution lights...everything was solid.
I got back, parked the Kia, he had the Chevy loaded up on his truck. I said "Let's do this!" and we had a deal! He took out some forms to me to sign, stuff for the trade in and registration, and that was it! The price was honored 100%. All my worrying was for nothing. I was almost disappointed how easy it was actually lol. No drama at all, like really?
Then he left and I had a new car...well new to me at least. Took an hour.
I took the car immediately to the Kia dealership up the road from me, because I had a delivery date, I called and make an appointment for Thursday at 3pm for an inspection. I paid $200 for it...a little pricey if you ask me but much less for that than a dead car in a week. So I did it for peace of mind. To my astonishment, this was indeed NOT too good to be true. The car was declared in really great condition and "incredibly" well maintained (mechanic's words). He was impressed that a 2016 car that had lower mileage was in this condition. I was thrilled. The only thing he said I should do is get a realignment, rotate the tires, and follow up for an oil change in about 3K miles per the dated sticker on my window.
This was really that easy. My new Kia is amazing and I can't believe it!! It's like ordering on Amazon. But a car...a whole actual motor vehicle...
2 months, and yes. I've had an oil change, all recommended services, and replaced the air filter.
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