If you're in the market for a used car anytime soon, I strongly recommend giving Carvana a try. I'd been doing my research on buying a Prius since our last car got totaled in the Houston Tax Day floods. It didn't take long to see that Carvana consistently had the best prices and widest selection for what I wanted, but I was understandably trepidatious about buying a car sight unseen. Me and the internet are friends though, so I decided to give this process a shot, figuring there was almost no way it could be worse than what you go through with a traditional dealership, which I don't think anyone really enjoys. We'd actually bought and financed a vehicle through a dealership this April, so the experience was fresh in my mind and the contrasts could not be greater.
When we bought our truck, we spent time commuting to the dealership that had the vehicle we were interested in, then there were a couple of exhausting hours negotiating the price, and then we had to make the 45-minute trip there again the next day in order to finalize everything with the financing. Not counting the time I spent researching and searching inventory while I waited for the insurance process to settle out and pay off our old car loan, I spent maybe two hours, tops, on the entire transaction with Carvana. That includes securing the financing, signing papers, and taking delivery of my car.
In contrast to buying at the dealer, where the internet price is never the price they want to actually give you, and an initial estimate of an interest rate can change overnight, everything with Carvana was exactly what they said it would be. No one was pressuring me or trying to upsell me a bunch of stuff I didn't want or need, be that warranties or equipment. I knew when I was shopping that the price on the screen was what I would pay for the vehicle. While some may like wheeling and dealing, it's not my idea of a good time, so this gave me a huge amount of peace of mind.
Obtaining financing with Carvana was as simple as a few clicks and a couple of minutes, and I was also incredibly pleased by how straightforward that process was, as well as with the rate I was offered. It was much lower than I'd anticipated, and I'm not sure I could have done better even if I'd expended a lot more effort. Plus, financing with them allowed me to feel even more secure that I'd be comfortable in my purchase, since it plugged that number in for every car I looked at then. There was no guess work at all about how much my payment would be- again, there's that important peace of mind.
Best of all, my car was delivered right to my door! Our delivery was right on time, and the car was exactly what they'd said it was. Clint took the time to point out some of the dings that had been shown on the website to make sure I was ok with them, and even took the time to point out one that wasn't, letting me know he'd recorded it and it could be fixed at their expense with no issue. I went over all the papers with him and we were done with plenty of time left in the day to take our first trip in the new car down to Galveston- because instead of having been worn down by the whole affair, I was elated to have exactly the vehicle I wanted without any of the pitfalls of previous purchases!
TL:DR- Carvana's model respected my time, energy, and intelligence. After this experience, there's no way I'll ever buy from a traditional dealership again.
Read More