Carvana/Vroom Buying experience

[integranator]

Hey all--

 

Found a couple cars on Vroom/Carvana that I'd like to purchase. Has anyone else done this? What was your experience like? I've bought a car from out of state before and had to pay tax in both states to get the car registered. Is this the same when purchasing from these online places? Thanks for your help.

[zeitgeist57]

My parents just bought a 2017 Tesla Model S on Vroom a couple of months ago. In their 70s, they had wanted a used Tesla for awhile and my uncle bought a VW ID.4 so they wanted to jump on the EV bandwagon.

 

My mom sent me the link: great looking Model S 75 with under 45k mikes for a market-decent price of $42k. They completed the transaction and were very complimentary of the process.

 

They had the car delivered to me here in C'Bus (they live in CLE) so I could take a look at everything and answer car questions. The driver that came up was nice, but didn't speak english very well and didn't have any details about the car; he just had a diesel truck with a flatbed trailer and dropped off the car with a Ziploc bag of two keys. That was it.

 

I asked my mom where the title was, and she said Vroom was going to send it to her. We put some old plates on it and took it for a drive. Was in great shape and took them to Sawmill Rd Tesla Supercharger to charge it up. There was an issue with the main dash screen (MCU) staying black, couldn't get any readings, climate control, etc...it seemed like the Tesla was "bricked" from the prior owner so I googled how to set up a used Tesla. Pretty straightforward, but my parents were very concerned that they wouldn't get much support if there was another problem after they went back to CLE.

 

Their drive back up to CLE was uneventful but the MCU went down again. By the time they got home, they were pretty frustrated with the short experience thus far. My mother tried to contact someone at Vroom for info on this particular car and of course either no one answered the phone or the person they got was very nice but wasn't much help. She was routed to a couple of different voicemail boxes, wondering where the title was in process and any history on the car. No one at Vroom gave a last name. They were both very salty of the post-purchase support with questions.

 

Within a couple of days, the electrician they called to set up a wall charger in their garage said the entire garage electricial would have to be upgraded at the cost of $12k, including new wiring/conduit from the house. I said that was ridiculous and they needed another electrician. By then, they had charged the car at a Cleveland Tesla station and had a problem getting their credit card to pay. It was all over. They wanted to get rid of the car. Part of it was the whole EV experience but most of it was the absolute lack of any support from Vroom.

 

My mom spent the rest of their first week filing a refund, as they had a few days to process it (so they thought). However, they never received the title so even using the Tesla's VIN was a PITA: when an owner is already pissed enought to return the car, the even shittier refund process just cements the bad reputation. After someone in another unmarked flatbed came and picked it up, it took almost 3 WEEKS for them to get their money back from Chase Bank. They were just about to file a suit against Vroom when the payment came in.

 

Long story but from my parent's first had experience I would avoid the online used car stores unless you know EXACTLY what you're buying and are OK with the lack of post-sale service. My mother is now verbally shitting on Vroom to anyone who will listen, and she's bolstered by the excoriating reviews I've read on Google as well. It's an efficient business model......but it's only designed to get cars into owners' hands as quickly and cheaply as possible. My parents have bought dozens of cars throughout their lives and always found good used deals on great cars for years...Vroom is nowhere close to the service you get from a dealership.

 

Also, that refund period (CarMax, Carvana, Vroom) comes up QUICKLY. If you're on the fence on the car you bought being the right one, you need to get the refund process started right away, don't sleep on it. It was even more nerve-wrecking for me to call them almost every day for a week asking if they got a confirm from Vroom that their refund was approved, let alone the driver coming to pick it up and almost a month to get their money back.

[integranator]

Thanks for the insight Clay!

[Wease]

Thanks for the insight Clay!

 

All of that right there confirms why I'd never buy a car online without seeing it in person, test driving, etc. :nod:

[gillbot]

My experience was the flip-side as I was trying to sell but i'll add it in here anyway:

 

I started the process of selling my old Chevy Spark to Carvana plus a couple other online places. In the end, I'll echo Clay's comments of, unless you are VERY sure don't bother. They try to get people to move fast and it's a business model that preys on this sense of urgency but after you sign off they take their sweet ass time. After it was said and done, I chose not to go through with the transaction with those online places primarily because when I kept pressing for a timeline, they said it may take "maybe a month or more" for me to get paid for the car. Personally, I think some of these online places offer an inflated price to people so they feel pressured into a higher sale price but they drag their feet paying you until they find a buyer that will cover that inflated price.

 

I took a thousand less at the dealership because it was was a much more confident and solid transaction.

[Otis Nice]

long post

 

That sucks. They should have bought an old Lincoln instead.

[Tractor]

My sister in law has bought a couple cars from carvana with no issues. They are sheep who don't know how to get what they want out of a dealer though so YMMV.

 

I think your post sale support story sucks but I bet it wouldn't be easier at a dealer and likely impossible to get a refund. At least with a local dealer you could go burn the place down so there's that...