Carvana Layoffs

I thought Carvana's process was to make the transaction simple.....
Me too. Had to have a three way call with them and my bank to verify funds. To prevent fraud I could not provide them with the bank’s number only the name and they had to look it up. Understandable but time consuming.

Then they wanted an insurance card with the to be purchased vehicle listed on it. Obviously not something I had. I did have an email from my insurance company showing confirmed policy changes. The bot wouldn’t accept that only a card. Spoke to a representative, they had to check with their higher ups. Yes it was fine since name, VIN and policy number were all listed in the email. They could not access it since the bot had already deleted the attachment. So sent it through email direct to rep, they verified the document was what I was claiming it to be and approved.
 
They just cut some fat, doesn't mean they are going out of business. I just sold them my car, they will make about 3-4k on it, minus expenses, which is fine with me. I got a very high offer too, thousands more than others and them a few weeks ago. Came with truck, inspected my perfect car, handed me a check. I got in the 96 T100, drove around them as they were loading the car, and went straight to the bank. No hold on check, funds available next day.
 
I just can’t understand concept of buying a vehicle that one never seen and will spend a lot of time in it.
You get a trial-and they will take the vehicle back-within the allotted time frame-should you be unhappy. Some have returned vehicles who were unhappy. Statistics have shown this is way the younger generation prefers doing business. I don't understand the hours upon hours sitting in a dealership making a deal. Most Dealership's "Internet Departments" at this point in time are just glorified lead generators. Some will give you hard figures via email-the vast majority will not.
 
I just can’t understand concept of buying a vehicle that one never seen and will spend a lot of time in it.
I agree with you on used cars, and even new ones. But I suspect some view driving as a chore and just don’t care. It’s not like they have choice of seat material when riding the bus or in a plane. Or in an Uber.

Maybe they only drive 5 or 10k per year, not a lot of seat time all at once.

Or they have a high tolerance for pain and frustration? I’ll spend an hour or more in any of my cars, and while I have never once said “this is driving perfection!” I have been in few cars that I would refuse to drive.
 
I agree with you on used cars, and even new ones. But I suspect some view driving as a chore and just don’t care. It’s not like they have choice of seat material when riding the bus or in a plane. Or in an Uber.

Maybe they only drive 5 or 10k per year, not a lot of seat time all at once.

Or they have a high tolerance for pain and frustration? I’ll spend an hour or more in any of my cars, and while I have never once said “this is driving perfection!” I have been in few cars that I would refuse to drive.
I see in neighborhood a lot of family SUV’s or minivans bought using Carvana. I just can’t get it.
As for trial period, I want to be done! I don’t want to turn this into month long ordeal.
 
Yeah, I get that. But still, after home, the vehicle is the largest purchase. You would think people would pay more attention.
As part of the "whatever" generation, I find the upcoming generation pretty apathetic. I know as a teen I had misplaced priorities, but some of the upcoming folk don't seem to catch on even in their 20's. While I can, to some degree, see where they are coming from (like, whatever), they really seem to not care about the big things.

Hang on, I need to go yell at some clouds.
 
As part of the "whatever" generation, I find the upcoming generation pretty apathetic. I know as a teen I had misplaced priorities, but some of the upcoming folk don't seem to catch on even in their 20's. While I can, to some degree, see where they are coming from (like, whatever), they really seem to not care about the big things.

Hang on, I need to go yell at some clouds.
It is an end of semester and I am grading papers. You should see what I see.
 
It is an end of semester and I am grading papers. You should see what I see.
My wife teaches a college lab for people who might go on to be doctors or pharmacists. She tells scary stories of her students--it's not so much that these people exists, not everyone can be above average, but rather: how'd they get this far in this field?
 
In the fall of 2021 I knew exactly what used car (SUV) I wanted to replace my black on black 2012 A6 3.0T with 42k miles on it. I was its original owner and it had only been serviced at the Audi dealer. It was mint with new continental tires as a plus. On the Audi side I took it to Audi dealer and they tried to take my for a ride with a $8,800 cash offer. I said no. I shopped at three dealerships that had the used SUV I wanted and they offered me $14k to $15.5k for my Audi. I almost made a deal with the $15.5k dealer but they tried to tell me I had to pay an added premium on the SUV price because of a car shortage. I walked out on them in the middle of the purchase process to their absolute astonishment. I could not trust them after that.

I went home and saw a Carvana ad and said what the heck. Found the (one owner) SUV I wanted with fewer miles on it then I had been looking at for $5k less then on the lots around me and as a plus it had spent its life in Arizona (not the salt/rust belt I live in) and had been serviced at the dealer every 5,000 miles according to its CarFax. Carvana agreed to ship the car from its location in Arizona to my house in the North East for FREE! For my Audi they offered me almost $20k either as a cash offer or a trade. I was paying cash for the SUV-Audi value difference which in hindsight I can see they didn’t want - they really wanted me to finance it but again, I said no.

Four weeks later the car was delivered to my house and they took my Audi away on the same flatbed. I then had 7 days/400 miles to either keep the SUV or they would return my Audi and cancel the deal. I kept the SUV and about 10 days later I had the plates and title for the SUV in my hands. Carvana car came with 100 days of bumper to bumper warranty with a $50 deductible.

My whole experience with Carvana was so positive that they will be my first choice the next time I am in the market for a used car. The real incentive for the Carvan way was the seven day trial period. You buy a used car from a dealer and it’s yours as soon as you drive it off the lot - no returns allowed. Carvana says drive it for a week or 400 miles and then decide. No dealer does anything like that. Actually I hope they offer new cars for sale sometime in the future.
 
My wife teaches a college lab for people who might go on to be doctors or pharmacists. She tells scary stories of her students--it's not so much that these people exists, not everyone can be above average, but rather: how'd they get this far in this field?
Yep, I teach only graduate school. I will start giving coloring books for finals.
 
I agree with you on used cars, and even new ones. But I suspect some view driving as a chore and just don’t care. It’s not like they have choice of seat material when riding the bus or in a plane. Or in an Uber.

Maybe they only drive 5 or 10k per year, not a lot of seat time all at once.

Or they have a high tolerance for pain and frustration? I’ll spend an hour or more in any of my cars, and while I have never once said “this is driving perfection!” I have been in few cars that I would refuse to drive.

There are so many resistant to charge on here. I mean-some still laminating the loss of keys in favor of a push button start-I mean really.....

You can return it should you be unhappy. There isn't any way you are stuck if you are "in pain".
quote from John's post above-

"Four weeks later the car was delivered to my house and they took my Audi away on the same flatbed. I then had 7 days/400 miles to either keep the SUV or they would return my Audi and cancel the deal. I kept the SUV and about 10 days later I had the plates and title for the SUV in my hands. Carvana car came with 100 days of bumper to bumper warranty with a $50 deductible."
 
I bought my escape out of the vending machine. They paid me 11k for a Sonata with 105k miles on it. Escape had like 20k miles on it, and was like 13 grand or something. I think I came out ahead, but the car needed to be ozoned, and new battery put it in it. Came with all service records from New Mexico.
 
Young is the other big player in Northern Utah dealerships.

But they don't control the market. There are plenty of others. There are other dealerships besides LHM and Young in Northern Utah, for any auto make that I can think of.

CKN, I've never bought a car from an LHM dealership. What in particular spoiled the experience, or experiences, for you?
Compared to other states-the new car dealers choices in Utah are very few here. I'm not going in to what my experiences are...don't wish to go there. There isn't any reason why you shouldn't be able to take delivery of a NEW Tesla in Utah-Utah says yea we got Silicon Slopes, we are high tech-but you can't take delivery of a Tesla.
 
Looks like they are buying Adesa U.S., a wholesale auction platform at a $2.2 billion price tag. Remember what I said about them sending more cars through auction than any other dealer? Best way to liquidate your toxic assets is to buy the place that was charging you millions in fees on cars that we’re losing money to begin with, while also generating a bit of income on its own. I don’t see how Carvana survives, but this move is not a surprising one. It also signals to me that they have no real intention on changing their business model. They may make surface changes to keep investors from completely jumping ship, but I think largely it will remain the same.
My buddy came back from the Adesa auction in Tulsa today with 6 cars purchased. They’ll have to send the titles to us because the place looked like a ghost town and they couldn’t help everyone in a timely manner. He normally comes back with all titles in hand if they’re there, which is most of the time.
It has been different up there and in Little Rock since the “sickness that shall not be named”, but he said that it was very different today. Adesa employees became victims of the layoffs possibly? He was told that the General manager was no longer with the company as well. 🤔
 
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Reading these and countless other stories regarding the "car buying experience", I can't help but feel somewhat blessed by the fact that I've only purchased 2 vehicles from dealer's, out of the 30+ I've owned. The first was a 1994 Cadillac STS that was a literal cream puff but needed a transmission. Happened across it back in the CL days, I think I paid the lot $750 for the convenience of getting it out of their lot.

Second was my Volt. Again, a random FB Marketplace find. It was a new trade in at an out of town dealer, about 40 minutes from me. Not only did I get a smoking good deal, the buying experience was second to none. I test drove it one day, put a $500 deposit down, and returned a few days later to dot the T's and cross the I's. I was in and out in an hour.
 
I ended up not buying from Carvana. They had initially told my wife that final signatures would be taken upon delivery. They called me this morning and said they were not allowed to leave the facility until I had signed all forms in order to purchase the vehicle as they were going to do a “touchless” delivery. If I wished to return the vehicle I could do so at their facility which is 173 miles from me or pay them to come get it…..No thanks.

The wife did however decide she was willing to gamble on it. So we signed. They then rescheduled delivery for next week. That was the final straw for her.
 
I ended up not buying from Carvana. They had initially told my wife that final signatures would be taken upon delivery. They called me this morning and said they were not allowed to leave the facility until I had signed all forms in order to purchase the vehicle as they were going to do a “touchless” delivery. If I wished to return the vehicle I could do so at their facility which is 173 miles from me or pay them to come get it…..No thanks.

The wife did however decide she was willing to gamble on it. So we signed. They then rescheduled delivery for next week. That was the final straw for her.
So she didn't want the vehicle because of a week delay in delivery?
 
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