My experience selling a vehicle to Vroom

Wow, they forgot to sign the check?! I doubt this was in any way intentional or needed for them to stall. They are rolling in private equity money and what they raised in their IPO, VRM ticker, 5.44 billion cap today.

I had a loan on the vehicle they bought from me, so it was a check to the credit union and check to me. They were both signed and cleared fine.
 
Cash the check anyway and keep your car until it clears
They take your car first-they have to verify it's in the condition you stated. It should be noted-that this isn't that dissimilar to how a dealer works if you have a loan payoff. You are giving them your trade in - in "good-faith" assuming they are going to payoff your loan by the next date the payment is due. I have known a couple of people where they didn't do this-resulting in a negative event on their credit report-which they had to yell at the dealer to notify the credit bureau to take off.

The dealer waits until the last possible moment to payoff a trade-they are hoping someone buys it before the payment date. It's the cash flow game. I can't quite understand how a dealer can sell a car THEY DON'T HAVE TITLE TO. But this is the way it has worked forever.
 
It looks like the other offers (which were still crazy good considering) were closer to reality as it appears Vroom may have not have left themselves enough margin at 70k. If they are patient however I bet they'll still get somebody to bite.
There's an a$S for every seat. They'll get a buyer.
 
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It looks like the other offers (which were still crazy good considering) were closer to reality as it appears Vroom may have not have left themselves enough margin at 70k. If they are patient however I bet they'll still get somebody to bite.

Yeah there’s $1500 in it at the current price. But…they have to deduct shipping from my house to KC, overnight mailing costs x4, whatever their overhead costs are as well as shipping costs to some areas within a certain distance of KC as they include free shipping if it’s close-ish. I think they lost money on this one unless the storage facility catches fire and they claim it on their insurance.
 
Yeah there’s $1500 in it at the current price. But…they have to deduct shipping from my house to KC, overnight mailing costs x4, whatever their overhead costs are as well as shipping costs to some areas within a certain distance of KC as they include free shipping if it’s close-ish. I think they lost money on this one unless the storage facility catches fire and they claim it on their insurance.

If this is typical-it's not a sustainable business model.
 
In most states (not sure about MO) you only pay sales tax on the difference between your purchase price and trade in. With sales tax over 8% here, you usually lose when selling your car outright if it has high value and you're buying something to replace it.
 
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In most states (not sure about MO) you only pay sales tax on the difference between your purchase price and trade in. With sales tax over 8% here, you usually lose when selling your car outright if it has high value and you're buying something to replace it.
The dealers leverage that fact to low ball you an extra [sales tax percentage].
 
Vroom is off my list-as far as selling a vehicle to them. The "check games" are inexcusable.

Complete and utter incompetence if it was a mistake, appallingly unethical if it was done on purpose. That's something a college kid would try if they were late on the rent for their college apartment.

Either way it's not confidence inspiring.
 
The dealers leverage that fact to low ball you an extra [sales tax percentage].

Yes, I have had that happen. After explaining my tax liability has no bearing on the value of the trade, I told him I'd rather give the money to the state than him. However, the last couple I have purchased have all gone to online evaluations like Vroom so it took that out of the equation.
 
The dealer waits until the last possible moment to payoff a trade-they are hoping someone buys it before the payment date. It's the cash flow game. I can't quite understand how a dealer can sell a car THEY DON'T HAVE TITLE TO. But this is the way it has worked forever.
It seems like it's pretty common, people always buy a car and wait weeks to get the title and the dealer always blames a paperwork mix up.
 
Yes, I have had that happen. After explaining my tax liability has no bearing on the value of the trade, I told him I'd rather give the money to the state than him. However, the last couple I have purchased have all gone to online evaluations like Vroom so it took that out of the equation.
Yes, i gladly gave the money to Utah instead of some [expletive deleted] Utah dealer. Purchased new out of state, paid the tax, let Vroom have the old one.

Complete and utter incompetence if it was a mistake, appallingly unethical if it was done on purpose. That's something a college kid would try if they were late on the rent for their college apartment.

Either way it's not confidence inspiring.
I'm guessing it was negligence. They accidentally sent my 1st contract to my old home address because it was listed somewhere. They had to overnight another set.

These companies are just SPRINTING through as many car deals as they can, gain or loss, to show market share growth, for the stock price.
 
Yes, i gladly gave the money to Utah instead of some [expletive deleted] Utah dealer. Purchased new out of state, paid the tax, let Vroom have the old one.


I'm guessing it was negligence. They accidentally sent my 1st contract to my old home address because it was listed somewhere. They had to overnight another set.

These companies are just SPRINTING through as many car deals as they can, gain or loss, to show market share growth, for the stock price.
The new car dealer network in Utah is beyond unbelievable. How a handful of families can have that kind of control is really mind boggling. I TOTALLY understand. I have been researching out of state dealers for our next new vehicle purchase.
 
In most states (not sure about MO) you only pay sales tax on the difference between your purchase price and trade in. With sales tax over 8% here, you usually lose when selling your car outright if it has high value and you're buying something to replace it.

The beauty of Missouri’s system is you have 180 days from the date of a sale, either before or after to use the sales tax credit from the vehicle you sell/trade. So as long as my new Raptor shows up by mid December (fingers crossed), I’ll only pay sales tax on the $3800 difference between the truck I sold and the new one. In my case that’s $313 vs $6079. I even sent the required form to Vroom with my title which they signed and overnighted back, shockingly.
 
The beauty of Missouri’s system is you have 180 days from the date of a sale, either before or after to use the sales tax credit from the vehicle you sell/trade. So as long as my new Raptor shows up by mid December (fingers crossed), I’ll only pay sales tax on the $3800 difference between the truck I sold and the new one. In my case that’s $313 vs $6079. I even sent the required form to Vroom with my title which they signed and overnighted back, shockingly.

Oh course they signed that one, it wasn't going to result in a $70k debit from their account 😂
 
I tried to sell my Ford Fiesta to Carvana but after I uploaded all my documents I never heard back from them. I ended up selling it to a local KBB affiliated dealer for more than their quote using the Carvana quote as leverage. I ended up making about $900 more than I paid for it new.
 
I traded my Golf R for a Volvo V60 via Vroom. Yes, I kinda gave up on driving. But, needs change and all that, and frankly I was using about 10% of the capabilities of the Golf, and when I was I was likely to get arrested.

As someone who's been around the VC world and seen what "industry disruptors" are doing, their business model is somewhat understandable to me. I also have some serious questions about the implementation.

The company is putting growth and "scalability" above all else. They're hiring like crazy, opening new hubs like crazy, and they're burning through expensive venture capital at an astonishing rate. They are also really struggling on the implenatin of their actual business of buying and selling cars.

My own timeline: I initiated the trade and purchase 5 weeks ago. I received the new car 2 weeks ago, and received the title today. The timeline is faster than some, as I basically emailed the entire board a couple of weeks in, and clearly they assigned the case to someone so that I'd stop bothering important executives...

Along the way, I've talked to completely incompetent (likely outsources CS reps), and dealt with highly competent folks who clearly do give a @#@. The inconsistency though in the experience is startling. What's also startling is that their whole business model is predicated on going remove through Vroom because it's easy. I suspect for most folks, there's nothing easy about it. Maybe for a lucky few. But a quick look at their BBB reviews (their accreditation there has been revoked) and the reviews on several sites show that they are seriously struggling. I get the internet amplification thing, but compared to their competitors, their online reputation is abysmal.

In my own case, things went pretty well, but it took way too much work for a process they sell as "easy". I put up with it because finding a V60 w/the options I wanted was almost impossible, and the tax advantage of trading was so high (about a $4,200 difference, which I almost gave up on out of frustration early on in the process).

They also paid 3K more for my Golf that I paid for it, which is crazy--but I also found that same offer locally.

As far as making money on specific transactions, it's clear they don't care about that--they're in "growth above all else" mode. The fact that they're offering convertible bonds shows to me they are leveraging through the roof. Maybe it will work out long-term. Maybe the fact that they are not signing checks is incompetence vs. cashflow (personally, not so sure). I do know that as an investor, I'm always looking for opportunity. This isn't a place I'll put my own money based on my own experience.

The deal I got on the trade ended up being great after some heartburn, but I could only recommend them with a whole bunch of caveats. Maybe they'll get things sorted out in the future. Maybe not.
 
Jack Watts, your experience seems very similar to mine. I definitely wouldn’t invest my own money with them and would warn others if they asked about my experience. It was funny that Vroom sent an automated survey to me before They had the payment issue corrected. Im not sure anyone at Vroom is actually doing anything with their survey responses or even reading online reviews of the company. I guess I can chalk it up to rapid growth and growing pains but they are going to tarnish their company name soon.
 
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