WTF Carvana?

[mark]

Offers me $10k under KBB trade in value, $12-$14k under private party sale value.

[Jolly]

KBB has always been higher than NADA. Is it now behind actual values (car prices have been dropping)?

[Copper]

Try Car Max, I have received more than one good offer from them over the years.

[Mik]

The only way to maximize yield is private sale.

[George K]

CarMax is always the best, short of a private sale.

When I wanted to sell my A6, CarMax was $6K above what the dealership offered, iirc. When I showed them the written offer, they demurred and said, "We can't match that."

[George K]

Same information entered for an online offer.

[George K]

@mark whatchu selling?

[mark]

Carmax offered almost $11k more and is definitely a fair offer that preserves about 95% of the equity I figured we have in it.

Thanks! I will use this as ammo when I visit the dealer tomorrow.

[George K]

@mark said in WTF Carvana?:

Thanks! I will use this as ammo when I visit the dealer tomorrow.

Not a bad idea.

But...unless you have a written offer from Carmax, the dealer might blow you off saying, "Yeah, you just entered a bunch of stuff on the internet."

The actual offer will have the VIN, inspection, etc for the car. When we sold our BMW, the dealer blew me off saying that "Everyone says they get a better offer from Carmax."

Then I went into the glove compartment and pulled out the written, signed offer.

[Mik]

That may be because they do. Occam’s Razor and all that.

[LuFins Dad]

On one side it’s amazing how much more Carmax buys their cars for. On the other hand, I won’t buy another car from them, period.

[George K]

@LuFins-Dad said in WTF Carvana?:

On the other hand, I won’t buy another car from them, period.

Why?

[LuFins Dad]

I’ve known a few people to have had good experiences with them, but my experience with them and a significant number of friend’s experiences were very bad.

Their used car selection is no better curated than any other used dealer. It’s a crap shoot. There are good ones and bad ones. They do not have a higher set of standards for their technicians. Their warranty is crap, they overcharge drastically trusting that their reputation for “no hassle/no haggle” keeps people from cross-shopping, and their in-house financing approaches predatory lending behavior. But because they are so aggressive with their acquisitions and their advertising, they are commanding the market.

[Rainman]

I'm still dealing with Allstate, so my daughter's totaled car is still in lymbo, or so I thought.
I entered her car's VIN into CarMax, and then filled everything out as if before the wreck.

They offered $300.00 for her Elantra. So. . . somehow the VIN gets updated somewhere along the way, and you can't totally BS the system. Anybody want to offer me $305?

[Jolly]

That sounds like crush value.

[Mik]

Yep. Back in the 70's we used to get 20 or 30 bucks for a cube-to-be. Everything else is ten times what it was then.