I received an offer from Carvana.

[SmallCityDave]

Six months ago I bought a new car (not my brightest move) but I thought I did okay, I normally buy cars with 100k miles drive them for 5-6 years and I normally do well.



Two weeks ago I get an email from Carvana they want to buy my car I put in my information they offer me $3500 less than what I paid (OTD price) keep in mind I paid $2500 in taxes and insurance, I'm not interested but intrigued. Yesterday just for fun I go back to their website they offer $500 more.... I tried Vroom they offer $500 more than Carvana so if I sell all I lose is the taxes and registration.



The sale of this car doesn't move the needle for me but what a crazy world we live in, I can drive this car for 6 months and "only" pay taxes and registration.

 

[HF63]

How bad do you need the car? If not bad enough just sale it.

 

[38Chevy454]

The used car and especially truck market is crazy right now. Your story is evidence of that.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

The used car and especially truck market is crazy right now. Your story is evidence of that.

It is very crazy. I saw a newspaper article yesterday about a local dealership that has an inventory shortage due to production delays (chip shortage) and how they can't keep used cars around.

As I have mentioned before, I sold an F-150 that I had for about a year to Carvana and they paid me more than I paid for it. I thought that was crazy, but...

I bought an Accord about 6 months ago (2012 model) and KBB shows that the trade in value is a little more than I paid for it and the private party value is about $2500 more than I paid. So yes, the car market is all sorts of screwed up right now.

 

[SmallCityDave]

It is very crazy. I saw a newspaper article yesterday about a local dealership that has an inventory shortage due to production delays (chip shortage) and how they can't keep used cars around.

As I have mentioned before, I sold an F-150 that I had for about a year to Carvana and they paid me more than I paid for it. I thought that was crazy, but...

I bought an Accord about 6 months ago (2012 model) and KBB shows that the trade in value is a little more than I paid for it and the private party value is about $2500 more than I paid. So yes, the car market is all sorts of screwed up right now.

Can you tell me more about that?

 

[teetee]

The type of vehicle matters.

 

[Surewhitey]

DW got an offer $1k over the $19,086 she paid (tt&l) for a 2018 Avalon... 2 years ago! I'd try selling it before Carvana's offer.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Can you tell me more about that?

Here is the gist of it:

https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/best-way-to-sell-car-105351.html#post2478779

Another post I mentioned that about a week after the initial offer, the emailed again upping the offer by about $500 if I recall.

 

[Chuckanut]

Now's a great time to sell a good condition car you don't need.

It's not a great time to buy a new car, though I do understand if you will settle for a sedan (Camry, etc.) the prices are a somewhat softer but still on the high side. There's a shortage of chips and apparently some other components so the auto makers are using their limited supply to build the high profit vehicles.

I did hear that Chevy Bolts had a huge discount attached to them a while back.

 

[Monterey298sc]

Just sold my 2015 BMW to carvana. Very easy and gave us the most cash

 

[audreyh1]

It is very crazy. I saw a newspaper article yesterday about a local dealership that has an inventory shortage due to production delays (chip shortage) and how they can't keep used cars around.

As I have mentioned before, I sold an F-150 that I had for about a year to Carvana and they paid me more than I paid for it. I thought that was crazy, but...

I bought an Accord about 6 months ago (2012 model) and KBB shows that the trade in value is a little more than I paid for it and the private party value is about $2500 more than I paid. So yes, the car market is all sorts of screwed up right now.

This is very interesting. We have a lot of car dealers in way South Texas, and their lots are chock full of new cars.

 

[aja8888]

Now's a great time to sell a good condition car you don't need.

It's not a great time to buy a new car, though I do understand if you will settle for a sedan (Camry, etc.) the prices are a somewhat softer but still on the high side. There's a shortage of chips and apparently some other components so the auto makers are using their limited supply to build the high profit vehicles.

I did hear that Chevy Bolts had a huge discount attache to them a while back.

Last month I bought a new 2021 Hyundai Tucson SEL SUV for $21,600 (+ or - a few dollars) + TT&L that had an MSRP of $28,600. Plus, they gave me $15,000 for our 2019 Dodge Caravan with 44,000+ miles on it. We paid around $22K for the Dodge 2.5 years ago. So for a bit over $7K cash, I am in a new SUV with all the bells and whistles (all new safety features, heated seats, air bags everywhere, etc.) There are good new car deals.

The Tucson comes with three years (36K miles) free maintenance (essentially oil changes and tire rotations). And it also includes 3 years of Blue Link (their version of On Star).

 

[freedomatlast]

Never bought or sold through Carvana, but I have received offers from them, and was always able to easily and quickly sell them myself for 10 to 15% above Carvana's offer.

Also, be prepared to be badgered by them incessantly if you received and offer from them and don't sell to them. For that reason alone, I will probably never do business with them.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Never bought or sold through Carvana, but I have received offers from them, and was always able to easily and quickly sell them myself for 10 to 15% above Carvana's offer.

Also, be prepared to be badgered by them incessantly if you received and offer from them and don't sell to them. For that reason alone, I will probably never do business with them.

I have not found that to be the case. We got offers several times on two cars before selling and besides the occasional reminder email, they didn't pester us at all. I haven't gotten a single email from them since selling, either.

 

[ivinsfan]

Never bought or sold through Carvana, but I have received offers from them, and was always able to easily and quickly sell them myself for 10 to 15% above Carvana's offer.

Also, be prepared to be badgered by them incessantly if you received and offer from them and don't sell to them. For that reason alone, I will probably never do business with them.

Are they as bad as the your car warranty has expired cell phone scam calls?


That's my gold standard..

 

[Chuckanut]

Last month I bought a new 2021 Hyundai Tucson SEL SUV for $21,600 (+ or - a few dollars) + TT&L that had an MSRP of $28,600. Plus, they gave me $15,000 for our 2019 Dodge Caravan with 44,000+ miles on it. We paid around $22K for the Dodge 2.5 years ago. So for a bit over $7K cash, I am in a new SUV with all the bells and whistles (all new safety features, heated seats, air bags everywhere, etc.) There are good new car deals.

The Tucson comes with three years (36K miles) free maintenance (essentially oil changes and tire rotations). And it also includes 3 years of Blue Link (their version of On Star).

Excellent Deal! Obviously you are not overwhelmed by the Blow That Dough syndrome.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

They bought my car for high Blue Book last year and it was the best car selling experience I have ever had. I was so happy that I immediately got onto Facebook to recommend the process to all my neighbors. The deal was completed in my driveway in the middle of Covid in December. The rep called to say he was on his way and asked me to remove the plates since they were taking the car out of state and would not need them. When he got there in his decked out Carvana car he started my car and I think he may have plugged in a OBD scanner and that was pretty much it. He had all the papers ready for me to sign and the transaction was done in less than 5 minutes and I had my check in the exact amount I was originally offered online. He parked the car in the street and let me know that a truck would be by to pick it up later that day and they came by about two hours later. I don't disagree that I might have got more with a private sale but I'm female and I don't want to be dealing with a bunch of strangers that either don't show or want to negotiate the price. The trade in option at the dealer has always been a nightmare as well and I will never go through that again if I can help it. I will probably always go this route from now on and plan to sell my other SUV to them in a couple of months.

 

[John Galt III]

Just some more info here. I sold a 2004 Mercury Sable for $1,800 a few weeks ago. Here's the interesting part: 3 dealers offered me $100 for it. Finally a dealer offered me $750. Hmmm. What's this? The Carvana, and GiveMeTheVin websites offered me $300. Fortunately I decided to go through the hassle of selling it on Craigslist to the general public. The general public actually wanted the car. I had about 20 responses to my ad in 2 days. I should have asked for more, lol. What I find interesting is the HUGE difference between dealership buyers valuation and general public buyers valuation of the car. And WHY is there a huge demand for used cars? What does it have to do with COVID?

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

And WHY is there a huge demand for used cars? What does it have to do with COVID?

I think the biggest issue is the shortage of new cars. I have seen several articles recently that mention the chip shortage being the biggest thing. Ford just announced that they are closing 5 plants (or curtailing operations) because of it. That's a bad deal with the "just in time" manufacturing scheme. Low inventories and pent up demand. Oh, and don't forget that a lot of folks now have $1000+ in stimulus money that makes for a great down payment.

Oh yes, and let's not forget that there is a shortage of rental cars when several companies sold their fleets off a year ago. That was reported by the WSJ a couple of days ago, but we noticed it several months ago when we had to wait over two hours for a car at the ATL airport and we HAD a reservation.

Here is an example: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a35956212/new-car-buying-problems-semiconductor-shortage/
And another: https://www.wsj.com/articles/auto-d...chip-shortage-disrupts-production-11616578202
And this one from YESTERDAY: https://www.autoblog.com/2021/04/14/ford-more-production-cuts-chip-shortage/

 

[SmallCityDave]

Just some more info here. I sold a 2004 Mercury Sable for $1,800 a few weeks ago. Here's the interesting part: 3 dealers offered me $100 for it. Finally a dealer offered me $750. Hmmm. What's this? The Carvana, and GiveMeTheVin websites offered me $300. Fortunately I decided to go through the hassle of selling it on Craigslist to the general public. The general public actually wanted the car. I had about 20 responses to my ad in 2 days. I should have asked for more, lol. What I find interesting is the HUGE difference between dealership buyers valuation and general public buyers valuation of the car. And WHY is there a huge demand for used cars? What does it have to do with COVID?

I think we are in the midst of inflation.

 

[RetireeRobert]

I think we are in the midst of inflation.

+1
With the government printing money out of thin air, inflation is going to be roaring (despite the fakey government "official" inflation indexes).

Consider: home prices, used car prices, gas prices, lumber prices

With the government priming the pumps with printed money for artificial prosperity, instead of real productive efforts of private industry creating wealth, we are all in for effective devaluing of our hard earned dollars via pernicious inflation.

 

[Closet_Gamer]

+1
With the government printing money out of thin air, inflation is going to be roaring (despite the fakey government "official" inflation indexes).

Consider: home prices, used car prices, gas prices, lumber prices

With the government priming the pumps with printed money for artificial prosperity, instead of real productive efforts of private industry creating wealth, we are all in for effective devaluing of our hard earned dollars via pernicious inflation.

To be clear: this is NOT a political point. NOT NOT NOT.

The most recent money printing has gone directly into consumer hands at large scale. So the folks at the bottom of the ladder who didn't have savings can turn around an inject it right into the economy. Meanwhile, the mid-to-upper tiers have been savings loads of money due to lockdown while continuing employment...and vaccines/re-openings are going to bring a lot of that money off of the sidelines as well.

Feels like a recipe for inflation that we've not seen in a long, long time.

 

[cho oyu]

I also just sold a car through Carvana on Friday. They offered close to retail blue book value, 25% higher than CarMax's on-line quote, and about 10% more than I paid for the car new (including a high state sales tax at purchase). Everything seems to have gone extremely quickly and smoothly, albeit I am still waiting for the ACH transfer to clear. 10 minutes for entering data on the web-site, a few texts and e-mails, and <10 minutes for the Carvana employee to inspect the car and to sign paperwork.



I bought the car a little over a year ago as a fuel-efficient commuter, almost immediately before work-at-home started, so the car has mostly been sitting idle. The two-year perspective on a 5-day a week commute coming back is quite low (and that's hopefully the end-game before a very long sabbatical), so we've decided to make due with the present two older cars, one of which doesn't get great mileage.



It appears that the Carvana business model is to be efficient, and make up in volume what they do not in pricing - they'll probably only mark up this car by about $1k-$1.5k. All in all, with a nearly new car, I probably received close to what I could have from a private with absolutely zero hassle. I'm impressed.

 

[GTFan]

To be clear: this is NOT a political point. NOT NOT NOT.

The most recent money printing has gone directly into consumer hands at large scale. So the folks at the bottom of the ladder who didn't have savings can turn around an inject it right into the economy. Meanwhile, the mid-to-upper tiers have been savings loads of money due to lockdown while continuing employment...and vaccines/re-openings are going to bring a lot of that money off of the sidelines as well.

Feels like a recipe for inflation that we've not seen in a long, long time.

There is widespread disagreement among economists about inflation with current spending and the Fed chair would disagree with you over the longer term.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/11/economy/jerome-powell-federal-reserve-60-minutes/index.html

Back on topic, one of the problems with cars is a new car supply issue as mentioned above - this trickles down in all sorts of ways.

 

[charais]

I sold my sports car last week to Carvana. It was a 2009 Saturn Sky Redline (Turbo) with 39K miles and I was afraid it was too old but they offered me a great price. Their representative came and test drove it around the neighborhood then called for a flat bed to pick it up. I was too nervous to wait for an ACH payment since they were taking the car and the title but it was no problem at all to bring me a check instead. Just wasn't driving it as much and the price to fix anything on it was becoming too high. Could have gotten maybe another $1000 to sell it myself but this was so easy I'm glad to have done it. Hopeful someone else will enjoy it as much as we did.