My Carvana Buying Experience (Dec. 2020)
By: Mason C.B.
Tags: Carvana, Cars, Review, Car Buying, Fiesta St

My Carvana Buying Experience (Part 1) — December 2020

Recently I purchased a 2016 Ford Fiesta ST through Carvana and I wanted to make a quick post on why I felt it was a good choice for me… but why I probably wouldn’t do it again. Mason C.B. Dec 21, 2020·6 min read

Now, just a quick disclaimer. This is mostly just me talking about why I chose Carvana over a traditional dealer.

If you are looking for more details on the exact process I went through and the details on purchasing, delivery, and even the 7-day test drive… I have more posts (and YouTube Videos) coming soon on those topics.

Photo by Jeshua Deher on Unsplash

Why Did I Choose Carvana?

For me, this was very situational. I moved to a new city (Raleigh, NC), and recently the car that I was driving, was totaled. So in the midst of the pandemic, I found myself working from home with no transportation.

So obviously, Carvana came to mind. They offer their 7-day “trial period” to test drive any car that you can find on their site. This ended up being my solution since it was almost impossible for me to make it to an in-person dealer.

So, if you have transportation already or someone who will drive you around town while you look at cars in person, I would say do that instead as I still think it beats trusting online pictures.

Price

Another thing to watch out for on Carvana is the price.

Now prices may change by region, time of year, economy, or any variety of things… but on average, I noticed that cars on Carvana were noticeably more expensive.

I don’t mean a couple of hundred dollars, I mean anywhere for 2–5k over similar vehicles at in-person lots. For the first few weeks, while I was shopping, I was audibly scoffing at their prices as I scrolled through the site.

I even kind of understand it. They are a convenience service and they price accordingly. They deliver, they manage registration, they inspect and take pictures… they do a lot. But I still think you can do better with some patience.

Now, with all of that said you can find decent prices... eventually.

Finding the Deal

The best deals in my experience are found in the “Coming Soon” or “Awaiting 150 Point Inspection” cars. These seemed to be on par with in-person prices, but to get these deals you also have to place a reserve or straight up put a down payment on a car that had no real photos or info yet besides the VIN #.

So, that is what I did.

Again, at this point, I couldn’t shop in-person for cars and I was looking for months for a good deal on what I wanted because so many of their cars were overpriced. Waiting this long is yet another luxury that I was lucky to have. If you need a car in a rush, you will most likely overpay.

After what felt like ages of looking at cars, I finally placed a $100 reserve on a manual 2016 Fiesta ST. Now somewhat unplanned, the day I saw this car it also had a promotion on it that knocked $500 off and I also was using a promo code that helped marginally with price as well.

These are both things that not everyone may get lucky with.

Also, If you are buying one feel free to leave a comment as I have a few to give out to serious buyers.

Knowing Your Cars

Now, I felt confident about this car because I know these cars to be fairly bulletproof, the manual transmission is not the same as the automatic that gives Ford so many issues, and according to the VIN# and CarFax, the car had 2 owners with under average mileage per year and no accidents.

Again, I knew this just from being interested in these cars long before I started shopping for them. Having prior knowledge or even interest in cars can help but I realize not everyone cares to research that much about them either. The more you learn about your potential purchases, the less stressful it is to place a reserve on a car that you have not even seen yet.

Financing Woes

Now, the last major situational issue was that Carvana offered me a decent loan. I have a good credit score and a solid payment history that has never given me an issue in the past. However, as I was shopping for loans in 2020, I found I was getting denied.

Turns out my limited work history from taking a new job was not enough for most banks to trust me during the current state of the world. Again, something I understand but not something I anticipated.

Again, this is where Carvana came in… for me. They offered me a competitive interest rate for my situation with some decent terms.

Now, I do not intend on sharing exact numbers or giving details on my own personal financial situation, but this was the best offer I could currently get even if the car I was buying wasn’t the best deal I could get.

Ease of Use

All this to say if you really see a car you like and you are set for it, the process is fairly easy and they take care of everything for you to be street legal.

So if the pricing doesn’t concern you and you think taking a car delivery is cool (it kinda is) you can save yourself a headache and just have a car “handed to you” within a couple of days. It is easy, especially the newer a car is.

But you won’t save money doing that, I promise.

Conclusion

So, to really wrap my ramblings up…

if you are having issues with financing,

lack a good way to get out there and test drive cars in person,

are willing to wait weeks or even months for a good deal,

or simply don’t want to deal with the headache of car shopping,

…Carvana is probably a good option for you.

It has worked out well for me and I would recommend them for someone in a similar situation.

The Big But

Now, the next time I car shop though, I most likely will not be using them.

My lending options should have returned to normal by the time I need another car, I will have this car to drive around and shop with instead, and I will probably save money by going elsewhere.

Also, I personally find it enjoyable to shop around and look at cars but again it may not be something that you enjoy.

So anyway, I hope this has given you something to think about.

I won’t tell you that Carvana is the best thing ever and that you won’t have to deal with a sleazy car salesman again but it certainly has its benefits in the right situations.

More Carvana Info… Soon.

If you want to see Part 2 of this Carvana series subscribe over on my YouTube or follow me here on Medium, for the text version. Next time, I plan to talk about the actual navigation of their site, finding decent deals, and actually making the purchase.

Part 3 will be about my communication with Carvana, taking delivery of my 2016 Fiesta ST, and the test drive/warranty period experience that I had.

And sometime in the future, I plan to do a follow up once I get a few months in with the car. Things may change for better or worse as the 100-day warranty approaches its end and I can offer more info on my experience with the lending company Carvana uses as well.