Consumer complaint received 2025-04-28 00:00:00
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease — Billing problem
Company: Carvana Group, LLC
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
XX/XX/XXXX Carvana LLC Customer Advocates XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX AZ XXXX To Whom It May Concern : I am writing to let you know about my recent experience buying a car with Carvana. The experience has been time consuming and the outcome unacceptable. Due to this experience, I will not recommend using Carvana. I hope that by sharing my experience you will improve your systems so that this does not happen to others. I am copying this letter to the XXXX, the XXXX XXXX XXXX, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I placed an order with Carvana to purchase a XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX ). I financed the car through Carvana and put {$12000.00} down on the car. I received an email on XX/XX/XXXX indicating that the transfer of my {$12000.00} deposit had been initiated and, soon after, received an email that the purchase had been approved. 

The purchasing and delivery process were smooth. I received the car on XX/XX/XXXX. In XXXX, I received an email letting me know that the registration was complete and that the new plates were on their way. I received the new plates and made my first payment at the end of XXXX. 

However, soon after making the second payment, I received an email from Purchase Rebuilds informing me that the contract was being rebuilt due to a problem with my down payment. The email did not explain what the problem was ( or even what rebuilding a contract meant ; please note that this jargon is not familiar to people outside your industry ) but assured me not to worry. I did not understand the email completely and soon after received a number of emails and texts which confused me further, indicating that my loan had been approved and my registration updated. As I had already started paying the loan and had received the plates for the car, I became further confused. I was also contacted by XXXX telling me that I was behind on payments, which was upsetting as I had made two payments and was enrolled to have these payments made automatically. 

I called on XX/XX/XXXX XXXX to inquire and was told that I had backed out of my contract and returned the car. I had to insist that I had not returned the car but was in fact sitting in it at the time, nor had I backed out of any contract and was in fact making regular payments, despite them telling me I was overdue in my payments. 

The Carvana dashboard did not clarify things. I received more texts and emails telling me my order for the car I was already driving had been approved. I also received a text telling me that my XX/XX/XXXX delivery would happen between XXXX and XXXX ( I received this text on XX/XX/XXXX ). It was all very confusing, but I eventually reached someone at Carvana who explained that there had been an error on Carvanas end, that this error was being straightened out, and that I need not worry ( that I could essentially ignore what XXXX was saying ). 

I contacted XXXX and Carvana again on XX/XX/XXXX due to a text indicating I would be receiving a refund check. XXXX did not seem to know what was going on, and Carvana too was unhelpful. Somewhere along the way, someone explained that my deposit had not been included in the original contract and that the contract rebuild was due to that error. This was the first I had heard that the deposit was not included in the contract, nearly three months after I had transferred the money to Carvana!

On this call, I was chastised for failing to sign the new contract ( which I did not sign because I took the message about it to be part of the confusion described above ). Even getting this information required multiple phone conversations with different departments and a general attitude that I had committed some grievous error.

The outcome has been that Carvana has given me a contract for the purchase of the car that does not include my initial down payment. This means that I have borrowed more money woith XXXX than I intended to borrow. Although the down payment is apparently being returned to me ( with the information that I could apply it to the loan myself ), I am upset that I have taken a loan for more money that I intended, with higher monthly payments than I should have, and with what I imagine are worse terms than I would have received had the loan accounted for the substantial down payment.

I dont know how all this has impacted my credit, including whether the apparent missed payments ( which were not missed at all but were apparently held due to the contract rebuild ) have impacted my credit. Finally, I am upset that Carvana apparently just held onto {$12000.00} for three months without letting me know. That money could have been doing work for me, and instead I have been accumulating interest on a loan greater than I intended to take. 

I am not at all satisfied with the resolution of this matter. I had to call repeatedly and get transferred to multiple different departments to get any kind of information at all. I never had anyone call initially to explain the rebuild or apologize for the error on your end. And the final resolution has been to leave me with the loan which has different conditions than it should have had my down payment been correctly processed. 

The only positive light in all of this has been a very satisfactory interaction with an employee named XXXX in your customer service department, who was helpful, polite, and sympathetic. Every other person I talked with was unhelpful and even obfuscating. XXXX had an attitude and demeanor that indicates she is there to help your customers. She also arranged a refund for me in the amount of {$590.00}. 

However, the considerable time this cost me, the unknown impact on my loan and my credit, and the pleasure of having Carvana simply hold {$12000.00} of my money for three months is what I am left with. 

I find this experience extremely unprofessional and unsatisfactory. 

Sincerely, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, CA XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation