Is Carvana really a better way to buy a car? Online reviewers are saying “no”
Online used car dealers such as Carvana, Vroom, and Shift all claim that when compared to traditional dealerships they deliver a superior customer experience, seamless process, and awesome customer service. Buying a car online and having it delivered to your house in a seamless process with no issues or problems sure sounds good to some buyers. Unfortunately, real customers of online dealers like Carvana are saying otherwise. Consumers are leaving reviews that reveal how many things can go wrong while purchasing a vehicle sight unseen from people you don’t know.
Carvana reviews are time-consuming to research on Google
Local dealerships are fairly simple to research, since most customer reviews can be found on their Google business account or their Facebook business page. Carvana has a certain advantage over traditional dealerships when it comes to Google reviews. Their glass vending machines are located all over the country. They have multiple Google listings, so the consumer is left to peruse reviews for each location separately. Carvana’s Facebook business page does not feature customer reviews at all.
Independent review sites reveal major weaknesses in the Carvana business model
So where can you find reviews from consumers without searching for dozens of Google business listings or trusting Carvana’s own website? A quick Google search uncovers some alternative major review sites where consumers leave reviews for the online used car dealership. Consumeraffairs.com as of the publishing date of this blog features 862 Carvana reviews, with an average of 3.2 stars out of 5. View them here. Trustpilot.com consumer reviews to date rate Carvana an average of 3.4 stars out of 5, with 31% of reviewers choosing 1 or 2 star ratings, categorized as “poor” or “bad” experiences. View them here. Another major review site, bestcompany.com, claims it is “a truly independent review site anchored on transparency and verified reviews”. If their claim is true, then around 75% of Carvana’s reviewers are unhappy—and left a 1 or 2 star rating for the online used car dealership. View those ratings here.
Carvana consumer reviews on alternative review sites are brutal
We read hundreds of reviews from Carvana customers. It seems that there are major issues that the online used car dealership struggles with to date. Average, poor, and bad reviews share common complaints such as poor customer service, lost paperwork, system glitches that cause the user to lose their chosen vehicle to another buyer, missing advertised features or wrong trim levels due to inaccurate website descriptions, or delayed vehicle deliveries leaving customers without transportation for weeks or even months, even after making a down payment and paying insurance for a vehicle they do not have.
That’s not the worst of it though. There seems to be a major issue with lost or delayed titles, preventing registration and forcing customers to park their vehicles for weeks or months (or sometimes indefinitely). Complaints of uninspected vehicles, many of which have mechanical issues, badly worn parts and tires, undisclosed damage and exterior rust, and shoddy body and paint work for undisclosed accident damage are also commonly reported. Some reviewers have even complained of lost payment transactions through their in-house finance company, resulting in wrongful repossessions of their vehicles.