21–30 of 229 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There was a whole lot of fraud going on between Carvana (public) and DriveTime (private). It'll come out in due course.
Can you explain the nature of the fraud and how it benefited each company?
When I went to buy my car from Carvana, the guy that helped me said that the cost of used cars was incredible. People were buying cars, then trading them in a month or two later for a profit . He suggested I come back in a month or two to do the same to get a newer model. I'm not sure what the folks at Carvana were thinking, but it seems like even with a wild used car market and high inflation, this shouldn't reasona…
>Who invested in Carvana? Carvana has 3 investors including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Ally Financial, and Citi.
When I went to buy my car from Carvana, the guy that helped me said that the cost of used cars was incredible. People were buying cars, then trading them in a month or two later for a profit . He suggested I come back in a month or two to do the same to get a newer model. I'm not sure what the folks at Carvana were thinking, but it seems like even with a wild used car market and high inflation, this shouldn't reasona…
But buying a car from a dealer remains horrible
This is not only bad for Carvana and their cash flow, but bad for the buyer too, who just has to keep the money sitting there forever in case Carvana fixes the glitch and tries to transfer the money.
I guess at least if they go bankrupt they can finally assume no one is coming for the cash...
The problem seems to be that they sold too many cars with a negative margin. I've heard stories of people selling their cars sight unseen to Carvana for above market value and it seems they were left holding too many cars as the second hand car market normalized and prices decreased. Like a lot of VC funded companies, they were blinded to market realities by the cash each funding round produced. If they'd had to purc…
The new car market is also probably contributing. I just bought a house and sold my hybrid for a Tacoma. I walked into a dealership lot to buy a '20 with 40k miles on it. I left with a brand new Tacoma with zero miles and a better package for $10k less. I was able to do this because the dealership needs to move inventory to get new cars from Toyota and hybrids are very in demand.
I'm not surprised. I've heard multiple stories from multiple people about Carvana just forgot to collect money from them. They bought a used car, the car showed up, and Carvana just never took the money from them beyond the deposit. This is not only bad for Carvana and their cash flow, but bad for the buyer too, who just has to keep the money sitting there forever in case Carvana fixes the glitch and tries to transfe…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The new car market is also probably contributing. I just bought a house and sold my hybrid for a Tacoma. I walked into a dealership lot to buy a '20 with 40k miles on it. I left with a brand new Tacoma with zero miles and a better package for $10k less. I was able to do this because the dealership needs to move inventory to get new cars from Toyota and hybrids are very in demand.
Why'd you go for the Taco over a Tundra?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The new car market is also probably contributing. I just bought a house and sold my hybrid for a Tacoma. I walked into a dealership lot to buy a '20 with 40k miles on it. I left with a brand new Tacoma with zero miles and a better package for $10k less. I was able to do this because the dealership needs to move inventory to get new cars from Toyota and hybrids are very in demand.
Why'd you go for the Taco over a Tundra?
Good riddance. Their shady, shady, practices took full advantage of the trust customers need to have in a full service used car dealer. The execs should face legal penalties
Most of the problems with Carvana are the same problems you get at any used car dealer, just magnified by scale. All of the title/registration problems. Financing. Availability. Communication. No better or worse than any random dealer.
My first car ever (25+ years ago) I received the wrong plate from the dealer. My dad and I noticed it and ran back to the dealer a day or two later. Good thing they didn't give away the plate they were supposed to give us.