About a year ago, my cute little Jeep Liberty started to poop out on me. I was super sad but I decided that part of my car ownership was going to have to be over. Everything about that car was just so... questionable!
I started to look at Carvana after seeing an ad on my social media feeds, just to get ideas of what I might be spending for a car, as I saved up some money quickly as possible. (Not going to lie, COVID helped because I was working the whole time and got that nice little $1200)
Normally, I would not consider taking out a loan to pay for a car, but when I considered how long this baby girl will probably last me, and the adventures I could take myself on versus having to always rely on friends. I felt it was kind of justified. Sometimes the freedom you get from something like this is worth more than the poor financial decisions (my "How to Money" podcast guys even agree, even if they'd never do this).
I did a LOT of research about different SUVs and Compact SUVs to make sure I bought a car with a good rating. Originally I really REALLY wanted to get a Jeep Wrangler sooo bad, but they are a bit out of the range I wanted to pay for a car I was going to get a loan out on. I asked people advice on what they recommend and then went from there. One of the most highly rated SUVs among my friends was the Toyota 4Runner (which are so good, but like the Jeep more than I wanted to spend). From there I began looking into compact/small SUVs and found the Rav4. I researched years and other cars like it, and prices, and reviews, and ratings. Eventually deciding that it was the car I was going to get. Wanting something on the newer side the 2019 and 2020 had some upgrades that made it more appealing to me over 2015-2017 ages (I wanted something at least 2015).
I saw a 2018 at the local used car shop and tried to get a look at it, but by the time I was able to contact them, they were already about to sell it. So I looked again on Carvana.com to see what they had in stock! Saw the Rav4 XLE style at a great price so I knew I had to swoop in and start the buying process before I missed out on another great car!
It was so something I never expected to do in my life... but super convenient and easy! At first I was a little weirded out by the idea, and read a few poor reviews (mostly from people who paid in full). I have nothing but positive things to say about Carvana!
1) Choosing a car: You get to narrow down cars based on a ton of various criteria to match you needs and desires. Then you can make an account and save "favorites" to be able to look through later. Once you see one you just love at a price you're willing to pay you can start the next step.
2) Financing: You can choose three ways to pay for your car. Either you can pay for it in full, finance through Carvana, or finance through another company. I decided to go through them. They got my personal information and would put in the browsing process what my monthly payments would be and what kind of downpayment they would expect. It really helps with figuring out what you can afford! Very smooth and pleasant.
3) Once you start the buying process they give an option for Carvana Care (an extended warranty they offer). I opted out. It would be excellent for older vehicles, but since mine is so new, it seemed... maybe not quite pointless, but not totally necessary. They took my bank information to confirm my credit. And to have on file for when I confirmed the purchase, they could get my downpayment. They make you do a verbal confirmation of the purchase. Probably to verify identity and honestly a great way to combat drunk car ordering! (that's a joke).
4) After confirming I wanted to buy a car it was only a couple business days later until they took the downpayment and let me know they did the final check and just needed to find a driver. It is beyond cool that they give you an option to pick up from a Carvana vending machine or have it delivered to you. The nearest Vending Machine to where I live is in AZ and with my work schedule, and covid, and the fact that it was actually cheaper for me to have it delivered.. I chose delivery. (Delivery was only $399, which not bad at all since I'm in the middle of nowhere!) Once a driver was assigned I got a text from Carvana letting me know an approximate day. Then four days before I was expecting my delivery, I got a text from the driver saying he was on his way! Every step of the process was quick considering what the bad reviews said, and considering I thought COVID would slow down the process significantly (they even have warning on their website that because of covid it might be slower than usual). Maybe it seemed fast because my low expectations?!
5) They have a 7-Day test drive period, so if you don't like your car or see something else you like instead you can return and swap! Which is cool. Since it's online car buying it's awesome that they understand that people might change their minds and they don't want to stick you with something you don't love 1000%!
6) There is no penalty for paying off the loan early! This was a HUGE plus for me, because I wanted to pay it off quickly as possible, and I learned in my research that a lot of times, car loans will have something in them saying how they will charge you a penalty for paying it off early.
7) Customer service was AWESOME! They kept me informed every new step of the way, and my driver text me to let me know when he was an hour out. Then called me to let me know he was ten minutes away. There wasn't anything along the way that left me with more questions after talking to the customer service person, but they never let me go without making sure all my questions were answered.
8) They email you the temporary plates to print off, and will be fedexing the paperwork for the permanent plates once my 7-days is about up, that gets filled out and fedexed to have everything regarding registering taken care of four me.
9) The costs are laid out pretty plain a simple. No hidden fees. You know exactly what you're going to pay.
100% would use Carvana again!
I can't think of anything else I want to say but if you have any additional questions just leave a comment or message me. :) I hope this helps others who are in the market for new car open up the options to Carvana "The new way to buy a car" ;)
Thanks for reading!
(Note: 0% paid by the company to write this super positive review, and 100% just a satisfied customer who wanted to give an honest review to anyone else who might be going into this a little weirded out that you can order a car online)
