Selling a car to Carvana, Carmax, et. al.?

Say?

Has anyone here ever sold a car to something like Carmax or Carvana?

I'm about to pull the trigger on a new (well, low-mileage used) car from a guy I've known for some time, and obviously there will be no trade-in thing. I understand both of them will buy cars outright.

Both say you can input the registration number and get an offer, but I'm a bit shy of doing it until I know it's something I want to do. There's a lot of PII connected with your car's registration.

My big question is, when they give you the offer, do you really get that offer, or when they come to pick it up do they take off $$$ for nitpicky issues and such?

Anyone ever done this?

 

I think @jpw711 did not to long ago

 

sold a car to carmax many years ago. it was a painless process.
get the estimate. shop around. if you can't beat it, you know it's there

of course you'll get dinged on the offer if your car's condition is not as expected

 

This thread has some recent experiences https://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/index.php?threads/anybody-recently-sold-a-car-to-carvana.198934/

 

I sold to Carvana less than a year ago and scheduled the date for them to pick it up. They honored the price they initially gave me and you can opt for direct deposit or a check. I took direct deposit and they hit “send” in front of me and the money took 2 days to clear and hit my bank. I was very nervous about it all but it was a great experience.

 

Yeah, I sold my bmw to carvanna. They quoted 36,900, which beat the dealer by 2900, I made an appointment to drop it off at a place up the road, took about 10 minutes. They would have come to pick it up, but they wanted $100 for that. Check was drawn on a wells fargo account.

I'd do it again.

 

I got a quote from Carmax and took it to the dealer . They beat the quote . I didn’t want the hassle of selling it.

 

I've sold two cars to Carmax, last one about two years ago. Got a fair price (for dealership) and processes was very easy

 

I had a 2002 Acura TL to sell last year after my husband died. Almost 200,000 miles on it but it was in good condition as it wasn't used that much. we drove in my car when the two of us were out of the house.
CarMax offered me $500 for it. Auto Traders also offered me $500 for it. Both came up with garbage of why it wasn't worth anything..."the frame is off, it must have been in an accident" when I KNOW it hasn't ever been in an accident and there's nothing wrong with the frame. The other company didn't mention the frame but said it would take $1000 to clean it up. I had just completely cleaned it up.
Anyway, just mentioned it to 2 different young guys that I know and that I wanted $2,000 for it. Both jumped at the offer. First one that showed up with the $2,000 got it.

 

I have sold 2 cars to CarMax - both times they beat Carvanna and the dealership. Of note, the first time I sold to CarMax, they paid higher than the price I was quoted on the CarMax internet. But they said it's because it went thru Edmund's. If it had been from their actual site, they wouldn't have been able to pay me more and would have had to limit to the internet quoted price. Both times, the process was smooth and streamless.

 

Carmax won't sell cars over a certain age; on a 2002 Acura, they are quoting you a lowball price that reflects them buying and shipping it straight to auction. You get a better price on cars they can resell (<10 years, <120,000 miles or whatever their limits are)

 

I sold 2 cars to Carmax, easy process. The quote they give you is good for 7 days

 

Thx everyone!

I'm not gonna lie or exaggerate the condition. No major accidents, one minor, but I doubt if it's in the CLUE database.

Mine is 2012 model, discontinued model, next to last one on the lot, 90,000 miles, all maintenance performed.

I think I will go Luddite and do a paper check. The fewer people pounding on my bank accounts, the better!

I think I will see which gives me the better offer and go4it. Thanks again.

 

I've sold 3 newer cars to Carmax, most recently in 2021. Each time I made an appointment and took the car there for their appraisal. The price is the price, no hidden last minute BS or bait and switch. I was in and out with a check in about an hour, though it probably helped that these were paid off cars where I had the title in hand. The price was better than I could get anywhere else. These were cars that they ended up retailing on their lot and not sending to auction.

 

CarMax may still be paying premiums for vehicles. If you go to a dealership, make sure they offer you a cash price and not just trade in value. If you venture to smaller dealerships outside of big city markets, they may pay premiums as well as they need any inventory they can get.

 

Stay away from Carvana and Carmax, or indie programs going to 1 buyer, they lowball you.

A couple of years ago when used car prices started skyrocketing, I used Kelly Blue Book's service. They just collect info on line then shoot it out to local dealers to buy it. KBB's pricing was about 20% higher than Carmax's offer. After doing the online tool I got a lot of emails and calls from local dealers, I chose 1 who was actually a large dealership that I'd bought from in the past and I knew they were trustworthy. They came out, did a 10 min inspection including driving it around for about 5 mins with me, and then handed me a check on the spot. No fuss, no muss.

Way better experience than dealing with trying to sell it myself. Highly recommended.

 

Also check Kelly Blue Book instant cash offer. They work with local dealerships to buy your car

 

Thanks, that sounds like it may be another valid alternative. I'll probably get quotes on all three and see what makes sense.

Also I was told that a Chevrolet dealer which is just to the east of the local Mitsubishi dealer, will buy any car, not just Chevy, so I may check them out as well.

 

Any car dealer will buy any car if they want it and think they can make a buck off of it. Don't do anything where you go into the dealer to sell it though, trust me. I did that when I was a lot younger and I'll never do it again. What they'll do is call the auction house, see what the price is for a car like yours, then offer you much less than that. To gauge how desperate you are as a seller they may have you waiting an hour or more to get the price, "While they research it".

 

We will take your car in trade and give you $X. It's a courtesy kind of thing. And then we're putting it on the hauler, with all the other trade-ins we don't want, and sell them to the wholesaler, who in turn sells them to Dollar Bill's Buy Here Pay Here Auto Emporium located just east of the airport. Well, (and just being honest, not being a snob - though I can do that!) there's some cars we don't want on the lot. For us to try and sell your car it has to be of a certain dollar value and desirable market. Not being rude, just being honest, it's how the business works. So don't get your hopes up thinking that next week you can drive by the dealership and see your faithful steed of the past decade all polished up sitting out front. She's already bound for the glue factory...Dollar Bill's. It's the car bidness. Now, 'bout that undercoating...