At Carvana, we believe our customers deserve to know what they are buying. When you buy from us, we want you to be confident that you know every important detail about your vehicle. This includes comprehensive information about the vehicle’s features and imperfections, as well as any information about open safety recalls. As with everything we do, we believe in being open, honest, and transparent when it comes to recalls that don’t have a currently-available remedy.
A safety recall occurs when a manufacturer or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) finds that a condition or defect that could affect the safety or operation of a vehicle may exist in a specific vehicle or series of vehicles. The manufacturer notifies its authorized dealers and the registered vehicle owners of the condition or defect so that the registered owners can take the vehicle to the authorized dealer for diagnosis and repair.
For more information about safety recalls, we encourage you to visit the government websites www.safercar.gov or www.nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Recently, there have been a large number of manufacturer recalls that affect a wide variety of makes and models of used vehicles. We want to make sure that before you buy, you understand whether the Carvana vehicle you’re considering is affected by an open safety recall.
Our policy is to clearly inform customers of any open safety recalls affecting a Carvana vehicle. We want to earn your trust at every step of our process, and this is no exception.
If a car listed in Carvana’s inventory has an open safety recall with no currently-available remedy, a link to www.nhtsa.gov/recalls will be displayed on the Vehicle’s Display page, allowing you to enter the VIN and learn more about the open recall.
We encourage you to do additional research on the recall before you decide to buy and during your 7-day test own period. If at any point during that 7-day period you no longer feel comfortable with the recall, you can return the car for a refund.
We think this policy and process allows customers to make informed decisions and strikes the right balance between safety and allowing customers the freedom to find the right car for them.
If at any time you have additional questions about safety recalls or whether the Carvana car you’re considering is subject to an open safety recall, please don’t hesitate to call us at 800.333.4554.
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Additional Information and Resources
The NHTSA website (www.nhtsa.gov/recalls) and its consumer-oriented website www.safercar.gov are great resources for information on safety recalls based on vehicle year, make, and model, as well as general safety-related information. Please note, however, that the NHTSA and safercar.gov websites are not controlled by Carvana, and we do not warrant the accuracy or completeness of their information.
Additionally, even if you buy a car that does not currently have an open safety recall, there is always a chance one could arise in the future. There are several things you can do to ensure you learn about new recalls that affect your car.
Manufacturers use state vehicle registration data to issue safety recall notices. If you do not maintain your state registration information, a future safety recall notice may not be sent to you. Make sure to update your address if you move.
We also recommend that you register your car with the manufacturer as soon as you make a purchase. The details for registration vary by manufacturer, but you will usually need your address, date of purchase, VIN, and the year, make, and model of your vehicle. By registering, you will receive information on unrepaired safety recalls, as well as other important information, directly from the manufacturer. You also will be listed with the manufacturer as the current owner if a new safety recall is issued. As with www.safercar.gov, most manufacturers have VIN-specific safety recall look-up tools on their websites.
You can also subscribe for email safety recall notifications from NHTSA at http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/subscriptions/index.cfm. These notifications are not specific to your VIN, but are based on your car’s year and make. You can register up to five cars. By subscribing, you will receive an email whenever there is a safety recall for your selection.
If your car has an unrepaired safety recall, you will not have to pay anything to fix it. Importantly, Carvana cannot repair open safety recalls on our own. The current recall system is based on the manufacturer’s relationship with its dealers and registered vehicle owners, not with independent auto dealers like Carvana. Contact a manufacturer-authorized repair facility, and they are required to fix safety recalls at no cost to you.
