We’ve all heard haggle stories from one person or another. An individual goes into a dealership, looks at a car, takes a test drive, and falls in love with it. But when it’s time to sit down and sign, the price has somehow gone up! This can be especially intimidating for a first-time car buyer. What are these fees? Where did they come from? Why am I suddenly paying more?
Some of these dealership fees are unavoidable. For example, a shipping fee set by the automaker for the vehicle to reach its destination. A paperwork preparation fee (which, in some instances, can run you up to $500). Title and registration fee. So on and so forth. There are also fees that you might be charged but don’t need to pay, such as paint protection for the exterior and fabric protection for your seats.
Kind of sounds like a hassle, huh?
Sure, you could compare everything against the window sticker and do your research and ask the salesperson a plethora of questions. But at Carvana, you won’t have to worry about any of that, as we believe that one wants to haggle over the price of a vehicle purchase when they could spend their Saturday doing something much more fulfilling!
Speaking of price, we understand that choosing how to best finance your car can be a very stressful part of the purchase process. How do you know what option is best? Traditionally speaking, financing works in favor of the dealers, and you don’t want to be taken advantage of. We don’t want any of our customers to feel like they need to go above their budget, which is why Carvana works to give everyone fair options for a down payment and interest rate by enabling them with the ability to completely personalize financing terms to fit their life. Again, no haggle and no sketchy backroom finance deals.
With our cars, the price you see on the website is the price you’re going to pay (with the exception of sales tax). Since we aren’t a traditional dealership, we don’t have to spend nearly as much on overhead costs (such as real estate for on-site inventory or commissions for sales staff). This allows us to pass the savings on to our customers. If a car arrives at the hub with any unannotated issues, Carvana will cover the cost to fix it.
Now, assume everything has gone smoothly in the purchase process so far. Let’s say your car gets delivered, you take your quick spin, and everything checks out. But you just don’t love it. That’s ok! At no point are you obligated to accept the vehicle until after the end of your 7-day money back guarantee. We’ll take the vehicle back, no questions asked.
So you can feel good about your no-haggle buying experience, but what about selling or trading your car?
We want our car buyers to have as much control over the purchase process as possible, and the same goes for anyone selling their car to Carvana. No one wants to spend their Saturday negotiating a price for selling their car either.
Like the buying process, everything is done online (whether you’re trading in or just selling outright). For the appraisal process, all you have to do is honestly fill out a questionnaire about your vehicle’s condition. The questionnaire will ask you about exterior damage, any mechanical defects, aftermarket parts, etc. Once submitted, you’ll be given an offer for your vehicle which you can either accept or decline. Unless any discrepancies are found at the time of the appointment, the payout amount will not change.
If any undisclosed issues are found, the car will be reappraised. Luckily it can be done right there on the driveway, and the seller can either accept or decline the new offer.
Whether you’re buying, financing, selling, or trading, we do our best to eliminate any possible hiccups along the way. This includes eliminating any ambiguity around pricing, because the only surprises on your car buying journey should be good ones. We don’t want the process to be stressful. We built our business on the idea that it shouldn’t be.
