Although online car buying has become more and more “normal” in recent years, it can still be intimidating! Buying a car “sight unseen” can give some people pause, and understandably so. But online car buying with isn’t just about convenience: it also means savings for you.
How do you know you’re saving money? For starters, when browsing Carvana’s inventory, you might notice some of our cars are marked as a “Great Deal.” This means they are priced $1,500 or more below their Kelley Blue Book® Suggested Retail Value. For anyone who isn’t familiar, Kelley Blue Book is a trusted vehicle valuation and research company.
There are many factors that go into the Carvana listing price of a vehicle, including features, mileage, and availability—which can cause our price to be lower or higher than KBB value. Like all Carvana Certified vehicles, cars marked “Great Deal” have no reported accidents and pass our 150-point inspection. To see all cars marked “Great Deal”, you can add it as a filter to your search.*
We also buy vehicles with minor imperfections (like some light scratches or scrapes), which are factored into the price as well. Should you have any problems with the car after the delivery, Carvana will cover the repair costs within the first 100 days or 4,189 miles, whichever comes first. If you opt for one of Carvana’s extended warranties, or if the vehicle has a remaining manufacturer’s warranty, you’ll be covered for longer.
By not having any on-site inventory, we can pass a lot of savings on to our customers. Since we don’t have the real estate costs of a traditional dealership or a traditional sales staff, Carvana has lower overhead costs overall. Because the online process cuts out the middle man, there is no pressure to earn a commission. Not only does this mean a no-pressure, no-haggle car buying experience, but it also means buyers save $1,400 on average compared to if they’d bought the same car at a traditional dealership.
So how does Carvana do this? Well, our nationwide delivery network makes it less expensive to deliver high quality vehicles to customers compared to the cost of running hundreds of dealerships across the country. For every car a traditional dealership sells, most of the profit goes to dealership personnel, but a good amount also has to go towards the cost of running the physical dealership.
From day one, Carvana’s goal has been to take the stress out of your car buying experience. This includes eliminating any surprise fees or any sort of haggling on price. The final price is calculated inside of the purchase process and will include the listed price of the vehicle, local taxes, title and registration (which varies by state), and any extras you choose to add, such as CarvanaCare or Gap Coverage. There may also be a delivery charge if the car you buy comes from outside your local Carvana market.
By going the online route, customers will also save on fees associated with traditional car dealerships. For example, we wrote an article on how much you could save without a dealer doc fee, which is a fee that dealerships charge to prep your paperwork. These fees differ by state, and on the low end will run you around $75. The high end, however, can run you hundreds more.
A few other fess you might run into:
- Destination Fee (the cost of getting the car from the manufacturer to the dealership)
- Advertising fee (the car company needs to pay for their advertisements)
- Dealer prep (basically making sure car looks ready to drive off the lot)
There are optional add-ons as well, such as fabric or paint protectant for your vehicle and window tint. These are at the discretion of the customer.
So there you have it: not only is Carvana helping you take back your Saturday, but you’re saving some Benjamins as well.
*The “Great Deal” price comparison is not displayed to customers in Texas, Louisiana, or Utah due to state restrictions.
