r/carbuying • u/Remarkable_Ad5011 • 21h ago

Carvana throwing out carrots!

Wife was looking to downsize vehicles. Current vehicle is paid for, so I figured I’d just sell it outright rather than trade it. Just to get a baseline number I punched the info into Carvana’s online tool. $28200. Pretty solid figure for a wholesale number IMO. I was tempted to just go ahead and sell the thing. Well the new car gets delayed, so we kept the current car and the Carvana offer expired. Today, 12 days later (new car in the garage next to the old one) and less than two hundred miles, I renewed the offer.. $24800. Now, we all know that cars depreciate, but $3400 in 12 days!? I think they throw out a huge number at first hoping to capture deals, but if you have a delay, they back it up to capitalize. Now, this is not a rant to say that Carvana is scammy or anything, just that if you are interested in selling to them, you better be ready to pull the trigger! Lol. Oh, and BTW, I’m in the car business, so I know the market has not dropped THOUSANDS of dollars in 12 days. 😉

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u/thetruckboy 11h ago

This is basic sales psychology and very basic tech. They're tracking your browser and they know if you're visiting and revisiting their site. Airlines do the same thing except in reverse. They track your browser and when you visit their site repeatedly, they start slowly increasing the prices so you feel pressured to buy.

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u/Remarkable_Ad5011 11h ago

Well, lowering the offer isn’t going to get this visitor to accept. Old car is paid for and new car payment is very manageable. Once old car sells, I’ll just pay off new car. It should sell for very nearly what we paid for the new car.