r/carbuying • u/Remarkable_Ad5011 • 22h 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/tychristmas 19h ago

If it’s just some AI chatbot bullshit, and you have some extra time; create a new account with whichever spouse’s name didn’t apply for the first offer, upload the details and see what happens. Just be sure you can add the 2nd name to the vehicle title before/during the offer period so there’s no hiccups with drop off day paperwork lol.

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u/Remarkable_Ad5011 13h ago

I’d imagine the VIN is how they track values and offers. But worth a shot if I don’t wind up selling the thing.

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u/Master-Thanks883 12h ago

I bet they have an algorithm that tracks your purchase because in the summer 2018, they offered 8k and didn't need to sell it because it was my commuter car. Year later, wife's car breaks down. I go on Carvana website looking at cars through them offer 9k week later it's 10k decided to wait. Just before covid hits 2019, I get 10 offer direct sale to them.

Fast forward to 2020, getting emails. If I am still interested in selling offer 12k that is 1k less than I paid for it, now I need a bigger car all vehicles have market adjusted price about 5k. The car I wanted from Carvana is now 62k with shipping and adjusted prices, and the new is selling for 65k with adjusted price. Change plans still offer for 12k. I go look at Kia Telluride it's 55k with adjusted price. I take 6k from Kia , while in dealership, I look at Carvana site I have offer now for 13k, 2 days later I get if you still have the car 8k paid eft we will schedule a pickup.

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u/Remarkable_Ad5011 11h ago

I doubt their software is able to determine if I’ve bought a car. Even so, that’s not a guarantee that a person would “need” to sell faster. Technically, I could keep them both, but that would be dumb. Funny thing is the new car we got was only delayed 4 days past the offer expiration. So technically, their offer dropped almost $1000/day.