https://www.carvana.com/
1-800-333-4554
Their best friends, and those best friends daughter, had each gotten a car more then a year ago through Carvana. They loved the experience. The new way of buying a car. I have known, loved, and trusted this family all of my life...…….literally! So, I said "absolutely"! They are very reliable references for me!
Carvana is an online car dealer. You can search in a few different ways for the type of car you want. A list comes up of cars with their cost and model year. Each vehicle has a very detailed product page complete with an easy link to the vin# Carfax report. It shows pictures of imperfections, photo tours inside and out, details about features, and a lot more. They don't have new cars but, most are pre-owned and very new. Under my search a lot of 2018 models came up. They were leased with one owner. They have a detailed inspection page that mentions any problems they had found and fixed. All problems were fixed before listing it for sale.
Create the account in the name of the person who will be the title owner. Order the car. You'll need to include photos of both sides of your driver's license. They will check with your bank to make sure the money is in the account. You can set up a payment plan if you want. Sign the contracts online and they deliver your car to you on a tow truck. They don't deliver it until all of the purchase paperwork is complete. It's considered a pending purchase until then. I found it helpful to talk to a sales associate about the details. But, you don't have to. I just had a lot of questions. All of this can be done through attachments to your paperwork through your account page.
You can test drive it before you sign the registration paperwork once it has arrived. They give you seven days from delivery to decide if you want to keep the car. After that, the purchase is final, they mail you the registration, title, and plates. They do that with FedEx Express. You have to be there to sign for them. But, you can request that the driver just leaves them at your door. With this paperwork, I recommend signing for them! In NJ it will take two weeks. But, for some states it will take as many as four weeks. Mine came fully registered in Georgia with a Georgia inspection. Fully safe to drive right away. After your plates are on the car, you have to get it inspected in your state. They tell you the date you need to have put the plates on and have had it inspected by.
I got a 2016 Ford Focus. When the hand me down first car broke, I got a Ford Escort. That was when I started college. Like this one, that had been previously leased by one owner. It was new but not brand spanking new. Focuses took over for Escorts when they stopped making Escorts. I have been driving the old car, a hand me down from my mom, for nine years. It was a 2006 Ford Focus. So, for me, I loved my Focus, I wanted a Focus.
We didn't plan on buying that first night. We were just exploring the website. But, the perfect Focus was right there. BLUE!!! Finally!!! My mom loves red cars, I hate red cars, I had been trapped driving red cars. But, it was my choice! And just like the second Escort I got in college (long story), it's blue! My favorite! It was the right price and everything was just right from the product page. Including low mileage.
It was delivered on Monday afternoon. I was like a kid when Santa comes down the street on the firetruck. I took my test drive and everything fit just right. After, I signed the paperwork and my seven day period began. I have been driving it extra to test it more. I have been sitting in it and taking pictures of it. So, this morning, two days later, I called and waived the rest of the waiting period. This car just fits and feels perfect for me. Once it synced with my phone, the fate was sealed.
My old car didn't have blue tooth to connect to my phone, it didn't say the outside temperature, it wasn't blue, it didn't have a backup camera or other new things. I am enjoying all of these features and so is Zach.
Now, I wait the two weeks for the paperwork to arrive then take it to get inspected. I already have a seller for my old car. Josh's boss needs something safe for his mother. She is driving a car from the 1980s. It was satisfying to let him know I have made a final decision and he can come get the other car.
Our part of the process was a little different. My mom originally set the account and purchase up in her name. But, it has to be under the person who will be the owner and driver, that is me. So, I created an account and they transferred all of the sale information to my name. But, I didn't have this kind of money in the account. I did have an idea on how to get it to show quickly. I told my mom to withdraw the cash and deposit the cash in my back in the account we share. It took a long time for her bank to process their part. Rightly, her bank was making sure she wasn't being forced under duress. I waited in the car working through things with Allstate, my insurance company. As we finished making the cash deposit in my bank, immediately after she took the money out, Allstate emailed me the proof of insurance. I emailed that to Rebecca at Carvana and everything went smoothly. By doing it this way, the money was available right away. They needed it to be available right away. If you are doing a payment plan, I think you just need the first payment available when purchasing. They will tell you when you set that up.
My personal opinion on the experience? A lot of people have been asking. Few like dealers and are interested in how this works. I have been very happy with this experience. If you don't know the make and model you want, test a few at a real dealer. But, buy from Carvana. They are careful with the information pages and the paperwork. They are a real dealer in every state. It's like buying from the dealer without pressure. I have a warranty and can take it to any Ford dealer for the covered repairs.
My only concern is the registration and title paperwork. They arrive for some people in the nick of time. My Georgia registration is good through September 30th. Around September 4th it will arrive. In NJ it takes about two weeks. But, if I lived in one of the states where it took four weeks, it could have arrived around September 22nd. That means I would only have had eight days to get it inspected. It's legal to drive in the meantime, but not after that time without the registration, plates, title, and inspection. It's up to you to get it inspected in your state. You can't inspect it without the plates and registration. But, you can do it all in time and I do recommend buying your car this way. Once you have settled on a make and model.
I thought about putting a link to a car in the post. But, after the sale is complete, you can't get to that page anymore. My car's link is no longer available. I don't want to post a link that you can't get to at some point in the future. So, I will repost the link to the webpage. I suggested you explore the search and see what I mean about the product pages.
https://www.carvana.com/
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