Selling A Car on Carvana: My Personal Experience

A while back, I did some business with Carvana selling them a used car and I wanted to write about it as I thought it was a very interesting experience.

First some history about the car…

So about 4 years before selling the car to Carvana…

I was in need of a used vehicle.

I had $5000 for a down payment.

Very soon into my search for a ‘new to me’ vehicle, an extended family member reached out and informed me that they had a 2013 dark blue Ford Fusion with just under 50,000 original miles for sale.

When I got there, I thought the car looked great.  But then I got closer and noticed it had some dents…

It had dents all around the vehicle and a few small rock chips in the windshield.  The family member told me all of the damage was cosmetic. 

So I took it for a test drive and got it up to about 80 miles per hour on the interstate. The air conditioner blew COLD AIR, The car drove straight and didn’t make noises when it got up to speed. I peeked my head under the hood and under the entire car and didn’t see anything leaking.

When I got back to the family members house he asked me what I thought. I told him that I thought it was a great running car and the damage doesn’t seem to impede the ride at all.  I said it had to be worth at least $12000 – $13000 and all I had at that time was $5000.

Then he told me he’d let me have it for $7000. 

I gladly gave him the $5000 and told him i would be back in two weeks with the other $2000.

I ended up owning that 2013 ford fusion for four and a half years. I parked it in my garage every night and I changed the oil every 4000 to 5000 miles. It was a great running vehicle. 

With my family getting bigger I was forming a need for a bigger vehicle.

After 4+ years of driving the ford fusion and it still having under 80,000 miles, I knew that I had to sell the car soon if I wanted to get any value out of it being sold.

I decided my end goal was to get a full sized extended cab 4×4 pickup truck.  I like either a RAM 1500 or a Ford F-150.  I figured that if I could sell my Fusion then I could use that money as a down payment on a used full size pickup.

Kelley blue book said my fusion was worth about $10,000 – $12,000 at this time but that was for great condition.  My car still had all the body damage it had when I first bought it as I never fixed any of it.

I decided to see what the ford dealership on the outskirts of town had to say about it. I learned that dealerships want to do things their way which is:

1. First, pick a vehicle from our inventory
2. Then we’ll talk trade in.

So I picked out a real nice black RAM 1500 4×4 pickup. It was a 2012 with about 53000 miles on it. The young man who was my sales guy took one look at my fusion and said “I can try to get $2000 for it but I doubt it.” I laughed and told him not to bother!.” Thanked him for his time and walked out. He sent me a text as I drove out of the lot saying the best he could do was $2500.  I didn’t even reply.

Now I was thinking this might be more of a challenge than I thought to get the kind of money I was looking for when selling my 2013 ford fusion.

Later on in the evening, while eating dinner a Carvana commercial came on TV and that is when I got the idea to hop online and see if Carvana would give me an offer?

To my surprise not only did they give me an offer but it was way over anything I was expecting.  So much so that I thought at first it was a hoax.  I was even truthful in all my answers about my vehicle.  I stated that it did have body damage on all four corners of the vehicle but none that impeded its ride or function. 

The next day I decided to pull the trigger and see if it would actually work. I decided that the worst that could happen would be they don’t show up or they do and they don’t want my car.  So worse case, I’ll still have my car.

First I had to scheduled a meeting with a Carvana representative. They were are able to meet me at my home to do a visual inspection and administer the final paperwork.  The meeting was scheduled exactly one week from the day I confirmed and accepted their offer which by the way was $9100.00

Yep that is correct they offered me $9100.00 online for a 2013 Ford Fusion that had under 80,000 miles with body damage all the way around the vehicle without even looking at it. I also noted in description of the vehicle that it did have body damage and a few chips in the windshield.

That week was hell for me!

I kept saying to my-self “They are not going to give me $9100 for that car! NO WAY!!!, It’s got body damage. No way!!”

But then I’d think, if they give me $9100 for that car then I will be able to easily afford a $10,000 down payment on a full size truck!

When the day came I was a nervous wreck. I just wanted it to be over and I knew that I was going to be absolutely devastated if they didn’t take the car and give me a check for $9100.  I decided to just assume the worst and tell my self that I was going to be disappointed.

When the Carvana car pulled up I was super excited!

She did notice the body damage and asked if I noted that on my original application for an offer. I said I filled out all the sections regarding damage very thoroughly and was very explicit. I also uploaded pictures as well.

The rep said OK and told me to go back in side and when she was done evaluating the car she would come knock on my door and let me know what they were going to do. She said she had to call her boss and send photos from her phone and that he would be the ultimate decision maker on whether or not they buy the car from me.

So I walked back to my front porch, sat down and patiently waited.  All I could think was “If they hand me a check for $9100 this will be a fantastic day!”