It just does not make sense to throw thousands of dollars away to save a couple hours at a dealership.
That's just the market we're in right now. I recently sold my car on a trade-in for 2x the price it was worth 2 years ago when I've looked at things.
I wound up with a new Tesla, partially because used car prices were so high. The amount of time and attention buying cars still commands, in most cases, is ridiculous, and the efforts of Carvana to lower both, however imperfect, is commendable.
An exception might be if you live in a rust belt area where they salt the roads in the winter. Then you might need to go to a dealer who sources southern cars.
Probably the best way to get used trucks, if you are an astute buyer, is to go to estate auctions, but that's obviously much less convenient than FB marketplace or what have you.
Yup, any car buying right now is going to cost extra - but even in that context Carvana overcharges (and offers laughable financing). IMO - I spent the past 3 months researching this topic for my own purchase, limited mostly to sedans and cross-overs.
Who are the used car buyers that are paying 20% more and getting bad financing terms? Are they selling a lot of cars to subprime buyers?
That's it - same old processes, but they have the UX to make it "nice."
And people are paying a premium for that.
Same model, year, trim and pretty close mileage are on Caravana, listed at $19k and $21k. So a 50% premium.
I, value 50% of the car's price and don't mind spending 3-6 hours to save $10,000~ but many people, simply have an old car, the mechanic says it needs a new engine, they have a shift working minimum wage-esque and go with the first option of visibility thinking it's a good deal.
Financially poor, financially ignorant and time poor.
The perfect American customer.
A. Lower interest rates than the local credit union or the banks, and
B. Better prices on the vehicle I wanted than anyone else in the area.