Carvana bought my seven-year-old car for more than I paid brand-new

>Only repairs that cross “an expected dollar threshold that’s going to be meaningful” trigger a process where Carvana might take the customer aside for a revised bid

a what now? you bought it you deal with it

>Last Friday, I got Carvana’s final answer. The short version? It’s not a bug — at that moment in time, Carvana’s algorithm believed it could pay me that much and still make a profit.

algorithms dont have a belief system, they have bugs. There are tons of 2014 Fits listed at $10-14K all over the place.

It sounds to me like I could flood car marketplaces (optimally ones carvana uses) with grossly inflated sale offers for my particular make/model/year and then sell it to Carvana at hilarious margin.

>Carvana’s executives think of it like a portfolio — there’ll be winners and losers

they might be losing money on every single unit sold, but they make it up in volume! It used to be just a joke, but in todays economy merely having big turnover on paper suddenly produces $Billion$ valuations despite no profit.

Oh look what we have here https://seekingalpha.com/instablog/767332-clastic/5659699-ca...

"with the exception of Q2'21, Carvana has lost money on each and every used car they have ever sold"

I am in the market for a new or used car, and I can confirm that it is absolute bonkers right now. New cars are 10-20% over MSRP and 30-90 days lead time, and some dealers are further price gouging by making buyers purchase a 'bundle' of accessories to have the privilege of buying a car at a markup. Used cars are absolutely going for more than a comparable new car, and I've considered it because the used car at least exists and is something I could drive home the same day. Worst part is the only reason I'm in the car market is that my actual vehicle that I own is in the shop after a minor collision waiting for parts since the beginning of October. All around the car market is terrible. For the time being I'm renting a car on a monthly basis, as it seems to be the least bad solution, and it's fairly bad.

Sounds like Carvana might end up as the next Zillow Offers, but in the meantime I believe it…

I bought a pickup truck new just before the pandemic, and dealers are selling my model and year of the truck, with more miles, for $10-20k more than I originally bought it for.

I’d consider selling, but what would I replace it with?

New cars are just as expensive, hard to get ahold of, and on top of that have all kinds of corners cut because of the chip shortage…

He did not say in the article how many miles the car had on it or how much sales tax he paid.

Carvana is selling a 2015 Fit, 10000 miles, for $21,990

https://www.carvana.com/vehicle/2189442?utm_source=vdp-socia...

I see a 2012 Fit going for $19900...

https://www.carvana.com/vehicle/2177428?utm_source=vdp-socia...

I am sure Carvana is looking to get a piece of the financing from buyers too.

Eh this reads as a sponsored content piece for Carvana. On the other hand, here’s a more interesting take on the “ponzi” model behind this co: https://seekingalpha.com/instablog/767332-clastic/5659699-ca...

Carvana is owned by Drivetime,

They make money because they supply the note when it's sold.

Markup to 23k, APR at 23% or whatever is the legal limit.

Their main target audience is subprime lenders. Cars depreciate normally, and this can be another bubble that will burst in the next 2-4 years that may or may not drive electric car adaption.

The best part is that the latest gen of the vehicle in the article, Honda Fit, is not even sold in North America. Due to lack of demand, presumably[0].

Guess this means I'm driving my 2nd gen 2010 Fit until the country runs out of replacement parts, because there isn't a subcompact out there with a comparable cargo space configuration.

And in the Bay Area, each time I'm driving somewhere I see a Fit or two - which people aren't selling, looking at Craigslist. Older Fits with 2x mileage sell for 2x what I got mine for ($4500 in 2017).

I contacted Honda at their email customer service[1] line, and got this response:

>Thank you for contacting American Honda regarding your sales experience . We want to thank you for providing us the opportunity to respond to your message. On behalf of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., we apologize for the circumstances which prompted you to contact us. American Honda documents and uses feedback in developing training for dealership management. We want to ensure that all customers have a smooth and stress-free sales experience. As such, we have documented a formal dealership complaint on your behalf.

As generic as this is, some extra nagging from all the Fitniks out there certainly wouldn't hurt. Though most likely, they won't care unless it's a Tweet[3].

[0] https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a33337398/honda-fit-discon...

[1] https://crrs.secure.force.com/service/hondaownerw2c

[2] https://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/cta?query=honda+fit&min_...

[3] https://twitter.com/the_roman_kogan/status/14918465253490278...

I sold a vehicle to CarMax a few months ago for 8% over what I paid for it six months prior.

It took them two months and selling it for less than I paid to get it off the lot.

Same thing happened about 4 years ago though; they bought a car for what I paid for it and took a pretty solid loss.

In both cases they overvalued on a rare color that I liked but the market did not.

I’m selling my car to Carvana in a couple of days. They’re giving me $1700 less than I paid them for the same car 4 years ago. Pretty nuts, but I’m not complaining.

Carvana is great. I always sell to Carvana and buy from CarMax.