Car buying, made easier?

Having driven the 4Runner for 5 years and 110k miles, I determined that it was no longer feasible to drive a 6000-lb off-road truck to work every day. Not only is the 4Runner heavy, but it also gets poor fuel economy at about 12 miles per gallon. The 4Runner also does not fit into parking structures due to its height. Having a second vehicle would afford me the ability to work on truck projects for longer periods without having to get everything buttoned up before my Monday morning commute.

When I shop for a new vehicle, I generally have a pretty good idea about what I am looking for.

This time however I was fairly indecisive. Since I was keeping the 4Runner I knew that having a vehicle with better fuel economy would be ideal. We do travel long distances to the Midwest to visit family, so comfort and reliability were important as well as having space for the dogs to safely travel with us. I looked at large SUVs but I just could not justify having a second SUV when I already had one. I also was not interested in paying SUV prices. I decided a car would be the way to go.

I settled on the Toyota Venza XLE, with the 3.5L V6 (it also comes with a 4 liter which I had no desire to own). The only problem I knew I might run into was the fact that Toyota stopped making the Venza in 2015 for the US market. I began searching in all the typical places that I normally would – including local dealer website inventories and Auto Trader. I dreaded the car buying process and began to put it off. Just thinking about spending 4 hours at a dealer made me not want to buy a car at all. We went on our annual fall camping trip to Virginia and I consulted with a friend of mine who spoke very highly of Carvana. He mentioned the ease of the sale and that the car he received was the cleanest used car he’d ever had in his possession. I thought about Carvana and filed it away for further research.

I stumbled onto the Carvana website after thinking more about buying a car.

At this point I really just didn’t have the time to spend hours at a dealer. I knew I needed a car. I sat down on a Wednesday afternoon with the intention of just looking. I perused the Carvana website to see that they indeed had a Venza in my preferred trim in stock. I read through the Carvana process and checked out their page on how to buy a car online. I looked at the potential vehicle photos and their 360 view. They offer a closed door view and an open-door view. There were close-up photos of the interior and any blemishes were documented in detail. The page revealed all information about the car including how many keys were available and a copy of the original window sticker. I felt fairly confident that I knew what I would be getting. I decided I could live with the minimal blemishes (it was a 3 year old used car after all). And clicked on the “Get Started” button above the car’s photo.

This started the purchase process and placed a 24 hold on the car. It showed the final price including taxes and tags, and what I would need to continue the process. At this point I decided to go for it and contacted my bank. Within minutes I received approval for the loan. On the Carvana site I provided a photo of my driver license, and the name of the bank and phone number where I would be financing. Carvana does offer financing options, but I felt like I could do better through my own bank. The bank sent the loan check overnight to the house. Once I had the check in hand I uploaded it onto the Carvana website and my delivery was scheduled for the next week, based on a time slot that I chose. I spoke with a Carvana representative on the phone to verify they would not need any more information from me and she explained the delivery process. The carrier would arrive with the vehicle, I would get to drive the car, and if I decided I did not want it they would leave with the car. If I chose to keep the car, they would start the funds transfer process, and I would have 7 days to return it for a full refund, no questions asked. I also learned – and this is probably the best part – Carvana would take care of the state inspection, titling, and registration. So not only did I not have to visit a car dealer, I also did not have to go to the Maryland Vehicle Administration.

On the day of the delivery, the carrier contacted me about an hour before my scheduled delivery time. Due to the impending holiday she expressed that it would take 30 more minutes that she had originally planned.

Since my “waiting room” was at home, I went about my business making dinner. At 6:45 pm the carrier called to say she was outside. The information from Carvana said I would need proof of insurance, my driver license, and the bank check. I went outside to meet the carrier and she took photos of my license and proof of insurance. She promptly unloaded the car from the truck so I could take it for a test drive.

I drove to a nearby gas station with lots of lights. Since it was after dark I wanted to get a good look at the car in the light. The car looked well taken care of, and was in great condition for a 3 year vehicle. It drove as expected and I returned home to the waiting Carvana carrier. I gave the driver the bank check, signed the title transfer and bill of sale, and the car was mine.

The car came with a 45 day temp tag and the carrier said my Maryland license plates would arrive in 30 days or less. The driver left our street at 7:08pm. The entire transaction from start to finish was minimal. I spent about 15 minutes on the phone with my own bank before the sale getting my financing, 10 or so minutes with the insurance company, another 20 minutes or so to complete the purchase process on the Carvana site, and less than 30 minutes to test drive, and have the vehicle signed over to me. I did not have to go to the Maryland Vehicle Administration as all the legwork was complete for my license plates.

Hands down, this was the easiest and most stress free car purchase I had ever made… There was no sucking up half of a day waiting around at the dealer, I was able to test drive the car in my own neighborhood on my own streets that I was familiar with, and I did not have to go through the registration or inspection process. Carvana provided the Carfax report (before and after the sale), they were pleasant both on the phone and in person, and they did exactly what they said they were going to do. For someone considering purchasing a vehicle in this way, the only two things that could be a deal breaker are these: You do not get to see the car in person until it arrives, and there is no haggling about the price.

If you are looking for a used vehicle, do your research ahead of time, know what the vehicle you are looking for is worth, and if you do not want to spend your free time at a dealership, then I would say that Carvana is absolutely the way to go.