I've recently bought two used cars -- one from Carvana (about 2 years ago) and one from a dealer (in the last month).

In both instances, I paid with a certified check, so financing complications did not come up.

In my experience, Carvana was a substantially easier process. I picked the car out online, "ordered" it, and they showed up a few days later with a flatbed and put the car in my driveway. I signed some paperwork and we were done in less than an hour at my house.

The dealership took almost 3 hours to get me out of the door even though we had done a fair amount of work up-front to avoid having to spend time at the dealership. I suspect a lot of this could have been mitigated by the dealership if they were better with paperwork and interfacing with the DMV or doing some work ahead of time.

In the end, however, I'd rather not buy from Carvana again. You have no room to negotiate and their customer service is not great. Their prices generally aren't better than the dealer's prices BEFORE you negotiate with the dealers. If you're buying a newer used car (I usually buy cars that are 2-3 years old), the certified warranties that the car manufactures offer are a really nice bonus that Carvana can't offer.

For example, I just picked up a certified 2019 with around 19k miles. It's basic warranty will now run until 2025 or 100k miles. And the manufacturer warranties, in my experience, are substantially better than after-market warranties since the dealers' service departments work directly with the manufacture on servicing them and the dealers are more aligned with your interests than the manufactures' since they make a lot of money off doing repairs. Whereas third-party warranties are more like insurance and you better have your ducks in a row if you actually need to make a claim and expect to have it paid.

I sold an S5 to Carvana, got $1-2k over trade in offers, it had a broken windshield and bad brakes and there were zero issues with the process. They showed up, had to bring a specific person b/c it was manual lol, and wrote me the check right there. It was as painless a process as I've ever had with a vehicle transaction.

I sold a car to carvana and had the exact same experience. I thought for sure that there was going to be some kind of catch because it took just 15 minutes and they did all the work and hauled it away from my house. It was too easy it seemed unreal.

It is one of Tesla's underappreciated innovations.

Where are you shopping? I bought a new Honda in March and it was dirt simple. Traded a few text messages with salesman to agree on price, show up at dealer, sign a pile of pre-printed paperwork (mostly loan related, Honda had better rates than my CU at the time), and on my way. I was there maybe 30 minutes.

That’s awesome! I walked into a highly regarded area dealer, ready to buy, and the guy pulled out pre-printed four-square sheets. Took about five minutes of that before I walked out and got online, coincidentally with Carvana, where I found exactly the trim I wanted at a better price than any of the local dealers.

Wow, I'm amazed they still try that nonsense. I guess there are still plenty of suckers out there buying cars.

Just in case anybody is wondering how "easy" a new car purchase can be... I sold my previous car to Carvana a few months prior (didn't need a car last winter due to COVID). So, that wasn't in play.

I tested a few cars at various local dealers (cross-shopped Tacomas, Rangers, Ridgeline, and a few similarly priced SUVs). All were easy enough to deal with - told them up front I wasn't buying that day and just wanted to test drive. Only one asked me to wait for the manager to chat - annoying, but whatever.

Once I settled on model/trim, I emailed every dealer within an hour's drive that had one in stock (several didn't - COVID shortages) and asked them to text their best price. First response was within 30 minutes, and a few texts later, I had the price down to my target (which was based on asking around some make/model forums online). The dealer did make me go through the whole extra warranty, tire care, and other add-on bullshit, but it was by phone and basically just me saying "No" a half dozen times. Annoying, but expected.

Anyways, the process is still a bit tedious and requires too much back and forth, but at least it can mostly be done via text or phone. The actual in-person stuff is pretty painless (and would be even easier if I brought my own financing).

I couldn't believe it either - when he first got up from the desk to go "talk to his manager" I teased him he'd better not come back with a foursquare. Several trips back and forth and a whole lot of stalling later, he comes back with a pre-printed foursquare form. Guess we've entered the digital age of car buying.

I expect it is not actually profitable to let a customer out the door for the same price that brings him in the door. If a dealership shifted their pricing from last minute upsells into the advertised price, would anyone come?

Decade-old cars is around the midpoint of where I’m usually buying them, not when they’re end-of-life.

Not German cars I hope...

My 1998 Mercedes E300D (bought by me in 2009 at around 180K miles) was one of the best used cars I'd bought in terms of reliability. We drove it 7 years until New England salt ravaged the disastrous "environmentally friendly paint process" (which served to provide an early retirement for a mechanically sound car, the overall environmental benefit of which I cannot see).

Mechanically, in the 7 years/~35K miles we drove it, it needed brake pads once each axle, oil changes, wiper blades, one glow plug, tie rod ends, and one tire plug. That's not quite EV level of low maintenance, but it's pretty solid.

Best thing about the German car reputation is that some people are afraid to own them past the warranty and many are afraid past the 8-10 year mark. It makes them (911s aside) reasonably priced to buy used.

I have had similar experiences with Mercedes, New England salt included. Bought an E series for cheap with only 24k miles and drove it with only regular maintenance to 300k miles before the salt won. I’ve heard many other people with the same complaints about Mercedes as the parent but my two cars have been excellent.