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• Carvana earned the award for “Most Convenient” in our most recent study.
• The company provides a smooth and efficient online experience for selling a car.
• Carvana handles most if not all administrative tasks associated with vehicle sales.

Drivers often turn to Carvana sell my car services when they’re ready to offload an old vehicle. The company promises fast payouts and a seamless experience, but it may not be the right choice for all sellers.

Our research team took an in-depth look at how selling a car on Carvana works and compared its payments, experience, and support to other options. We’ll explain why we named Carvana as the Most Convenient option for motorists hoping to sell their car online.

Carvana: Sell My Car Review

Carvana received 8.7 out of 10.0 stars in our study of the top online car dealerships. The car buyer offers extensive support for transactions to allow for an easy, frictionless process of selling from start to finish.

Carvana Sell My Car: Pros & Cons

Selling a car to Carvana comes with various positives, but you’ll also want to consider the company’s drawbacks.

Carvana Sell My Car Pros

• Fast payouts
• Excellent customer support
• Seamless car selling experience

Carvana Sell My Car Cons

• No private sale option
• Lower offers than some competitors

How Do I Sell My Car to Carvana?

The Carvana sell my car process is exceptionally fast and simple, making the company stand out to our review team. Carvana has designed an easy, intuitive platform that walks sellers through the whole process and generates a real offer in just a few minutes. Here’s how it works:

1. Enter details about your vehicle: Start out by entering either your vehicle identification number (VIN) or license plate number. This brings up the basic make and model information for your car and takes you to the next step.
2. Answer specific questions about your car: Next, you’ll be asked for more specific information about your vehicle. This includes mileage on the odometer, which options your car has, and whether any aftermarket equipment has been installed.
3. Decide between a cash offer or trade in: Once you’ve answered all of the questions, Carvana will ask whether you want to get cash for your vehicle or receive trade-in value toward a new car.
4. Consider your offer: Carvana gives sellers seven days to consider both cash and trade-in offers. The offer will remain the same throughout this time period as long as your original information was accurate.
5. Sell your car to Carvana: If you accept Carvana’s offer, the rest of the process can be completed from home. The company will send a representative to you for an in-person inspection, to collect your keys, and to pay you on the spot. Carvana will take care of the title, registration, and loan payoff process if there’s still debt on the vehicle.

Carvana Sell My Car Checklist

Carvana has very few requirements when it comes to which cars it’ll take. We’ve created a short checklist to determine whether or not you can sell your car to Carvana.

You can likely sell or trade in your old car to Carvana if it meets the following requirements:

• Has a working odometer
• Can be safely test driven
• Is not a wrecked or salvaged title
• Is a model year newer than 1992

Car owners who live in California must also have an up-to-date registration for their vehicle, but this isn’t required elsewhere.

Meeting the requirements above doesn’t guarantee that Carvana will buy your car, but few people have issues getting the company to purchase qualifying vehicles. Unless, for example, your used BMW or Toyota model is from before 1992 or qualifies as a junk car, it’ll likely be accepted.

Can I Sell a Leased Vehicle to Carvana?

Yes, in many cases you can sell a leased car to Carvana and the company will work with the leaseholder to pay it off. This depends on the policies of the leasing company that owns the vehicle, however. Some companies may not allow leased vehicles to be bought out during the leasing period.

How Much Will Carvana Pay for My Used Car?

How much you can get during the Carvana sell my car process largely depends on six key factors: condition, trim and options, mileage, method of sale, accident history, and location.

Should I Use Carvana To Sell My Car?

Founded in 2012 and based in Tempe, Arizona, Carvana is one of the largest online used car retailers in the U.S. In addition to its pickup and delivery model, Carvana is known for its car vending machines that allow people to complete the car buying process in person.

How Does Carvana Work?

Carvana is an online automotive dealership that purchases and sells used cars to make a profit. Unlike traditional dealerships, however, Carvana operates primarily through its online platform. This platform allows car sellers to input information about their vehicle and wait for an algorithm to assess its value.

If the seller accepts the price, Carvana sell my car specialists will confirm the vehicle’s details and pay the seller before hauling the car to a distribution center. Carvana either pays on the spot with a physical check or does so via direct deposit, which arrives as soon as the next day.

Carvana vs. In-Person Dealerships

Physical car dealerships are still a popular option for people looking to sell their used cars. While Carvana serves the same market and purpose as physical dealerships, the company’s online shopping model gives it a few distinct advantages over the traditional model.

Increased Convenience

Selling a car online or shopping for one from home is far more convenient and efficient than taking trips to the dealership. With online dealerships like Carvana and Vroom, sellers can get offers on their vehicles in minutes, while buyers can easily sort through and compare potential options.

Easy Access to Information

Carvana also uses its website, Carvana.com, to offer information that can help buyers and sellers to make informed decisions. For example, visitors to the site can access CARFAX reports about individual vehicles to learn their complete accident and repair histories.

National Vehicle Stock

Since Carvana is not tied to any one location, it draws its stock of used vehicles from across the U.S. For sellers, this means that you could be able to get similar pricing whether you’re hoping to sell your car in Denver or in Miami, for example. For car buyers, it means that there’s a much wider selection of vehicles to compare and choose from.

Absence of Salespeople

Traditional dealerships have sales representatives who often strive to get as much money out of each transaction as possible. This can be frustrating for customers, who rarely appreciate the haggling and high-pressure sales tactics.

Since it’s an online dealership, selling your car to Carvana doesn’t involve a salesperson. The company makes a firm offer on your vehicle and you have seven days to decide whether or not to accept it. While you may be offered additional products along the way, you won’t need to haggle or worry about in-person pressure.

Carvana vs. Local Online Marketplaces

Another popular option for buying or selling used cars is the use of localized sites such as Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. These sites function as online classifieds, allowing owners to list their vehicles for sale.

The biggest upside to using these marketplaces is that you could potentially get a larger payment for your vehicle. Selling to a private party can get you closer to the listed Kelley Blue Book (KBB) value for your car. However, that potential for extra cash comes with some significant downsides compared to typical Carvana sell my car procedures.

Additional Work

While getting an offer from Carvana only requires putting information into an online portal, there’s more involved with local marketplaces. You’ll have to create a listing yourself – which usually requires taking some photos – and communicate with potential buyers.

More Time

When you sell your car to Carvana, you’ll be paid as soon as the company picks your car up. That’s usually within a few days of accepting the provider’s offer.

When you list your car on a local marketplace, there’s no guarantee of when or if someone will buy your car. Even after you agree to a sale, dealing with banks and other financial institutions at an individual level can take more time.

Lots of Paperwork

Selling a car involves dealing with car titles and registration, so you’ll likely have to head to your local department of motor vehicles (DMV). If you have a loan on your car, you also must work with the bank to sort out a payoff and title collection. You may need to cancel or transfer your extended car warranty if you currently have one on your vehicle, too.

Carvana handles most if not all of this paperwork for the majority of car sellers. If you sell your vehicle to a private party, on the other hand, that responsibility falls on you and the potential buyer. This can be time-consuming and frustrating for everyone involved.

Potential for Scams

Local online marketplaces come with some risk of scams. People may provide false information about their identity, for example. Another common scam is when a supposed buyer provides false documentation of a wire transfer, tricking a seller into handing over their keys and documents without actually paying them.

Selling your car through Carvana eliminates the risk of such scams. The company pays sellers for their vehicles with certified checks that can be deposited or cashed immediately.

Dealing With People

When you sell a car through a local marketplace, you’ll have to deal with potential buyers. Some people are easy to deal with, but others can be seriously difficult. You may find people who want to haggle endlessly about the price, and others won’t have documents and funding ready when they’re needed.

If nothing else, you’ll have to coordinate your busy schedules on multiple occasions. Your buyer may want to test drive the car, take it to their mechanic, or do both before making a decision. You will also have to complete the actual transaction in person.

With its online model, the Carvana sell my car process has removed most of the hassle of dealing with people. As a result, the process is significantly faster and easier.

Carvana Sell My Car: Conclusion

Our research team gave Carvana 8.7 out of 10.0 stars and named it as one of the best places to sell your car. The company handles almost every aspect of the transaction, leaving drivers with a fast and hassle-free process that can be performed entirely from home.

While you may not get the absolute best price for your vehicle compared to a private sale, most Carvana sell my car offers are fair. When you consider how much work Carvana takes care of, the slightly lower price may be worth it in the end.

Carvana Sell My Car: Top Competitors

Though Carvana earned a high score in our recent study, it’s always smart to get offers from multiple sources before making a decision. Cars.com and CarMax are two other online dealers that performed well in our study and are absolutely worth looking into.

Cars.com: Best Options

Cars.com is one of the pioneers of selling and buying cars online, having offered a classified listings page since the 1990s. In recent years, however, Cars.com has added instant offers and  an online dealership to its portfolio. The result is a website that offers both instant sale and private party listing options for people who want to fully explore the market.

CarMax: Top Value

CarMax is the largest used car dealership in the country and now has a portal to sell your car online. The company often offered the highest prices for used cars in our study, making CarMax a good option for people looking to get the highest value for their vehicle. While selling a car to CarMax does require visiting a dealership, the presence of hundreds of locations around the U.S. means that most people aren’t too far from one.

Read more: CarMax sell my car review

Carvana Sell My Car: FAQ

Here are some frequently asked questions about the Carvana sell my car process.

Our Methodology

In order to help people make informed decisions about where and how to sell their cars, our expert review team is committed to providing precise, accurate, and objective information. For our research, we evaluated each company on the same criteria across the following categories:

• Cost: Our team conducted a secret shopper study to assess the offering prices of each provider. We also considered any fees or additional costs charged by companies during transactions.
• Platform: We evaluated each provider’s online platform, rating them based on ease of use, speed, and available options. 
• Transaction support: Because there are many other steps involved in selling a car online beyond simply listing it and accepting an offer, our team evaluated companies based on their support for transactions, such as whether they require a seller to travel for an in-person evaluation, if they manage loan payoffs, and more.
• Customer experience: We scoured online reviews on websites such as the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and Trustpilot in order to gauge the opinions and experiences of real customers. Our team used proprietary metrics to normalize ratings across the industry in order to assess customer sentiment in context.
• Industry reputation: To assess their standing within the auto sales industry, we considered each company’s rating with the BBB along with its years of service. We evaluated these factors using proprietary metrics to get a more accurate representation of specific company reputations compared to industry norms.

Original article: Carvana Sell My Car