Carvana rant. Not even 10 minutes off the truck....

onanysunday

onanysunday

Well-known member
Joined
May 7, 2021
Messages
3,374
Reaction score
3,143
So this is the post I just put on facebook. All right I'm going to vent and rant a little bit here. So with us selling the shop I'm going to have to bring all the cars home and use up the garage space. Meaning we have to sell Christys convertible because we can't leave it out in the heat. Arizona Sun would kill that top in one summer. So we have been looking to try find her an MK2 Audi TT which is the second generation. Just like the red car she had before. So probably against my better judgment I buy this car from carvana and it gets delivered tonight. These cars are so hard to find and we will never find one local that we want. So I look at the Carfax before we purchase and it says 2 years ago and about 10,000 miles ago two tires were replaced. So as soon as it's off the truck I look at the tires. Three of the date codes are 2015 and one is 2020. So I can't believe they replaced and put old tires on. So what's the truth. This was fast lane European in San Jose California and they have very good reviews online. Oh and one tire has a big chunk out of it. Supposedly carvana has this multi-point inspection process that they go through a vehicle before they sell it. I'm almost afraid to even drive the car with the chunk out of the tire. I'm calling Bull and I haven't even opened the hood in the light yet. I guess I'll look a little bit closer in the morning when I calm down but I have a feeling this car is going back and we will lose our $290 shipping charge. Chalk it off as a loss and try figure out a different way to buy a car that we're not going to probably find in Arizona. Ugh
 

Attachments

  • 20241101_205131.jpg
    20241101_205131.jpg
    3.2 MB · Views: 43
Curious about anyone else that has carvana experience out there. How much bull is it when they say they do a full inspection. I can't believe they let us have this car with this huge chunk out of the tire. They give you 7 days to return it. There is a bunch of other work supposedly got done to this car like replacing the rear magnetic shocks, transmission oil change, etc. How do I trust any of it. Only reason I went to carvana route is these little Audis are so hard to find. The last car we had we drove to San Diego to pick up.
 
Whoever prepped this car had no problem slapping armor All over this big chunk. Amazing. And 3 of the tires are 9 years old.
 

Attachments

  • 20241101_210441.jpg
    20241101_210441.jpg
    3.7 MB · Views: 61
So you already knew you probably needed two tires if two had been replaced. If the rest of the car is nice, put four tires on it.
 
madweazl said:
So you already knew you probably needed two tires if two had been replaced. If the rest of the car is nice, put four tires on it.
Click to expand...
Correct I figured it needed two new tires already. But if the European place replace the tires like it said per the carfax report it should have tires with date codes of 2022 or maybe 2021. There's no way I'm believing they put 2015 tires on the car when they replace them.
 
Better pics of that tire. Looks safe to send your family down the road doesn't it?
 

Attachments

  • 20241101_211130.jpg
    20241101_211130.jpg
    3.2 MB · Views: 58
  • 20241101_211136.jpg
    20241101_211136.jpg
    3.3 MB · Views: 58
Last edited:
That is a bummer when you’re excited to get something like that and it’s not exactly how you thought it would be. I had a similar experience with Vroom that started terrible and worked out in the end. I ordered a ram 2500 from them that was 1 year old and a prior rental with 13k miles on the odometer. I checked the carfax and it had an EGR already replaced so my concern was how many filing hours the engine had. The one question I kept asking them through the whole process was “how many engine hours are there?” My concern was that it was rented to an oil pipeline company and it spent most of its days idling and that what messed up the EGR. Well, they never sent me the hours and when the truck was unloaded off the truck, wouldn’t you know it, the screen that the dash I fo system was scrolled to was the engine hours which read 1600 idling hours!!! So they knew that was a deal breaker for me and chose not to say anything. I thought okay, I’ll give it a good look over for the next few days and make sure nothing else is going on with it…. Well, even though the carfax only showed the EGR, I looked underneath the car and it had surface rust EVERYWHERE. It also had dirt, silt, and rocks underneath the kick plates along with rusty seat mounts. All this would lead one to believe the truck was a flood recovery. Needless to say I made a couple of phone calls and sent in pictures of everything. After a few long conversations voicing my frustration, they agreed that they dropped the ball and allowed me to send the vehicle back to them honoring their return policy but also agreeing that if I found another vehicle through their website I was interested in, they would ship it from Texas to ca free of charge. It ended up working out since I got a better truck for a cheaper price since Covid shutdowns had just started and they lacked and lowered the prices of all their vehicles significantly. I also had my family in Texas drive to their lot and test drive the new truck and look it over to make sure it was worth buying. The new truck was spotless and served me well for the last few years.
I also wrote an extremely detailed and lengthy review online of the whole experience from the initial shock of a hammered truck to the finance guy who took care of me once I was unsatisfied and walked me through EVERYTHING after that making sure I was taken care of even though I wasn’t even financing the vehicle at all. They ended up distributing my review company wide and totally revamped their inspection process.

All that to say, I would highly recommend contacting carvana and demanding that they at an absolute minimum provide you with 4 new tires free of charge. Providing that the rest of the vehicle is to your liking. Good luck with everything.
 
Never dealt with Carvana, but have read numerous reports of them playing it "fast and loose", including selling cars with no title, etc.

I'd sell to them, if the price was right, but I'd not buy from them.
 
This is the risk you take when buying sight unseen unfortunately. I come from many years in the car biz and Carvana is the death of it all. They are removing the sales process altogether and selling cars out of vending machines. Their process is laughable at best. What door will you bang on shall anything else go wrong? What if there is a problem with paperwork or registration? Their years of losses in the millions to create a name has ended. Their only way out of that hole is profit. Oh, and they don't pay local taxes.

You bought a niche car and for that there are exceptions to where or what conditions you buy it in. I would give it a good look, maybe a 3rd party inspection but if it's not too far off, keep it! It is used afterall. Good luck.
 
Im a used car recon tech nowadays, chunks out of the sidewall is something I deal with on a daily basis. While I always recommend new tires on a car that has that type of damage, not all of them get new tires. There's no concrete rule about it, it isn't written in stone, it's pretty much up to the tech to determine roadworthiness. Auto techs are paid commision and it's common for techs to just lightly skim over a car before calling it good and moving on to the next one. That tire probably isn't dangerous, it doesn't look like it's into the cords. I've been a professional dealer tech for going on 37 years now (first time you guys have heard that line from me eh?) and in all of those years I've NEVER had a car I worked on or missed something important come back crashed, burned or whatever, most of the time people get all upset over something that would never give them any trouble, but just to be clear, I'd have put tires on that car before it went out for sure.

Before you get all huffy anymore than you are already, why don't you contact Carvana and politely ask them to replace the tires? I say politely because demanding something will only make them say ok just return it. And if they won't, just put some tires on it yourself if that car is such a special car for you. Why bring it to this forum to bitch and complain? We can't fix the situation.

Fwiw, my wife's vette needed tires a while back, the Michelin Pilot Sports the car came with, summer tires for us first worlders, are super expensive and not worth it unless you'd be at 170 up on the bank at PIR routinely. We put Kuhmo Ecsta tires on it for about half of the price and to drive it normally you'd never know the difference. We were all in for a little under $700. So the point of my post is you'd forfeit the shipping charge and the hassle of sending your car back over $700?

And Carfax is only good for cars that have had insurance claims due to collision, and that is hit or miss. If a collision repair was not turned in to insurance it won't ever show up on Carfax. Carfax repair history is questionable. I never read the dumb report, I can glean more info by inspecting the car myself. I'd also buy an extended service contract with any used car purchase, it takes the sting out of the repair should something come up a month from now. People that decline the service contract and then discover it burns oil or has a transmission issue 2 months from now? Sorry, you were given the opportunity and you sand no.

Good luck with your Audi.
 
Well, Things are better this morning. Got to do a full inspection of the car and it is really nice. Car came from Maryland but only has 34000 miles on it. (Been in Cali for two years) As expected some light rust on the fasteners without good coatings but I don't see any concerns. Only a little over 2000 miles per year put on the car. Called the warranty department for Carvana and have an appointment in the morning at their vendor which is the local Firestone. They inspect it then we do a claim to replace the tires. I can only imagine how many people out there would buy a car this way and never look. Anyway hopefully it gets covered.

We had a TT before and this is the TTS. 65 hp more and the internals of the engine are different. Different intercooler and it makes 17.5 psi of boost. Oh and you could only get the solar orange in the TTS.

TTS Engine & unique engine Cover
Nicer Body kit and different exterior mirrors
(Note: no S line package in the US on a standard TT is a big issue)
Magnetic Ride
Better Brakes with larger front discs, and painted Calipers with TTS logo (Red Painted as an option)
More exterior paint options
Better Interior options (Like the lovely Express Red)
Additional Virtual Cockpit sport view
Laser textured dashboard unique to TTS
Four oval tail pipes vs. two
 

Attachments

  • 20241102_110301.jpg
    20241102_110301.jpg
    3.2 MB · Views: 34
  • 20241102_110245.jpg
    20241102_110245.jpg
    3.6 MB · Views: 35
  • 20241102_111350.jpg
    20241102_111350.jpg
    3.8 MB · Views: 36
  • 20241102_111325.jpg
    20241102_111325.jpg
    3.2 MB · Views: 35
I thought carvana was in the verge of if not BK?
 
If it makes you feel better my wife hit a curb in her $90k car WHILE I was in it going 50. 2 new rims and 2 new tires later.. it is no longer my fault LOL. Her car was Carava and the only place we could find the exact car she wanted used.
 
Dealers shouldn't even be allowed to sell a car with 2015 dated tires. About 2 years ago an emergency road service tech that my insurance company sent out to the airport (where I had a flat on a tire patched the day before) told me he wasn't supposed to use my spare because it was older than 4 years. He did it for me, but its an example of what the insurance companies think.
 
KLC said:
Im a used car recon tech nowadays, chunks out of the sidewall is something I deal with on a daily basis. While I always recommend new tires on a car that has that type of damage, not all of them get new tires. There's no concrete rule about it, it isn't written in stone, it's pretty much up to the tech to determine roadworthiness. Auto techs are paid commision and it's common for techs to just lightly skim over a car before calling it good and moving on to the next one. That tire probably isn't dangerous, it doesn't look like it's into the cords. I've been a professional dealer tech for going on 37 years now (first time you guys have heard that line from me eh?) and in all of those years I've NEVER had a car I worked on or missed something important come back crashed, burned or whatever, most of the time people get all upset over something that would never give them any trouble, but just to be clear, I'd have put tires on that car before it went out for sure.

Before you get all huffy anymore than you are already, why don't you contact Carvana and politely ask them to replace the tires? I say politely because demanding something will only make them say ok just return it. And if they won't, just put some tires on it yourself if that car is such a special car for you. Why bring it to this forum to bitch and complain? We can't fix the situation.

Fwiw, my wife's vette needed tires a while back, the Michelin Pilot Sports the car came with, summer tires for us first worlders, are super expensive and not worth it unless you'd be at 170 up on the bank at PIR routinely. We put Kuhmo Ecsta tires on it for about half of the price and to drive it normally you'd never know the difference. We were all in for a little under $700. So the point of my post is you'd forfeit the shipping charge and the hassle of sending your car back over $700?

And Carfax is only good for cars that have had insurance claims due to collision, and that is hit or miss. If a collision repair was not turned in to insurance it won't ever show up on Carfax. Carfax repair history is questionable. I never read the dumb report, I can glean more info by inspecting the car myself. I'd also buy an extended service contract with any used car purchase, it takes the sting out of the repair should something come up a month from now. People that decline the service contract and then discover it burns oil or has a transmission issue 2 months from now? Sorry, you were given the opportunity and you sand no.

Good luck with your Audi.
Click to expand...

* Sometimes people need to vent so this forum has always been a great place for that. I learned things tonight from @onanysunday 's post.

* I agree with your thoughts on Carfax. I reviewed one of mine today and realized that many mechanic visits were either vague or incomplete or not even posted, so no one knows what really happened with my vehicle except me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top