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This was one clear way Carvana was a better buying experience than the lots - they never made my wife feel less than.

I despise Carvana.

Their whole business model, in my area at least, is to buy up all decent used cars for sale and then flip them at a non-negotiable higher price. Those of us looking for a newer used car at an affordable price from a private seller or dealership are left with nothing to choose from.

I didn’t think you need to worry too much about them. The prices they offer to the seller are absurdly low - plenty of people will sell independently instead. In my case they offered 35% less than I got selling the car myself. There was no way I could accept their offer, even though I was in a hurry to sell.

We did our research through TrueCar, Consumer reports, and using free vehicle history lookups for anything that didn't already include a free Carfax report to find the exact used VIN we wanted to buy. The Carvana model is a neat idea but we found there was a little bit of a premium on identical models sold through them versus brick and mortar dealerships nearby.

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