I cannot speak for men, but as a woman every time I go into a car dealership I feel violated. The entire process is nauseating, not to mention time consuming. But for my cross country trip, I will essentially be living out of my car and need to haul all of my worldly belongings with me so a larger vehicle is imperative. I also needed it to be reliable, get great gas mileage and it had to be cute……Of course, I did my research on small SUVs and decided on a Subaru Outback.
Then I decided on the budget, the year and mileage that I wanted for this adventure. So, to the internet I went in search of this elusive perfect Subaru. You know what happens when you start searching the interwebs for something, all the ads show up everywhere for that thing. So small SUVs followed me all over the internet for a couple of months.
After searching for a while, I began to hone in on Carvana as a way to buy my new vehicle. I loved being able to “shop” at 5 am or 9 pm and without making a choice immediately, I could browse as much as I wanted. One evening when I was browsing I came across this beautiful red 2018 Subaru Outback with 27k miles and right it was inline with my budget! That was about 9 PM.
I began the car purchase process which included uploading all my personal information into their secure portal. As I was uploading a picture of my drivers license the portal let me know that the car was already being purchased by another buyer and they were further along in the process however sometimes the purchase is not completed for one reason or another and if they didn’t carry out the purchase I would get an email letting me know that it was available again.
The actual carvana buying experience
Well, wouldn’t you know when I checked my email the next morning there was a Carvana message saying that my vehicle was available again. This was 5 am. So at 5 am from the comfort of my favorite chair in my house I completed the financing “paperwork” (all inside their portal) uploaded my drivers license and my car purchase was underway, before I even went to the gym!
From there, I recieved an email approval and I could set my appointment to have my car delivered. At that point the purchase documents were available for me to sign in the Carvana portal. Oh Happy DAY!
Carvana Customer Service called to let me know that I would need to have proof of insurance prior to the car being delivered (apparently this is a Florida thing) and the customer service was perfect! Anyway, while I was on the phone with her I realized that I needed to change the date of delivery due to having scheduled a kayaking trip that day that I had forgotten about. So, she put me on hold for about 5 minutes, came back and it was changed. I had an email in my inbox stating my new delivery date and that was that. (magic, right?)
My Carvana delivery
Over the next 4 days I received texts each day from Carvana counting down to the delivery of my car, complete with celebration emojis! That not only helped with my comfort level but also got me super excited about the delivery AND I told everyone I know how excited I was about having my car delivered to my door and my affection for Carvana!
The day of delivery was finally here! My delivery time was set for 8:30 am (I’m a morning person) and I received a text from Robert (delivery guy) at 8:10 letting me know he was filling up my car with gas and would be at my home at 8:50 and that the entire process would take 20 minutes.
As soon as he arrived, he texted that he was here. I watched him unload my car and I took it for a spin while he loaded my trade-in onto his truck. When I got back from driving it around the block we signed actual paperwork on the hood of the car and it was mine. He had a folder for me to keep all of the documents including a 400 mile warranty that comes with the car. Not to mention, Carvana gives you 7 days to return the vehicle for any reason and you can trade it in for your old one in return or trade it for a different vehicle.
I took it to my trusted mechanic to do a full inspection to make sure it was fit for my travels the day after I got it and he said it was in great shape!
This whole car buying experience was pure bliss for me. From the moment I started researching vehicles to the delivery of it was seamless and I am so excited to share my experience with you and a link for you if you want to buy a vehicle (they have a great referral program) www.carvana.com/referrals/shannon-carlton
Sandy the Subaru is all set to take me across the country! I am one step closer to my uprooted adventure!
