Thank you for sharing both experiences, this is very helpful. What kind of hatchback did you purchase for your daughter? (I’m looking at hatchbacks too.)
We bought a Mazda 3 hatchback. It’s been a great car so far.
What has your experience been like buying a used car online compared to your experiences at the dealers?
Thank you. I’ve looked into the same model. I’m glad to hear that it’s working out.
Thanks. We’re you purchasing from dealers online?
They were both at dealers. One was a new car and the other was used. I used their on line inventory to find something at my price point, then visited the dealer to drive them and do the final negotiations.
I have met some lovely Miatas, but have never driven one. I posted in another topic that I like handling of my current car, but not to exclusion.
If you see that Miata, please send my apologies and let them know that no shade was thrown. Next time the Miata is in the area we can head down to the local fuel pump and toss back a couple gallons of 93. My treat!
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Thank you.
I probably wasn’t clear in the details of my question.
I was thinking that Carvana offers a trial period and that they would ship to their vending machines, but maybe I didn’t read the fine print. I’ve been using some of the apps like Carvana and Cars.com.
My local dealer didn’t have anything in stock in my price range but offered to have something brought to them if there was a car in their inventory in another location. I didn’t discuss the details with them, so I’m not sure if they would charge me to have it brought in or if that would be factored into the sale price.
The car I ended up buying was about 3 hours from my home. The dealer was part of a chain, though, that had a location much closer to where I live.
One reason we ended up buying the car was the 30 day warranty they offered would be honored at the local to me dealership. I got that in writing. 
. But we’ve not had any issues with the car, so that’s been a plus.
Point being…you might widen your search like within your state, or maybe within 100 miles of your home. I found the dealer 3 hours away was much more willing to deal and had better pricing than my local one.
Yeah, that’s a lot different from what I thought.
In my neck of the woods, the Mid Atlantic, new car dealers routinely swap new car inventories and to a lesser extent used car inventories, at no cost/no obligation, especially if they’re part of a chain. Further, if they think you’re serious and what you’re looking for isn’t too weird they’ll, go to the Dealer Auctions to find specifically what you want.
Of course it’s not going to be “the best price” but they deserve some compensation for their effort/cost/risk and with an established local dealer you’ve got someone who cares about their reputation and a warranty however short, that actually means something.
In spite of being an Old Fart, I find companies like Carvana to be extremely innovative and a vast improvement over Billie Bob’s, Buy Here Pay Here but I’m still reminded of my two things my Dad said…
- “All business is personal” - You have a need or problem, you’ll do a lot better talking to the owner or location manager than you’ll have trying to work with Mr. Carvana or Mr. Walmart or Mr. Sears
- “The cheapest guy is always the guy who spends the most” - You may spend a little more up front but you’ll get exactly what you want, it will be a better product and in the long run you’ll be happier.
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There has to be more than one dealer near you, even if you live in a rural area. Check every dealer used car inventory on line within 25 miles of you. They all sell other brands on the used car lot. I bought a 2 year old Chevy at a Nissan dealer. Often they have a price listed, somethings you have to call for that. You still need to drive it before buying it unless there is a grace period like Carvana has. BTW, Carvana seems to be driving the car to you now, not just to their vending machine showroom.
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Thank you.
This is great advice, thank you! (and your dad)
You’re more than welcome and for my Dad, WW2 generation, grew up Depression poor, college on GI Bill but the smartest, bravest, tolerant, modest and most unflappable group of guys you’d ever meet. With a slight smile, managed to distill any problem down to it’s basics to get down to the real solutions.
Tough model to live up to and we’re gonna miss those guys, especially today