Is Carvana a Scam?

If you’re thinking of using Carvana, you need to know: Is Carvana a scam? 

Below, we explain whether Carvana is a scam and discuss some steps you can take to improve your safety when using this platform. 

What Is Carvana?

Carvana is a platform for buying and selling used cars entirely online (i.e., without having to go to a dealership).

Through the Carvana website, users can browse a range of vehicles, apply for financing, and arrange pickup (from one of their “Car Vending Machines”) or delivery. 

According to Carvana, technicians inspect and recondition every vehicle in their inventory. 

Buyers get a 7-day return window, during which they can return the vehicle they bought and get a full refund. Carvana also offers a 100-day/4,189-mile limited warranty. 

Carvana is available in the US. 

Is Carvana a Scam?

No, Carvana is not a scam.

It’s a legitimate e-commerce platform for buying and selling second-hand cars.

But as is with most platforms, it gets mixed reviews, with some people reporting great experiences and others reporting terrible ones. 

Third-party sites generally review Carvana positively. 

For example:

• Nerd Wallet gave Carvana a rating of 4.0 out of 5.0 stars. 
• A CNBC review of Carvana said: “Carvana has some quirks, like cars that show up and quickly disappear from availability, but the overall experience was surprisingly easy.”
• Clark.com said: “Between the ease of use and the competitive prices Carvana offers, anyone interested in buying or selling a used car would be doing themselves a disservice not to give it a shot.”

On the other hand, How to Geek reported a terrible Carvana experience, with the site locking up after the reviewer tried to trade in their old vehicle, rescheduled delivery, and, in the end, the car costing more than the equivalent new model from a dealership (luckily, the reviewer was able to cancel). 

When it comes to user reviews, these are mixed: 

• 4.4 out of 5.0 stars (from 13,084 reviews) on Trustpilot.
• 3.5 out of 5.0 stars (from 4,184 reviews) on Consumer Affairs.
• 2.8 out of 5.0 stars (from 1,752 reviews) on Yelp.
• 1.4 out of 5.0 stars (from 400 reviews) on Cars.com.
• 3.4 out of 5.0 stars (from 10,128 reviews) on DealerRater.  
• 1.2 out of 5.0 stars (from 530 reviews) on Sitejabber.   
• 1.8 out of 5.0 stars (from 644 reviews) on Pissed Consumer. 

People complain about vehicles being faulty upon delivery, cars failing independent inspections shortly after purchase, frustrating return process, poor customer service, refund disputes, and lowball offers for trade-ins. 

These mixed reviews carry on to online forums like Reddit.

One person said Carvana can’t guarantee delivery, doesn’t track its shipments, and refuses to give any information about delays. 

Another person said that though Carvana is not perfect, they believe people’s experiences vary from state to state and hub to hub. 

Several people report having had very positive experiences. 

For instance, one person said: “Have used Carvana multiple times now… both selling and buying. Not one transaction was negative.”

Carvana is not Better Business Bureau accredited and has a 1.12 out of 5.0 stars rating (from 2,076 reviews at the time of writing) on the BBB site. 

Legal issues

Carvana has been the subject of several state investigations and lawsuits for failing to deliver vehicle titles and registrations in a timely manner, leaving some customers unable to drive their vehicles legally. 

As a result of these complaints and investigations, the company has faced fines and settlements in multiple states.

Security

We couldn’t find much information about Carvana’s security on its site. 

In its privacy policy, Carvana says it maintains “reasonable security procedures and technical and organizational measures to protect your Personal Information.” 

However, it does not go into detail as to what these measures are.

In 2024, Carvana experienced a security incident affecting 1,799 individuals where an unauthorized party accessed usernames and passwords, likely obtained from another source where users reused credentials. 

These credentials could have been used to access a Carvana credit status system containing personal information. 

The company responded by resetting affected passwords, restricting unauthorized access, and offering identity protection services to those impacted.

Privacy

Carvana explains the kind of data it collects, why, and with whom it shares it in its privacy policy. 

It collects a lot of information, which includes the following: 

• Identifiers, e.g., your name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, email address, account name, phone number, social media identifiers, driver’s license number, and passport number. 
• Protected class and demographic information, e.g., age, date of birth, gender, gender identity, race, national origin, marital status, religion, citizenship, and military or veteran status. 
• Commercial information and preferences, e.g., purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies.
• Internet or other electronic network activity information, e.g., your browsing history, search history, and information about your interactions with Carvana. 
• Geolocation information, e.g., approximate location based on your IP address.
• Audio, electronic, visual, or similar information, e.g., video recordings of our premises, call center recordings, and customer support chat logs.
• Professional or employment information, e.g., job title, employer, business address, business contact information, and employment history.
• Education information, e.g., education history. 
• Inferences drawn from the information they collect.
• Sensitive personal information, e.g., social security number, racial or ethnic origin, and precise geolocation (with your express consent).

It uses this data to operate its services and fulfill requests, comply with laws, ensure security, and conduct internal research, analytics, and service improvements. It may also use it for marketing and advertising purposes and in corporate transactions (e.g., mergers).

If you use Plaid, Carvana may access your financial institution data.

Carvana may share your information with affiliates, subsidiaries, service providers, third parties necessary to complete transactions/requests, business partners and other third parties (e.g., supplemental product providers), law enforcement, government agencies, and in connection with a corporate transaction (e.g., merger). 

It can also share your de-identified, anonymized, or aggregated personal information with third parties for any purpose. 

Carvana says it retains your personal information only as long as necessary to fulfill purposes like maintaining a business relationship and improving services. 

Even after your relationship with Carvana ends, it may keep your data to show past business practices, make future onboarding easier, maintain proper legal and operational documents, and continue marketing (where lawful). 

In other words, there’s no clear data deletion timeline. 

The Common Sense Privacy Program, which reviews internet services privacy policies, gives Carvana’s privacy policy a “Warning” rating. 

This means Carvana “Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.”

Some of the issues flagged by the Common Sense Privacy Program include the following:

• Carvana shares personal information for third-party marketing.
• It displays personalized advertising. 
• It lets third parties collect data for their own purposes. 
• Users’ information is used to track and target ads on other third-party sites.
• Data profiles are created and used for personalized ads.

On the plus side, the Common Sense Privacy Program says that Carvana does not sell or rent personal information to third parties.

So, Should You Use Carvana?

Depends.

According to some, Carvana offers an easy way to buy a second-hand car.

However, due to the amount of data it collects, using the platform comes with significant privacy trade-offs. 

Some users also report inconsistent vehicle conditions or delivery delays (including the delivery of vehicle titles and registrations). 

How to Use Carvana Safely and Privately

• Limit data exposure. Carvana collects certain information (e.g., IP address, browsing habits) early, so use a privacy-focused browser and/or block third-party trackers. 
• Use a masked email address. This can help you keep your primary email inbox free of spam and protect your identity in case of a breach. 
• Use a masked phone number. If you’d rather not share your primary phone number, consider using a temporary or masked one.
• Don’t sign in with social media logins. Signing in through social media logins increases the amount of information online platforms can collect about you. 
• Don’t link financial accounts. Carvana uses Plaid to let you link bank accounts. Plaid grants deep access to your financial data. For a more private alternative, manually upload pay stubs or bank statements when applying for financing. 
• Don’t use Carvana financing. Instead, use a credit union or pre-approved loan.
• Understand the return and cancellation process. Know that the shipping fee may be nonrefundable and that Carvana may keep your information even after you cancel or return the car. 
• Send a deletion request after canceling or completing your Carvana purchase. This is your right under laws like the CCPA. 
• Opt out of marketing and data sharing. Click “Unsubscribe” on any marketing emails you get and make a “Do Not Sell My Info” request by emailing privacypolicy@carvana.com.