I am planning to buy a car on Carvana.com. It will be a Nissan Altima, Platinum trim. There are many choices on Carvana, including a few intriguing ones I want your opinion about. So basically, the used Platinum trim Altima costs anywhere between 22K to 27K depending on mileage. I would expect the lower the mileage, higher the cost would be… while this generally is seen to be true, there are at least 4 vehicles that seemingly buck this trend. One has just 35 miles and is priced 1K below a vehicle of the same trim level that has 9K miles on it. The Carfax report indicates no problems, but the vehicle lived in the dealer’s lot for almost 9 months without logging a single mile. Carfax does not indicate any problem, but I suspect this car may have hidden problems that Carvana does not want customers to know about.
Has anybody experience buying on Carvana? Are they known to be transparent about the vehicles they sell? I called and spoke to a lady in Customer Service and she basically said what we see on the website is all there is to know.
Do you think there might be something fishy about this car? If you are interested, take a look below.
That first one is not a platinum trim. Look closely over the window stickers to see what differences in equipment might be. Both allow you to view the original window sticker (also called the monroney sticker)
It is a Platinum - all Edition Ones are Platinum trims (if you “spin” the car around, on the back you will see it). I did look at the sticker and it looks the same as the other two.
They are pretty transparent, but keep in mind that there may be scratches and dings in the car’s paint/body that doesn’t show up in the photos, sometimes significant defects. There can also be mechanical problems that aren’t revealed. If you decide to buy, you absolutely should get the car checked by an independent mechanic you trust.
The 2019 Toyota Avalon that I purchased from Carvana did have issues, and Carvana’s warranty covered the worst but not all of them. The ones that they didn’t cover were minor dings and scratches.
When you purchase the car, you’ve got a 100 day/4,189 mile “Worry Free Guarantee,” and a 7-Day Money Back Guarantee. Inspect the car closely and make note of EVERY defect that you see and note the defects on the inspection form. Then take it to your mechanic.
Overall, I was happy with the transaction and would do it again. YMMV.
I have a red with tan interior 2019 Nissan Altima Turbo Platinum myself. The edition 1 was the first of the 2.0L Variable Combustion Ratio turbo engine ever anywhere. They had head gasket issues but that should be covered under warranty. Mine is a lease, so I am not concerned about it lasting past 36K miles, but perhaps you should be. I would worry about owning a first run of any vehicle, let alone a new vehicle with a new turbo engine.
BTW, it runs like a raped ape up tree and I consider it the best sedan I have ever driven daily.
And BTW I work for Nissan and this is all personal opinion. ##employee. And it looks like a great deal.
It’s a 2019 and the 2020’s have been out for a while, in fact the 2021’s should be coming out soon so this one is very old stock. Still it’s basically a new car with a full warranty, it’s just not going to have much resale value at all once 2021 hits the dealerships.
But if you drive it just to drive it you should be pretty happy with it. You may want to consider asking them for a deal on an extended warranty. And to be clear, the head gasket issue was fixed before the Edition One was released and I don’t believe their have been field issues. I’ve been testing mine every chance I get.
Yeah, the Carvana side of the equation makes me wary. I mean it should have a factory warranty since it only has 35 miles on it. I’d definitely want to be sure that was still valid and I’d insist on talking to Nissan about an extended warranty, not Carvana. Once you confirm it still has factory warranty you can buy the car and then show up a Nissan dealer and ask about an extended warranty.
I see the car is in Nashville. It could have been held at the plant in Smyrna for testing purposes.
Something’s certainly weird about those prices. Also, the more expensive one is not for sale anymore. Given the 7 day worry-free warranty you shouldn’t really in any trouble and you will have the balance of the factory warranty to cover you as well.
Also, at 23K it’s about 2 grand lower than any other one I can find within 500 miles of me. It’s a good deal.
It also could have been sitting at corporate headquarters as a show car since it was built, that’s a real possibility. We have cars like that in our lobby. Employees usually get first crack at these, but for something this old employees probably already had one and are moving on. If I didn’t already have one I’ve be buying it from under you.
In fact I see that two out of the three you listed are no longer available.
Yes I was looking close at that one too when the purchase pending notice went up. The paint chips they called out looked to have happened while on a transport, which would explain the low mileage with road chip damage. Someone got a great deal.
@Si_Amigo Did you buy a Nissan extended warranty for your car? How much did it cost? Nissan appears to be tight-lipped on the cost of their extended plans, and apparently I have to visit a dealer or speak to a Nissan rep to get any information on that.
I did not get an extended warranty for my Altima since I am leasing it. I did buy one for my 2015 Murano to extend the warranty to 100K miles but the car was and still is so good I only used it once to replace a tire and rim that was damaged. I want to say it was around $600 back then. I have 155K miles on the the Murano now and it still runs like a champ and hasn’t caused me any issues.
Well, the car became available again, and I snagged it! The purchase went smoothly and I got delivery of the car 3 days back. So far it has been a smooth, professional experience. The car seems just fine, unfortunately it is now snowed under, and I do not want to drive long distances in snowy weather. I will probably not be able to use the full 400-mile allowance within 7 days, but I do not see any issues and will probably keep the car. Taking it to Firestone for a quick inspection, though.
How is the paint? I doubt if Firestone finds anything wrong but its a good idea to check since its been sitting for two years. Congrats on snagging a great deal!
The imperfections pictured on Carvana are so small I could barely see them. I drove the car about 60 miles so far and it’s been flawless. So yeah, a great deal. I am curious about how Carvana would make money on such deep-discounted vehicles though. (They spend some money reconditioning each vehicle.)
