Would you buy a car from a vending machine?

Bigfattyt said:
Well, what happens when my new car gets stuck in the machine. Do I buy the car above it to try and knock it loose...or do I have to shake the machine??
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Just imagine feeding 60,000 one dollar bills into that thing (and half keep getting returned because they aren't perfectly flat). 😄

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Paratrooper06 said:
Do you think you need a vending machine to buy a car quickly? I could just as easily go to a private party, and slap cash in their hand and drive off. When you buy things from a dealer, it isn’t hard to navigate things if one knows how to say “no”. You go in, you ask for their best price. Want to haggle? That takes time. Once you agree on a cost, just say “no” to all the crap the top salesperson pushes (the “finance manager” and all the bumper to bumper/tire/GAP garbage).

I buy a car maybe once every 10 years. For me… it is worth the stress and time of wading through the dealership. They have to make a living, too.
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All of my positive thoughts of online car sales/delivery services come from my experience of wanting a certain vehicle and finding out availability is limited in my region. Services such as Carvana are a welcome addition to my options although I've never used one. As far as dealers go, I'm buying 100k+ mile, lower end vehicles, so I don't have anything for salesmen to bleed me of. I just get tired of their tactics and probably sound like a broken record with all the "no"s.
 
I am a "car guy" on a budget which is another the reason I wouldn't buy a car via Carvana or Vroom.

I buy/sell/own a lot of cars. I currently own 5 vehicles -- 4 cars/1 truck. Purchased 2 vehicles, kept 1 and sold 1 of them in just the past 3 years.

The car that I sold was a 2000 Porsche Carerra 4 Cabriolet. 3 of the cars that I still own are "fun" cars -- not just for transportation -- that I purchased because of the "driving experience" that they provide.

Generally, the only vehicles that I purchase now are "older" (at least 5 years old) and "high mileage" vehicles ( generally 75-100k miles at the time of purchase) that nonetheless are in good mechnical/physical shape that are priced low because of their age and high mileage.

These are NOT the types of cars sold by online vendors.

My ability to choose reliable older/higher mileage vehicles is demonstrated by my long term ownership and continued use of the vehicles that own, which vary 10-20 years in age and range between 35k-+200k miles on the odo.

My "stable" includes: a 2012 Mercedes ML350 (+100k miles), 2008 BMW 335i (+100k miles), 2014 Z51 Corvette (+35k miles), 2002 MR2 Spyder (+55k miles) and 2002 F250 7.3L Diesel (+200k miles). All of them start and run reliably because I maintain them properly and fix them as needed (which isn't often).

I bought the Vette just 2 years ago but I've owned the 2002 MR2 for over 16 years and the 2002 F250 for over 10 years. The MB/BMW I've owned around 5-7 years and bought them when they were already about 5-6 years old.

So, I'll continue to buy my cars FTF from individuals and dealers where I can see/feel/touch/drive the car before I put any $ down to buy it.

On the other hand, I've heard/tell of people who have sold their cars thru Carvana/Vroom satisfactorily.

A number of people on a Vette forum that I frequent say they've done that and I'd consider that too, if the price is "right," to avoid the hassles of selling a car but buying cars thru them is an entirely different matter and something that I'd still never consider.

BTW, the next vehicle that is on my list to buy/lease is the "yet to be released" Ford F150 Lightning EV truck. Put a $100 refundable deposit down to get the right to buy/lease one but have yet to see/feel/touch/drive one to see if I really want one oe not. ;)
 
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Bloodloss said:
I don't "shop" for cars, and I've never had a car that was a luxury or "toy". I search to find the car I want to buy. I don't have money or time to waste. I want to get on the road and move on with life. Waiting for an opportunity and jumping on a good deal is nice if you have time to wait. The last two cars we have bought, time was a huge factor. We only buy Honda or Toyota, and ones with over 100k miles. Those can be tough to find in the condition I want to buy. If I can read about one and see pics, price, get all my questions answered, then I would have one delivered in a minute. As long as I could back out if I find any issues or if the vehicle was misrepresented in any way.

It would even be an easier decision if the car was new. I hate going to dealerships. I don't want service after the sale. I don't want to write you reviews on the internet. I want to lay my money down and drive off. Those vultures make it nearly impossible.
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This for sure. I also only buy Honda or Toyota with the exception being my dodge ram. For my son I knew I was buying either a civic or a Corolla so that certainly helped with the process. For me at least it was a painless transaction for pretty much the same money that I would have paid at a dealership.
 
sgt1372 said:
I am a "car guy" on a budget which is another the reason I wouldn't buy a car via Carvana

These are NOT the types of cars sold by online vendors.
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Makes sense from your perspective for sure.
 
I’ve purchased 4 motorcycles and 2 other vehicles from remote sellers over the years. Including my latest purchase, Ford F-150 King Ranch pickup that was purchased in South Carolina and driven back to my home in New Mexico just a couple of weeks ago.

Had one that turned out to be a bad deal but the road trip experience of bringing it home was worth it. Got to do a road trip with my estranged son.

The vending machine isn’t a gimmick, it’s a marketing tool that’s working quite well given how many people have referred to it.

I haven’t tried any of the sales/delivery services but they’re not going anyway any time soon. They, like Amazon and ebay serve a need for a large portion of the populace. Some of us don’t live near a lot of car dealers or want a vehicle that has no dealer representation nearby. Some areas are known to host a lot of unscrupulous dealers or those that are too proud of their products to offer the customer a good enough deal.

I live 20+ minutes away from a city, an hour away from a larger city. The time, fuel and other expenses of shopping for everything we buy has to be considered before making a purchase, whether it’s a used truck or a loaf of bread.

In my recent example of buying a vehicle I saved far more money buying and driving the truck almost 1700 miles home due to the local costs and availability of what I was looking for. I could have driven to Albuquerque a couple of times (100+ miles round trip) and paid $3000-$4000 more than I paid in South Carolina. It cost me airfare, couple off nights in motels along the way, food and gas. I saved at least $2000-$2500 by buying what I bought, where I bought it.

And I made a new friend…priceless.

P.S. I know of one car “enthusiast“ that has purchased at least (2) real AC Cobras from people he never met in person. Spent well over $1,000,000 for each one. No warranties, expressed or implied…he seems happy with them.
 
Triton said:
So I'm sure you have all seen the commercials from Carvana with the giant gimmicky vending machine (they do actually have one of those thing in Nashville and I assume elsewhere). Carvana also has it's competitors like Vroom and I believe Carmax and now even some of the car manufacturers are getting into the selling used cars online space.

The question is would you purchase a car sight unseen? Full disclosure I have already done this and so far so good. I have to admit that I was nervous about the whole concept. Right now is an incredibly bad time to buy a car, especially a used car. However, my oldest son was headed to college and he needed a car. We did the usual tour of the local dealerships and it was about as awful as it always is except thanks to supply chain issues not only was used car selection basically non-existant but but the sales weasels had absolutely no incentive to negotiate on the price. I had one outfit trying to sell me a 2018 Toyota Carolla that had been in a wreck for 19K and they would not budge on the price in the least. (No way I am paying that kind of money for a used car for a new driver)

Autotrader wasn't any particular help, the prices were still in the same price range but the zip codes kept getting further and further away.

So I got on Carvana and discovered that the prices were very competitive. After a couple weeks of looking we picked out a Toyota Carolla that was both low mileage and appeared from the pictures to be in good shape. Filling out the paperwork took about a half hour. About a week and a half later the car showed up delivered to my driveway. I had to sign some documents that took about 5 minutes, I was given some warranty information and the clock started counting down on my week long return period. I took the car to my mechanic who checked through it thoroughly that day. The only thing he didn't like were the wheels on the car (after market items). After the week was up the money went from my bank account. My son has been driving it for a couple of months now and so far so good.

So, no sales weasels, no spending hours upon hours in the dealership dealing with their shenanigans and the end result was a better car than I was able to find locally for a better price. Note that this is NOT a Carvana plug I'm sure there are plenty of online sellers that can / will do the same thing.

Would you be inclined to go this route?
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Although I'm very happy your experience went well, there are unspoken issues with Carvana specifically. I'm an electrician and just recently wired a new Carvana in Spring TX. While working we were privy to inside info about some bad ju-ju. Apparently Carvana hasn't been issuing car titles to some customers and that has been causing problems. Some new owners can't seem to register their cars and therefore are driving illegally. These folks are being pulled over and ticketed or worse. Lawsuits are being filed but that's the extent of my knowledge on the subject. Just be careful , that's all.
 
Fistindantilus said:
Although I'm very happy your experience went well, there are unspoken issues with Carvana specifically. I'm an electrician and just recently wired a new Carvana in Spring TX. While working we were privy to inside info about some bad ju-ju. Apparently Carvana hasn't been issuing car titles to some customers and that has been causing problems. Some new owners can't seem to register their cars and therefore are driving illegally. These folks are being pulled over and ticketed or worse. Lawsuits are being filed but that's the extent of my knowledge on the subject. Just be careful , that's all.
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Absolutely, I think that they lost their license to operate for a while in North Carolina because of this type of issue. Hopefully they will sort it out!
 
I love going to the car dealership. Nothing beats a 4 - 8 hour battle of whits between me and some underpaid, over stressed salesman. I get a great thrill out of it because it takes me back to my days in sales as a kid. I would never buy a car from a vending machine. I also wouldnt ever buy an electric vehicle ever.
 
Fistindantilus said:
Although I'm very happy your experience went well, there are unspoken issues with Carvana specifically. I'm an electrician and just recently wired a new Carvana in Spring TX. While working we were privy to inside info about some bad ju-ju. Apparently Carvana hasn't been issuing car titles to some customers and that has been causing problems. Some new owners can't seem to register their cars and therefore are driving illegally. These folks are being pulled over and ticketed or worse. Lawsuits are being filed but that's the extent of my knowledge on the subject. Just be careful , that's all.
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My ex-nextdoor-neighbor bought a couple of cars via Carvana.

Said he loved the process BUT I noticed that he didn't get his plates (and I assume title) for the last vehicle that he bought for over 6 months!

. . . but at least he got them before he moved away. LOL! :)
 
BennyBlade said:
I love going to the car dealership. Nothing beats a 4 - 8 hour battle of whits between me and some underpaid, over stressed salesman. I get a great thrill out of it because it takes me back to my days in sales as a kid. I would never buy a car from a vending machine. I also wouldnt ever buy an electric vehicle ever.
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I never enjoyed the "let me talk to my manager" BS that use always go on at dealerships whether buying a car new or used. That seemed to stop for the most part after (at least some) dealer cost info for new cars and KBB values for used cars became publicly available.

When I buy a car (which is always a used car now (because I don't want to pay the "depreciation" penalty), I have a firm price in mind before I even look at the car, based on certain assumptions about mileage, condition, etc).

It's important not to be "in love" w/any car and to be able to walk away from any "deal" if it's not satisfactory to you and that's what I do.

I'll still never buy a car from a vending machine (or online w/o actually seeing the car) FIRST because I feel it's essential to me to be able to see/feel/drive (or ride in) the car before I decide to buy it or not.

I also wouldn't BUY a used electric vehicle (new or used) because I do not want to be there person "stuck" w/it when the main battery dies, which can cost around $15k (parts and labor) for a Tesla; less for other makes/models but not THAT much less.

The "useful life" of an EV battery is about the same as a 12V battery which is around 7-10 years but, of course, that figure will vary depending on whether conditions and use.

On the other hand, I have already leased a Chevy Bolt (that I was pretty happy with) for 3 years and I currently have posted a $100 deposit on a F150 Lightning that I will lease if the terms are acceptable or just ask for my deposit back.
 
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gazz98 said:
Has anyone put cash into the machine, hit the button, the car got stuck, you rocked the machine, and got TWO cars out of it?
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No but I know a guy whose car got stuck. He got a hernia trying to shake the building.
 
I always say to myself that my next car will be from Bringatrailer. I’ve always driven early ‘70’s Japanese and Italian cars anyway. Might as well pay a small premium upfront and have less deferred maintenance to sort-out. Problem is, the last car I bought was my first new one, it runs like a Swiss watch, and will certainly outlast me.

I’d buy off Bringatrailer before I considered some sketchy online used-car vender. At least on BaT there are photo albums, driving videos, and the comments are a big help in sleuthing things.
 
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