[gbronner]

The concept is great. But the volatility in the used car market has been historically unprecedented, and there's no easy way for them to hedge this.

As an FYI, I sold a car this spring for 8% over what I paid for it 6 years prior, i.e. it was worth about 85% of orig price adjusted for inflation. Today, edmunds appraises it for 45% of orig price adjusted for inflation.

That is an insane move on a durable asset.

[wilsonnb3]

The concept is great but I never really saw the point of Carvana when CarMax already exists.

Unless your plan is just to leverage easy capital to push CarMax and traditional dealers out of the business like Uber and taxis.

[bagels]

Carvana came to my house and picked up the car I was selling. It was all done in a few minutes. I didn't have to take any pictures, just describe it on the web form, and sign some papers when they showed up.

[gunapologist99]

Carvana did deliveries to your home (apparently), while CarMax would deliver to their nearest lot, which might be a long way away.

[shaburn]

Carmax is an Amazing operator. Shift has now cut test drives at home.

[tbihl]

I was just looking into the market for my own comparison. I bought a 9 year old minivan back in January, and I can't find any deals quite as good as what I got (granted, I spent a few weeks finding that.) So I guess in my area (Virginia) I upgraded at a good time.

I'll confirm your sale anecdote though. I sold a 16 year old car in May for 19% more than I paid for it in 2018, having driven it about 45,000 miles over that time (120K -> 165K)

[bagels]

Very similar experience selling my car to Carvana last fall. I wish I put the obvious pieces together sooner about how they can't keep overpaying for cars and stay solvent.