Last Updated 2 years ago
Technology is here to make our lives easier, and that includes selling your car. In this article, I will walk you step by step on how you can sell your car with Carvana. Trust me, I recently sold my car to them, and the process was mind-blowingly fast. From the time I dropped off my car at the Carvana center until I took an Uber back home, it took only 30 minutes.
Here I will explain all you need to know. From what other options are nowadays on the internet to sell your car instantly, what documents you need, and how the selling process works.
Without further ado, let’s jump right in…
How To Sell Your Car in 2024?
For more than 7 years I have been doing project evaluation for living as an engineer. I find it intriguing to compare available options in the market to get a higher return. Selling my car was no different.
Currently, there are two main options available to sell your car:
- Private Party Selling:
- It is well known that selling your car privately to another human will fetch top dollar. But there is a caveat, how much money you get will strongly depend on your selling skills. And it can also be time-consuming, you need to put a sign on your car so that people it’s on sale and they can ask you for more details.
- Online Selling:
- Posting your car on a marketplace: If you want your car to have exposure to a larger pool of customers, then selling your car online can sound like a good idea. You can use websites like Craiglist, eBay Motors, Facebook Marketplace, etc. to post your vehicle with nice pictures and a reasonable price. If you decide to go this route just keep in mind that you need to take calls to arrange meetings so that potential buyers can see your car at a convenient location and time for both. Take into account that you might have to do this a couple of times until you find the right buyer.
- Selling your car online to a car buying site: These are companies with an online presence that can give you an instant offer to buy your car. Here are some of the most popular sites in the US.
- Algo
- Autotrader
- CarGurus
- Carmax
- Carvana
- Edmunds
- TruCar
- We Buy Any Car
I would personally recommend Carvana if you plan to sell your car through any of these sites.
Why To Sell My Car At Carvana?
For me, the response was easy. Carvana gave me the top offer for my vehicle. Before selling my car, I compared different instant offers and took the one that gave me the most for my vehicle.
Here is a table of all the sites I compared to determine where to sell my 2017 Volkswagen Jetta.
How Can I Sell My Car To Carvana?
Here are the steps you will take:
- Go to the selling page on Carvana’s website
- Enter your license plates or VIN (Vehicle Identification Number)
- Enter the actual mileage of your car
- Answer the questions about the general status of your car to the best of your knowledge
- Once your information is submitted, in seconds you will get an instant offer for your car
- Provide the required documentation:
- Vehicle Title (front and back pictures)
- Driver’s license of all owners (front and back pictures)
- Bank account where you will receive your money after the sell
- Schedule an appointment to take your car to Carvana for the inspection and hand out keys and vehicle titles. You can also schedule a pickup, that way Carvana will send someone to inspect and pick up your car at your preferred location. However, you might incur a pickup fee which is around $140
- You will receive an email to review and sign your vehicle sale documents.
- Drop off your car and Carvana will inspect it visually and connect the OBD scanner to check if there are any alerts in the system
- Hand out the keys and the vehicle title
- Get your money in 2 days
Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
Where Can I Get The Vehicle Title of My Car The Fastest?
This section is for those who lost their vehicle’s title. So how fast and where you can get the title of your vehicle? The answer is that it depends on the State and County you live in.
For example, if you live in the state of Georgia, you can go to the DMV office of your county, and it can take from 7 to 10 days to get the title emailed to you. Nonetheless, the fastest way to get your title in GA is going to the Department of Revenue (DOR) in Atlanta located at:
4125 Welcome All Road, Atlanta, GA 30349
From the time I parked to the time I got back into my car with the title in hand, it took me only 14 minutes!
But nothing is free in this life. Usually, replacing your vehicle title costs only $8 at your DMV county office. However, the total cost of obtaining your title the same day at the Atlanta DOR is $19. That is $18 for the title and a $1 service fee. And I only needed my driver’s license, nothing else (No prefilled forms I found on the internet).
Is It Safe To Sell Your Car At Carvana?
Yes, it is safe to sell your car at Carvana. I was wondering the same when I was planning to sell my car. Questions like: what if I drop off my car, hand off my keys, and title, and sign their documents, and I don’t receive my money? What would I do? Will my car be legally theirs?
But I was overthinking. The process was super smooth and safe at all times. After they approved my car documents, Carvana asked me to provide the bank account where the money would be deposited. In this step, you can connect directly your bank account with Carvana’s website so that only the information required will be shared directly with Carvana.
After I dropped off my car at 9:00 am at the Carvana drop-off point, I received the money in my account the next morning! So don’t worry, you’ll be fine.
Feeling worried before selling your car to Carvana is quite common among new users because it sounds too good to be true. But it actually is that simple, at least for now. Here are some comments of other users after selling their cars to Carvana expressing the ease of the selling process:
What To Do After You Sold Your Car?
Here are the 3 main things you should do after you sell your car to Carvana:
- Remove the license plates from your car
- Cancel your car insurance
- Cancel the registration of your car at the DMV (I did this online)
Do I Recommend Selling Your Car To Carvana?
Yes, I strongly recommend selling your car to Carvana. The selling process was really fast and, in the case of my Jetta, Carvana gave me the highest offer for my car.
I uploaded the documents of my car on Monday to Carvana’s website and I was able to set up an appointment the next day in the morning to drop off my car, get the inspection done, and hand off the keys and title. The process was super quick and only took me two days from the time I submitted my car’s information to the time I dropped off the vehicle at Carvana’s.
I was super busy those days, so I didn’t have time to clean my car. I was wondering if dropping my car without cleaning it could affect the final amount of money I would receive, but surprisingly it didn’t affect it, and I received the full amount I was shown in the initial offer.
However, this is not financial advice, you should always do your own research to determine what the best option is for you.