Why Carvana Is Worth Considering
Carvana changed how people sell cars by making the process almost entirely online. You can get an offer in five minutes, schedule a pickup without leaving your house, and have money in your account in a day or two. For sellers who want convenience and a fair price without the stress of a dealership, it is genuinely useful.
That said, Carvana is not always the highest offer. The right approach is to use Carvana as one data point in a comparison, not the only one.
Step 1: Get Your Offer
Go to Carvana.com and click the Sell or Trade option. Enter your license plate number or VIN, then answer a series of questions about your car's mileage, condition, accidents, and modifications. Carvana uses this information to generate an instant cash offer, usually within a minute or two.
The offer is valid for 7 days. Do not let it expire without comparing it to at least one other quote.
Step 2: Compare Before You Accept
This is the step most people skip, and it costs them money. Before accepting Carvana's offer, run your VIN through CarMax's online estimator, get a quote from a local dealer, and get a Vantage offer, which shops your vehicle to multiple buyers instead of making one internal appraisal. The 20 minutes this takes can reveal a $500 to $2,000 difference for the same car. For a side-by-side look at how these options compare, read our guide on selling your car online: all your options compared.
Step 3: Schedule Pickup or Drop-Off
If Carvana's offer is the best you can find, accept it and schedule your handoff. You can choose home pickup at no charge in most NJ zip codes or drop the car at a Carvana hub if one is nearby. During scheduling, you will upload photos of the car and any required documents.
Step 4: Complete the Paperwork
Carvana will ask you to upload your vehicle title, photo ID, and if applicable, loan payoff documentation. Have these ready before the pickup day. If your title has a lien, Carvana contacts your lender directly. You do not need to pay off the loan yourself first.
Step 5: Inspection and Payment
At pickup, a Carvana representative inspects the car against your description. If the condition matches, the offer stands and you sign the paperwork. If there are undisclosed issues, the offer may be revised. Be accurate in your initial description to avoid this.
Once complete, Carvana issues payment by check or ACH transfer. If there is a loan, they pay the lender first and send you the remaining equity. Total payment time is typically 1 to 3 business days.
What Carvana Will Not Buy
Carvana does not purchase every vehicle. They typically decline cars that are over 10 model years old, have salvage or rebuilt titles, significant frame damage, or very high mileage above 150,000 miles. If your car falls into one of these categories, other buyers may still have interest.
Before You Commit: Add Vantage to Your Comparison
Carvana makes one offer based on its own pricing model. Vantage works differently: your vehicle gets presented to multiple buyers simultaneously and you receive the strongest result from that competition. One recent Vantage client walked away with $1,550 more than the initial offer they had received on the same vehicle. Getting a Vantage offer is free, takes about the same time as filling out the Carvana form, and handles loan payoffs and pickup the same way.
Get a Vantage offer here alongside your Carvana quote, then take whichever is higher. If you are selling to fund a new vehicle, get your free quote in 5 minutes. No spam. No pressure. Unsubscribe anytime.
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