Carvana sold cars to customers without selling them the title, causing a painful and confusing struggle for new car owners.
The online car seller has had some legal problems in recent years, with North Carolina temporarily banning the company from selling in the Raleigh area of North Carolina in the second half of 2021. The issue stems from the company selling cars but not providing the new owners with the car's title.
Carvana has pioneered online car buying by consistently delivering exceptional experiences, and we have bought and sold well over a million cars with customers while maintaining an industry-leading Net Promoter Score NPS and a 4.7 out of five-star customer experience rating average, a Carvana spokeswoman told FOX Business.
We will continue to improve and make the best car buying and shopping experience even better. A car's title is the most important legal document as it gives ownership of the vehicle. It is illegal to drive a car without a title.
The issue has arisen in a number of states: Derek Mundhenke in Kansas City, Missouri, bought a Subaru Outback from Carvana for a steal at $13,000. He paid for the car in full, but 11 months later he did not own the car, since Carvana didn't provide him with the title, FOX 4 KC reported.
They just dance around the subject and never give me a good answer, and they just give me false and misleading information about documents that could be used to register a car instead of the title, Mundhenke said.
Mundhenke claimed that Carvana told him to register the car at the DMV with the title application, not the actual title, which doesn't work.
In Michigan, Carvana was also facing a probation, and Florida threatened to pull the company's license.
Some users have taken to the popular site Reddit to discuss their issues with the company, with one post noting that it required a call to the state DMV and attorney general s office to finally acquire the car's title.
The post read, with at least a dozen different posters saying they suffered a similar issue, the secret is to beat the Carvana support team into submission until they are tired of dealing with you.
One user in Colorado claimed to have waited 6 months to receive the title, and most states only allow 30 days to complete the process. One user claimed to have suffered from the issue for a year and a half.
I can't get insurance without a plate number and I can't get a plate number without title or current registration, which has been expired the other user wrote.
Carvana offered to buy back some cars in Florida instead of providing the title, leaving some customers furious.
Michael Johnston, who has been waiting for more than four months for his title, said that the state needs to do something to either enforce what the laws are they need to give you a title within 30 days or slap them with a pretty hefty fine to make sure this doesn't happen.