09/23/2022

Car Buying Websites to Find Deals on Used Cars | Review of Carvana, Autotrader, Carmax and Others

I cover the best online used car buying sites. I also give a review on carvana, autotrader, carmax and other used car buying websites. If you have any questions on a car you’re interested in buying, comment below and I’ll give my input.

Feel free to comment any specific car buying situations and I’ll be happy to give my thoughts and advice.

Check out my car buying video playlist:

0:00 – Intro
This is actually a requested video but I thought I’d expand it into talking about what you should be looking for in a good car buying website and some that you may want to stay away from. And if you have any of your own requested video topics, feel free to comment down below!

I cover probably one of the fastest growing ways to buy a used car and that’s to buy a used car using an online website like carvana auto trader or even carmax. I’ll preference with two points,
1), I don’t have any incentive or reason to sway people one way or another I’m not paid by anyone.
2) I’m going to be covering sites to buy used cars from, not selling because that is slightly different.

0:44 – Best online car buying sites
So I want to start on what makes a great or the best online car buying site and how that translates to you saving money. The first thing I would like to see in a car buying website is to be able to shop nationally versus being limited to 50 miles or so at a time. Another huge criteria for being the best online car buying sites for used cars is that you are able to inspect the car. Pictures are not a substitute for being able to physically see a used car. The other thing to consider is are you truly getting your money back, or are you having to return the car for credit, to purchase a future car.

4:49 – Caravana review
Here’s my carvana review. I think one thing that does appeal to a lot of people though is they tend to approve people for auto loans for people with even bad or low credit and that they’re able to tell you your APY and required down payment without having to do an initial hard credit card pull.

The other problem for me is not being able to see the car before paying any delivery fee and they have been known to have a delivery fee as well as a shipping fee and basically say one is refundable only to find out the other isn’t and just things like that that make the buying process a little more complicate. In general, carvana can be a decent option but once again, this is just my carvana review and other people may have a different perspective.

8:30 – Carmax Review
I’d say that it’s ok if you care about stability, convenience and don’t mind paying a little bit of a premium for it. One reason I do like carmax though, is they have a pretty robust website and as a company, they usually have more availability than say a local car dealership. One of the main reasons I like them is because its very easy to start to understand what cars are available at different prices and you have the benefit of being able to go see the car in person versus some dealerships, because they don’t have as much inventory of cars, can’t have you test drive the car you want to buy.

Carmax does boast its no haggle prices. They do offer a 90 day limited warranty or 400 miles. And they do offer an extended warranty which isn’t necessarily something I would pay for, but if that is something you care about, carmax does have one of the better reputations in terms of extended warranties. The last thing worth saying is they do have a 30-day return policy on their cars and from what I’ve seen, it’s actually a pretty legit and fairly smooth process.

12:48 – Criaglist and FB for buying cars
I won’t go too in depth but in general, if you don’t mind dealing with strangers and being a little more flexible on which car you want to buy, then I would say that these options for buying a used car are decent.

13:34 – Autotrader review and cars.com review
I’m going to lump both of these next websites and start by saying, i think at the end of the day, you are either wanting convenience and a good stable company and willing to pay a premium for that, in which case you probably should go with carmax or carvana or you want to deal more with private sellers and are most concerned with saving money in which case, CL or even FB marketplace are good options for the best websites to buy a used car.

15:23 – So, my recommendation, just go one extreme or another don’t do an in between. Either go with a site like I said in my carvana review or carmax review, where you know you’re paying a higher price but you get convenience, or go the other extreme and go with CL or FB.

ALWAYS feel free to comment below any questions or specific car buying questions and I’d be more than happy to give my input!