My sale to Vroom.com - what a freaking nightmare

So I posted that I sold my old truck to Vroom.com - all I have to say is - what a freaking nightmare this company has been this go around!!

I sold a car to them a few years ago and they were good. This time, not so much. I get that they are busier than usual - but this goes beyond that in my opinion. Now having to file police reports against them and for stolen mail it looks like.

Here is a timeline of events to date

5/21 - enter VIN/info - get my offer and accept

5/25 FedEx at my door with paperwork and to return title - sign and return that day

5/27 - need another form signed they forgot to enclose - signed and returned that day

5/28 - all paperwork received - we will pickup in 48 hours call

5/31 - call from Ohio - want to pickup today….that’s fine, but I’m in NC. Someone used the address I lived at when I sold the last car a few years ago on pickup - but they have my current address on file.

6/1 - Call from NC - confirm location here - will call before arrival to ensure clear to pickup

6/8 - finally get around to picking up - after 2 calls asking when will they be getting it.

6/10 - Payment mailed - to old address in Ohio. Call and tell them that’s the wrong address - Oops…sorry - it hasn’t been given to FedEx - we will grab it from mailroom and correct it.

6/10 - 6:30p - FedEx handed off and on its way to Ohio. Call FedEx - I can request delivery exception for $35 or sender can at their cost. Call Vroom - 5 people later - yes, we will request it and stop payment from going to wrong address.

6/11 - FedEx delivered and signed for my person at old address in Ohio - Vroom never processed as promised.

Call Vroom - need to stop that payment and re-issue. Promised they will

6/12 - nothing - call Vroom - no one can assist - we will call back later today

6/14 - still no replies, call, email and PM via FB - no one can help - looks like payment from 6/10 has been paid to someone.

So they took title to my truck in late May and processed - flipped the truck title to their name and physically left on my property for a week - and then failed to pay as promised.

I am not 100% sold that the check has been cashed in Ohio. I think that’s an excuse - and I’ve asked for a copy of the canceled check or other proof as I will need that before I file a report back there. I mean - it’s one thing to sign for a FedEx. Or paying attention to the name on it - it’s another to forge a signature on a check (especially knowing that’s the name of the person you bought a home from a year ago).

I suspect vroom is just highly unorganized at this point - but that’s their problem. They either need to pay for what they bought - or return it in the same condition ASAP.

The funny part - I re-ran the truck on CarMax and Vroom - both offers increased by several hundred. At this time I feel it’s only fair they match at least their “current” offer - if not the higher CarMax offer. If they do t want to do that - return at their cost and I’ll drive it over 9 miles to CarMax for $1700.

 

WTF.....

 

That’s wild. Did the same to me but lucky my house had not sold so I was able to have the truck there and could get the mail there to get my check.

Hope you get this resolved quickly

 

Sorry to hear about this nightmare you are going through but this is exactly why I have been reluctant to go forward with selling them my truck too.

I have no experience at all with them other than them giving me an offer but the entire process seems questionable to me and I have not yet heard from anyone that ever had a good experience with them in the end,at least not recently.

I know a lot of people in the car business too and they all encourage me to do the deal but not a single person knows anyone that e=actually has gone through that process?

Hope they wake up and decide to try to make this right and please keep us updated here too.

 

I know it is frustrating but crap happens and it seems to me that the process has been very good up to the point of mailing the check to the wrong address, and it is understandable that they have your old address on file. It should not happen, but it does, and overall the whole process has only been about 3 weeks from what I see. That is actually not that bad considering the fact that it is all done remotely and allowing for time to send paperwork back and forth with processing time in between.

I bought a car for my daughter like that last year. I picked it up in October, we started driving it but did not have the title, and in December when I gave it to her for her birthday we still did not have the title and other paperwork. That was more than 2 months of back-and-forth, so I think you are doing good.

 

Seriously?

I was under the impression that when I get the money they get the truck,nothing else really makes sense to me or my own sense of risk acceptance.

Otherwise they have the truck and title and can just unilaterally decide that it was not worth the offer they made you once they inspect it and send you a different amount in the end or worse?

I think these companies are not all the same and some of them do indeed get the truck while giving you the payment and the paperwork gets done on the spot too before the truck drives away? These also seem to offer less from what I can tell.

I do agree that it is all processed by Humans in the end and that they can make mistakes that cause delays but I would be going crazy after a short time of this crap going down myself.

 

So the driver picking up is a sub contractor - that’s why they don’t carry a check with them.

Carvana/Carmax - the driver/salesperson you meet with us an employee - so that’s why you get an “instant” check.

Bottom line - no ones gonna carry any significant amount of cash - and if your car is financed - they are paying the lender the majority of funds most times so its not an issue in those cases.

They were slow - but ok until the payment issue popped up. Inexcusable that they paid to the old address in my opinion (managed to get paperwork to me 2x without issue) - and I doubt they are being honest about the “payment cashed”….likely just not reading it right (why lie ?) - and that’s fast for a payment to clear.

I’ve used them before - and they were better. I just hate the acceptable level of incompetence and service from some places these days. I mean - if you mess up, apologize - offer to make it right and if the customer refuses and demands more - then they are the idiot.

I think asking to simply reissue or do a delivery intercept with FedEx at their cost was fair - no need to make an issue of it…just make it right. Between this and the issues with the new truck dealer/delivery experience - I’m ready to go back to my old truck already or scrap both deals and begin again.

 

Also - a check is just that…a check.

There are a ton of people with criminal records for passing bad checks - so it’s no guarantee that you will be paid - just a promise.

I’m just as comfortable with a contract to pay in 2 days as I am with a piece of paper that n hand I can hand to my bank that day. Now after a few days - that’s a broken contract and it changes things legally - at that point I am no longer required to perform to the contract of the other party has failed to follow through on their end of the deal. After a reasonable period - it’s a voided deal.

Kinda like say I agree to sell you my truck off an ad here - you say, ok - I’ll bring you cash and pickup Friday when I get paid. A week later no contact and someone else offers more - so I take their offer and you show up 2 weeks later and say I’m here for the truck - I meant NEXT payday…the contract clearly shows a date promised and delivery of payment/product is due.

Now even if you took the truck and failed to deliver payment - it’s not legally “yours” - you have to perform per the contract - and if I say deals off - I want more or truck back…you either need to pay up or return it.

Otherwise it’s theft by conversion and a criminal issue - not a civil one. You obtained possession of something on a pretext and when you failed to follow through on that text - you improperly converted ownership.

I’m giving them another day or 2 - truck is sitting at local auction yard still - so I know where to secure it and how to contest the title. Yea - if I did not know where it was or how to recover in a pinch - I’d be a little more hostile I guess. But yelling over the phone only gets you so far. Physically having local PD take a vehicle or securing a writ of replevin (sp- my Latin sucks) sends the message much clearer and gets you taken much more seriously than yelling at some call center rep making $11 an hour.

 

I was just trying to make OP feel better....
It will all work out in the end and a year from now a few days this way or that way for receiving the check will not be a big deal anymore.

In my case waiting more than 2 months to get the paperwork finalized could have been a heart-attack-waiting experience or an it-will-all-work-out experience. I chose not to go the heart-attack route. My daughter now has her dream car and I am in no way negatively impacted by the slow process, which I already forgot about until this discussion came up.

If it was a private sale I would be concerned if things go wrong like that, but Vroom or Carvana etc. is not going to steal your car.

 

I recently sold a car to Carvana. Had an almost identical offer from Vroom, but thought it was weird that I would mail the title to them before they ever saw the vehicle or picked it up.

 

Sold my Dads Dodge Challenger to givemethevin.com. The day they came to get the car they handed me a check and had me sign some paperwork. Thirty minutes later they were driving the car away.

 

Not sure what you are saying here?

Did Carvana want the Title before seeing the car like Vroom or are you saying that was the difference between the two?

 

Really - what part of that timeline was “good” - aside from getting me the original paperwork - they were delayed at every step.

 

In most states dealerships are required by law to deliver a title within 30 days. If not they are subject to having their license revoked. I just went through that. I paid cash for a brand new truck. It took the dealer more than 60 days to get the certificate of origin delivered to me. The state told me that they might not issue another temp tag for the truck. I would have had to park it. They gave me a total of four different stories as to why or when I could expect delivery and every one of them was a total lie. The only reason the dealer finally sent me the title was that I filed a complaint with the state and a criminal investigator called them. The first thing the agent from the dealership said on the phone was, "An investigator from the dealer commission called." and then "I need to get this title to you." I finally got the certificate yesterday.

 

It sucks that you have to jump through so many hoops and waste your own time just to get incompetent morons to do THEIR job correctly.

 

Yeah, just couldn't figure out why they worked so hard to avoid sending me a packet with a total of five pieces of paper.

 

Interesting to read.

There is no way in heck I'd give anyone the title without getting the money at the same time. Too much risk for me.

What happens when they get the title, pick up the whip and go bankrupt before you get the funds ? Thats the basic disaster, there are many ways to get screwed out of your money and car with these.
Even if they hand you a check, what happens when it bounces ?

 

Damn sorry to hear about that and hope it all gets made right.

My brother sold his wifes car to carvana, everything was done thru text and within 3 days of contacting them, car was picked up as promised and payment deposited on the spot.

 

They were the worse. Nightmare would be a light word for my experience. They took my vehicle and wouldn't take my calls for payment. I finally had to get a manager on the line and threaten them with a call to the Attorney's Generals office for fraud. I also told them that I would be calling the police for stealing my vehicle if I did not receive payment by close of business. I finally received my funds at 4:50 that day.

My youngest sold her vehicle through Carvana. The process appears to be going smooth and they will be picking it up this Saturday. We requested a hand delivered check at time of pick up. Not that ACH crap like Vroom.

 

When carvana picked up my brothers car, when the lady hit a tab on her ipad, my brother got a alert from his bank that a deposit had been made. Whole process took from a sunday to that tuesday. Each communication he got started with if you still want to proceed with selling your vehicle.

 

Correct. That is what my youngest has experienced. Constant communication to date. She hasn't receive any confirmation about the Saturday pick up but it is a bit early. I hope her experience goes flawless.

 

I’ve sold two cars to Vroom and two to Carvana. My Vroom transactions weren’t bad but Carvana is light years ahead. Vroom took forever to pick the car up (no haulers available) and it’s all paper based and snail mail.

Carvana is automated and all electronic. The driver arrived when he said he would, took about 10 minutes to process the transaction and with a press of a button my $$$ was deposited into my bank. Super easy!

 

@Shamrock92 thank you for sharing your experience. It's good info for the community, but I'm sorry you had to deal with the headache.
Sounds like Carvana is the way to go unless Vroom is way higher payout.

 

When I have run my truck through both of them Carvana is always the lower offer but I am guessing it might be worth sacrificing a little cheddar for the easier deal and peace of mind,not that I am ready to just yet though.

And yeah Shamrock sorry that you are blazing the trail here for us but I really appreciate the message and maybe the lesson in all of this from you!
And I bet it will work out in the end too.

 

No doubt it will be resolved.

Carvana ain’t the only game in town - right now local dealer might be best option available.

Just an update - finally got someone at Vroom who spoke fluent English and understood- he’s working on it and sent me his contact info and hopefully has an answer in 24 hours.

The scary part - he acknowledged they screwed up big time. The contract agreed on required they issue payment within 72 hours of pickup - they admit that did not happen (contract dead at that point). So instead of just “pending” the deal and waiting until they could verify a new contract would be agreed upon - they went ahead and sold the truck - although they did not have a clear and transferable title !!

So as it sets right now - they no longer have possession of truck - and have funds from the buyer - but title remains in my name as they have no agreement to purchase from me (they have the original title - but can’t transfer as no valid purchase agreement). As I asked - so if I don’t agree to the new contract and say return my truck - vroom’s only real option is go back to purchaser and say “we need that back” and reach an agreement with them and pray there was no damage in the mean time they would be responsible for - which Vroom agreed is pretty much spot on.

Since it’s a dealer auction purchase - it’s possible they could get it back if they wanted - but easier to just pay me off, and I’m fine with cash as don’t need the truck back just to offer to resell somewhere else. I feel if they match most recent high offer that’s fair. Guess we see though.

Not sure what it is about dealerships and their ability to hire the most disorganized and non functional people possible - but they do. I swear they must have some type of test they administer to prospective new management- sort like the sales test where you have to show a level of willingness to “not disclose things you know” (aka lie lie lie and lie some more). It’s a real thing with big dealers - it’s an “integrity” test used by HR and they reject applications testing too strongly.

 

UPDATE: Carvana came by Saturday and finalized the transaction. We received a couple of text messages early before our appointment confirming the upcoming pick up. The representative showed up about 10 minutes late. The guy showed up a 2019 Caddy wearing his Carvana shirt. Provided us with the transfer paperwork while he test drove the car around the block. He came back took pictures and had us sign the vehicle over. He then handed us a check and told us that a tow truck would be by within the hour to pick up the vehicle. He said that he liked my daughter's SUV so much that he will be probably driving it tomorrow to meet with clients. He excused himself and said that he had to leave to meet another customer. He placed a lock box on the vehicle and we were done. The tow truck showed up about 20 minutes later and took the vehicle.

We may be selling my wife's 2019 Highlander and our dealer friend said that he wants a chance to bit on purchasing it over Carvana. The used market is hot!