"In December 2014, I bought a Honda Fit right off the lot. It had 23 miles, and I paid $20,814.80, including accessories and an extended warranty. ThisDecember, a buzzy startup called Carvana drove away with my car, cutting me a check for $20,905 — leaving me with a profit of $90.20."

https://www.theverge.com/22923871/ca...-chip-shortage


Lengthy article but it is interesting read. It offers some insights on how company like Carvana is using algorithm to help them maximize profits.

Is this the same Carvana that seems to be selling stolen cars?

Very interesting article, thanks for sharing it. Of course, it's also worth mentioning that Carvana and Vroom are in that same category of speculative companies as Uber, WeWork, and all the others whose "business model" is to dazzle stock market investors with a glossy "innovative high-tech paradigm shift" while hemorrhaging cash to buy market share, in the hope that they'll 1) drive up the stock price enough to make up for unprofitable fundamentals, and 2) by so doing, gain a monopoly position so they can jack up the prices later.

In short, it could be a good (if totally unethical) business decision by Carvana to pay more for a car than it's worth, but just as with any other potential monopolist, it's bad for everyone to let them do business that way. Lots of people got great deals in the early days buying from Amazon and Walmart too, and now here we all are: trapped consumers, screwed employees, and cheated competiitors.

Insanity
the other day I was at Carmax. There were used lexuses around at prices that to me look higher than the price of a new Lexus should be. But apparently some people do pay these prices. Per articles, one attractive feature is Carmax's low pressure sales people, and also their option of 30 day return policy. ALso, low pressure option to test drive for 24 hours. Supposedly some people are willing to buy at potentially higher price due to 1) the 30 day return policy and 2) a very easy and relatively fast transaction if you trade in a car and buy one of Carmax's used cars the same day.
Does Carvana have a return policy also?

The oligarchs of the world have become very efficient at extracting profits thanks to technology. Guess with technology you win some and you lose some. Former CEO of Google said it best that social networks are amplifiers for idiots and crazy people. In a way it is very powerful tool to keep the general population continuously distracted so you can fleece or control them while they are hating and raging on each others. From what I have observed in the past few years it seems we are at a turning point and I think the human race is devolving. It appears this Mike Judge's old movie is becoming more and more like a documentary each passing day:

Hey I am planning to get a 2019 es 350 luxury CPO with blind spot + navigation + noise reduction wheels for 36k (39K out the door). I think the price seems reasonable considering that prices are jacked up now. Any insights?

how many miles on it?

It has 40k miles on it, (also I forgot to add that it has the pano roof also added to it, and the car is in pristine condition inside and out. Carfax also is clean) The price seems really competitive comparing the historical depreciation for a used lexus es. I am just curious what might have caused this pricing. Maybe I am wrong. Feel free to enlighten me.

It has 40k miles on it, (also I forgot to add that it has the pano roof also added to it, and the car is in pristine condition inside and out. Carfax also is clean) The price seems really competitive comparing the historical depreciation for a used lexus es. I am just curious what might have caused this pricing. Maybe I am wrong. Feel free to enlighten me.

Ultimately it boils down to your personal decision as only you know if it is the right deal for you under this market condition. I am guessing you have been looking and this is a "best" one so far. 40k miles on odometer is normal for a 3 year old vehicle. Since it is a Lexus it has a lot of life left.

Yeah I researched a bit and typical lexus es 350 has a depreciation of 35% in 3 years. Considering the sticker price of a new lux package with all the adds on, which is about 50k, and adding a depr amounts to 32.5k. But this is 36K. I am just surprised why the markup is not that much compared to other models of a Lexus. I can wait another 6 months, but who knows what the situation is in 6 months.

Agree. I'd add the usual caution: Get it independently inspected before you buy. I don't know whether it's the absolute lowest price in the world, but I tend not to worry so much about that. More important is that if it checks out clean, basically the value is there.

If you have the VIN, there are means to look up Lexus's official factory and port installed equipment. URL: https://drivers.lexus.com/lexusdrive.../vehicle-specs used to be where you could get that information but it isn't working right now. (None of the vehicle specification look up links on other pages on that web site seem to be working either.) However, if you download the (smart phone or tablet) Lexus app and create an account and temporarily register the VIN, you can look up the vehicle specifications by that method.

The reason for looking up the Lexus official vehicle "as built" specs is that the dealer's advertising and other supplied information about a vehicle's feature set may not be correct. Best to know what you're really buying before buying it instead of after shelling out the money for it.

Also, with a VIN registered with an account, you should be able to look up the maintenance history for all the maintenance that was performed and documented by Lexus dealers and self maintenance items documented by the vehicle's previous owner(s). There probably won't be anything in the maintenance history - just routine inspections and oil and filter changes with one exception of a fuel pump change recall on the 2019 ES 350s. But if that isn't the case, again it is better to known what you're buying into before buying it than afterward.

I'm guessing that a factor in people being willing to pay more for a 2 or 3 year old car from Carmax, Carvana, Vroom, etc. than what would be the price for a new car, is that, with current supply issues for new cars, people might choose to pay more for that 2 or 3 year old car as an alternative to have to wait months (or longer) for a new car to be available to them.

Yes, Carvana has a 7 day return policy.

The Toyota salesman I've worked with over the years says that the people who get hurt the most are those that simply have to have a vehicle NOW, usually do to an accident or major mechanical failure, and that there are a lot more of them than you'd think.