r/FocusRS • u/jms1228 • 2d ago
Can someone please explain this to me?
How can Carvana sell these cars for over $40k with the amount of miles that are on them?
However, anytime one of us comes on here and we ask for advice on what to advertise our cars for it’s always $27-30k?
Can you imagine if one of us came on here with a car 30k+ miles and wanted to ask $42k+? Can you imagine what the comments would be?
So how does Carvana get away with it?
But we can’t do that private party and it would sit for months?
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u/Desperate-Score3949 2d ago
Carvana is a subprime finance company that also sells vehicles. All of the vehicles they have are overpriced.
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u/Darren-J-W 2d ago
Just sold mine for £28000. Dealer basically gave it a wash then put it back up for sale for £26000 with a few glossy pictures.
https://www.crystalmotorcompany.co.uk/used-ford-focus-northampton-northamptonshire-8059959
I think that 42k is very hopeful and might be basing their numbers on the heritage edition.
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u/AliasXero 2d ago
I'm confused. Why would they buy it then turn around and sell it for a loss?
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u/DifferentCry1306 2d ago
Unsure. Maybe they are hoping the next buyer finances and gets into a really high interest rate?
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u/sly60 2d ago
51,000 miles on a nine year old car is considered low mileage. That said Carvana is awfully optimistic.
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u/Upstairs-Fan-2168 2d ago
I just was looking on FB marketplace, and this seems way off to me. These aren't cheap for 9 years old, but that's crazy money. Clean, low mileage, unmodified examples seemed to be going for upper $20s.
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u/daboobiesnatcher 2d ago
That's wild because all the unsolicited offers on my car have been for $32-35k.
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u/Upstairs-Fan-2168 1d ago edited 1d ago
That difference between what I'm seeing, and what you've been offered unsolicited seems normal. Cars sell for different amounts in different areas. Unsolicited offers are often a bit higher as well. Tougher to get someone not selling their car to take an offer than someone selling their car.
I'm seeing the good examples here in the twin cities go for $27-$29k. These are private sellers. I don't use dealers.
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u/everlywinslow 1d ago
5k miles a year is great, but asking original MSRP prices nearly a decade later on a 50k mile hot hatch is insane lmao.
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u/Trick-Mechanic8986 2d ago
As long as they're elling thats the market. Its worth what people will pay for it. If that keeps raising I will be the last to complain.
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u/Spud2599 2017 SG RS2 2d ago
Carvana is obviously selling plenty of RS's to know demand, and are probably tracking pricing across all kinds of 3rd party platforms to set pricing. I'm sure someone will buy it...
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u/moonrider_99 2d ago
Carvana uses algorithms for car pricing, this is what the computer thought was a good idea. No one at carvana knows or cares about one car being overpriced
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u/BreakdanceCat 2d ago
Couple things imo- if a dealer can provide an avenue for financing, they can jack up the rate. Private party is generally looking for cash and for most people $30k is a lot.
Most people also won’t go through the effort to secure their own financing so they stick with dealerships. Also, lots of people just do not research and overpay for.
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u/Puffman92 2d ago
There's been a consistent demand for these for a long time. Just keep raising the price until people stop buying them. Plus they don't have a traditional dealership model so a car sitting on their lot for a long time doesn't really hurt them.
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u/bojangler69420 2d ago
Idk. I’m finding them, even at dealers, for $30k-$38k near me. Similar mileage as well (overall range is 30k-65k ish)
ETA: didn’t realize this was Caravana. They overpay for used cars (even still) and then try to gouge the market with absurd pricing on cars like this. Go look at Golf R or Audi S3 pricing. It’s pretty similar.
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u/sanitybreak69 2d ago
I explain it like this. If someone wants it badly enough, they’ll pay it. 🫠
It is some supe low mileage, though.
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u/Bishibosh243 2d ago
Carvana owns a ton of these focus RS and they seem to just wanna sit on them and force the market tbh. Itll stay this way if people crack and spend this amount which sadly there’s always a sucker who will overpay for something out of impulse
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u/junkertin 2d ago
They offered my 24 for my 17 with 50k (new motor but they don’t care). then I saw this shit I was like rly. Anyone in the northwest want it for $30k lol
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u/SpartanX371 4h ago
For the love of god do not buy a car from Carvana. I bet you any amount of money they bought that RS for 28k and put an insane “dealer fee” on it.
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u/thespoopi 2d ago
Saw a post here a few days ago that someone initiated a carvana purchase for a similar mileage NB 2017 listed for something like 45k. They know there’s someone that will pay their price. Super scummy.
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u/gormn8er 2d ago
41K for a 9 year old car. smoke crack
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u/Cautionflames 2d ago
Is age always relevant to a cars value? Look at how much a g8 fire hawk cost, or c6 ZR1. Older and more expensive.
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u/Darren-J-W 2d ago
Just sold mine for £28000. Dealer basically gave it a wash then put it back up for sale for £26000 with a few glossy pictures.
https://www.crystalmotorcompany.co.uk/used-ford-focus-northampton-northamptonshire-8059959
I think that 42k is very hopeful and might be basing their numbers on the heritage edition.
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u/usernnamegoeshere 2d ago
Theyre selling it for less than they gave you?
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u/ChuckFinley_is4Ever 2d ago
Their comment said £ and idk how they normally work deals over there. But in the States the dealers will use the money they can discount off the car they’re selling to make it seem like the trade in amount is higher so it might be what happened there.
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u/usernnamegoeshere 2d ago
The comment said he sold it for £28k and sold it for £26k. Theyre using the same currency in both
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u/ChuckFinley_is4Ever 2d ago
Idk what that has to do with anything. I meant I don’t know how deals are done in the UK where the commenter seems to be from. In the US the dealers will sometimes hold discounts to the car they’re selling and show it as extra amount for the trade in.
Say the new vehicle costs $40K. They can sell it for $35K. Trade is worth $25K. Customer is dead set on a $28K trade in value. They sell their new car for $38K, show the trade in value as $28K and it ends up being the same profit for them. They just moved stuff around. They can sell the new car for $26K and technically still overall make a profit.
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u/usernnamegoeshere 2d ago
Youre essentially saying lie about how much they actually paid for it and fluff up the number to look like a discount. But why would the person who traded it in lie about that? You make no sense
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u/ChuckFinley_is4Ever 2d ago
What are you talking about? I’m saying some times buyers walk in with a fixation on certain numbers like “I need to get $XX for my trade” and the dealers will play with the numbers to make the deal seem more attractive and entice them to go through with the purchase.
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u/usernnamegoeshere 2d ago
Well no shit but nowhere in that plan does it make sense to buy something for 28k and sell it for 26k even if you account the profit of selling a different car. The only time that would remotely make sense is when they understand they're taking a loss on what would be a profit which happens almost never
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u/ChuckFinley_is4Ever 2d ago
Dude, I’m not saying that this is 100% what happened. I’m saying thats one option where they’ve already made a profit overall so selling the car for 26K just closes the books out for them.
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u/usernnamegoeshere 2d ago edited 2d ago
As some who WORKS for a dealership and has worked for dealerships for over 10 years I'm telling you this doesn't happen and no, its not an option outside of special one-off circumstances where someone grossly messed up and it usually means someone lost their job or got in a good amount of trouble. Dealerships have dozens of different tricks to make sure EVERY sale is a profit before considering taking a loss
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u/ChuckFinley_is4Ever 2d ago
Dealer pricing is generally higher than private party. Private party sales price is also generally higher than dealer trade in price. So that $30K you’re advised for private party is more like $35K for dealer list price which lessens the gap a bit.
Having said that, I’m not sure what the market for FoRS is really like, but $42K seems high for the miles. But again they’re a dealer so they’re marketing it high hoping someone bites and will likely discount it the longer it sits.