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BMW 5-Series (G30) Forum 2017+ BMW 5 Series (G30) General Discussions My Experience Selling to Vroom

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      09-22-2020, 11:21 AM   #1
FarHills
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My Experience Selling to Vroom

Just sold my 2018 530xe to Vroom and wanted to share the experience since others may be wondering.

I bought the car outright and had 20k miles 3 years later. Decided to sell since there's a used car bubble apparently right now.

The process looked like this:

1. Submit your VIN and answer a few basic questions about the car. No pics needed, just your description of the condition and any aftermarket mods (I had custom wheels+non RFT tires)

2. They generate an offer instantly on in a few minutes. They offered me $34.4k for $69k MSRP car, but I paid $56k in 2017 after incentives and tax credits.

3. Offer is good for 2 days and 250 miles. I accepted it and they asked me to send the title. They provided a prepaid overnight fedex label.

4. I sent them the title and the next day they moved me to scheduling pickup.

5. The following week the car was picked up by a contract carrier. I sent them a copy of a bill of landing.

6. SAME DAY they overnighted me the full payment. Before even seeing the car in person! There's a schtick in the contract that if the car is a brick, they will send it back at your expense etc etc, but that seems for extreme cases only.

Overall the exeprience has been great. They paid above what others offered (Carvana said $30k, KBB instant offers was about the same). Most amazingly, they didn't want to inspect the car at all before buying - not exterior, not mechanical, nothing.

I guess they rely on the 7-day return policy for the customers to find out what condition the vehicle is actually in and whether they're ok with that.

So I would definitely sell cars to them, but would be wary of buying from them since nobody looks at the car before they buy it.
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      09-22-2020, 11:28 AM   #2
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Great write up thanks!

They likely also rely on the fact the car is still under Bumper to Bumper with BMW and anything they find they can just cart it off to BMW to fix. That was the way CarMax approached it when it took my MB into them for a price check in the past. Under bumper to bumper they'd give you a number based on features and didn't really feel the need to look the car over or test drive it for condition.
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      09-22-2020, 11:41 AM   #3
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Originally Posted by LogicalApex View Post
Great write up thanks!

They likely also rely on the fact the car is still under Bumper to Bumper with BMW and anything they find they can just cart it off to BMW to fix. That was the way CarMax approached it when it took my MB into them for a price check in the past. Under bumper to bumper they'd give you a number based on features and didn't really feel the need to look the car over or test drive it for condition.
Ah interesting. But, say, scratches under the bumper from curbs or alignment that needs to be done wouldn't be covered. Not that I'm saying my car had any
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      09-23-2020, 10:29 AM   #4
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Glad you had a good experience. Surprised you let Vroom take your car away before payment. My experience, including 7 years in the dealership business and having personally bought and sold about 50 cars is that I never let a car out of my sight without having good funds in my bank account, except in special circumstances. One was selling to friends (twice) where I took their personal checks. The other was when I sold my '95 ZR-1 I let a Corvette dealer whom I know take the car to his shop for inspection, with a written agreement that if there is no sale he returns it to me at his expense. A car dealer never lets a car off the lot without full payment.--Bob
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      09-23-2020, 11:07 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FarHills View Post
Ah interesting. But, say, scratches under the bumper from curbs or alignment that needs to be done wouldn't be covered. Not that I'm saying my car had any
I'd imagine dealers tend to see both of those as minor wear and tear. The scratches would likely be fixed when they do the dealer detail that has to be done on every car they put on their lot. Alignment they'd probably leave for the buyer since they are probably not paying attention to it. Assuming your alignment was out in the first place.
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      09-23-2020, 04:46 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FarHills View Post
Just sold my 2018 530xe to Vroom and wanted to share the experience since others may be wondering.

I bought the car outright and had 20k miles 3 years later. Decided to sell since there's a used car bubble apparently right now.

The process looked like this:

1. Submit your VIN and answer a few basic questions about the car. No pics needed, just your description of the condition and any aftermarket mods (I had custom wheels+non RFT tires)

2. They generate an offer instantly on in a few minutes. They offered me $34.4k for $69k MSRP car, but I paid $56k in 2017 after incentives and tax credits.

3. Offer is good for 2 days and 250 miles. I accepted it and they asked me to send the title. They provided a prepaid overnight fedex label.

4. I sent them the title and the next day they moved me to scheduling pickup.

5. The following week the car was picked up by a contract carrier. I sent them a copy of a bill of landing.

6. SAME DAY they overnighted me the full payment. Before even seeing the car in person! There's a schtick in the contract that if the car is a brick, they will send it back at your expense etc etc, but that seems for extreme cases only.

Overall the exeprience has been great. They paid above what others offered (Carvana said $30k, KBB instant offers was about the same). Most amazingly, they didn't want to inspect the car at all before buying - not exterior, not mechanical, nothing.

I guess they rely on the 7-day return policy for the customers to find out what condition the vehicle is actually in and whether they're ok with that.

So I would definitely sell cars to them, but would be wary of buying from them since nobody looks at the car before they buy it.
It's a numbers game for them. Most things they can fix a heck of a lot cheaper than you think. Dealers internal cost for repainting a bumper for instance is a couple hundred dollars. Worst case is they wholesale a car out and take the hit.

I spent most of my career in a wholesale supply business. Lots of inventory dollars tied up. Stuff that didn't move often got written down and eventually thrown away. It's just a cost of doing business. The key is simply being as good or better at it than your competition.
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      09-24-2020, 05:57 AM   #7
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I tried it just out of curiosity and the offer was $35,691 for my low mileage '18 540i that was $77k new. I will keep it until the lease is up in 5 months.

I wonder where their margins are with your car. The 2018 530es on Vroom range from $31,300 - $39,000 (the latter being an outlier with <14k miles). Say yours lists for $38k. That leaves $3,600 for acquisition, reconditioning, shipping, advertising, staff, overhead, etc. I'd say you made out quite well!
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      09-24-2020, 10:01 AM   #8
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I agree, I think they're burning investors' money and barely break even on their cars, if that.
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      09-24-2020, 10:15 AM   #9
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Glad you were the seller. I've read horror stories, just this week actually, from buyers - awful experiences! In fact my nephew's girlfriend bought a Jeep last week from Vroom - horrible. It had dings and scratches and was disgusting inside. Clearly Vroom does nothing but transport the car from one place to another with no inspection or cleaning up.
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      09-24-2020, 02:55 PM   #10
FarHills
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dlf750 View Post
Glad you were the seller. I've read horror stories, just this week actually, from buyers - awful experiences! In fact my nephew's girlfriend bought a Jeep last week from Vroom - horrible. It had dings and scratches and was disgusting inside. Clearly Vroom does nothing but transport the car from one place to another with no inspection or cleaning up.
That was my impression as well. Thanks for confirming that.
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