QOTD: Can Carvana Be Saved? If So, How?

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

I just posted about Carvana's most recent financial woes. So, naturally, I have to ask -- can the company be saved? If so, how?


I know, I know, if you really could save Carvana you'd probably be charging the company a lot to be a consultant, instead of commenting here for free. But let's pretend you could be that consultant. What would you tell Carvana?

The idea of a company that took the dealer out of the used-car-buying experience seemed pretty cool just a few years ago, and the COVID pandemic forcing folks to shop from home certainly helped it grow even more. But now that supply is catching up to demand, used-car prices are dropping, and that plus a heavy debt load and rising interest rates have really put Carvana in a bad place.

So, think it can be saved? Sound off below.

[Image: Carvana]

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Tim Healey
Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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4 of 28 comments
  • Qwerty shrdlu Qwerty shrdlu on Dec 08, 2022

    Sending customers their titles and tags would be a good start.

  • Keith_93 Keith_93 on Dec 08, 2022

    Is Carvana a business that the world needs? They are selling used cars. They don't create anything. They sell USED CARS.

    In order to build up huge inventory, they bid up the price of used cars. Now that is biting them. Hard.

    Once they go away, there will still be a plethora of ways to buy used cars online or in person.

    Buh bye.

  • MKizzy MKizzy on Dec 08, 2022

    Become another rental car company and partner with insurers, auto repair shops, and dealerships to offer short to middle term loaner vehicles from its inventory and then resale the vehicles after a few thousand miles or another year whichever comes first. Maybe even lease vehicles to wannabe Uber/Lyft drivers.

  • DedBull DedBull on Dec 09, 2022

    How much of that debt is directly tied to their purchase of ADESA? While wholesale volumes are down, the dealer auction is still a backbone of the used automotive industry. I assume ADESA was a functional and profitable business before it's acquisition. Break it back off, with some amount of it's debt following, and start shrinking the retail side until it is stable.

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