My Experience Buying a Car Online

I recently purchased a car for myself, and I desperately needed a new one. My old car, a 2000 Honda Civic LX, was nearing 150k miles and was developing some engine issues that were not worth fixing. I wanted to document my experience buying a car online and what that entailed.

First off, I decided to purchase online because:

• Better options

• No pushy salesmen

• I can look as much as I want at my convenience.

• I wanted to experience it.

I kept my search to mainly Vroom, Shift, and CarMax. After a month and a half of searching, I finally found a car that met all of my requirements. The car I chose was a 2019 Nissan Kicks, and I found it on Shift's website. It's a newer make of Nissan's, and it got some reasonably decent ratings. I wanted a crossover/compact SUV with decent mileage, and the Kicks sure gets that at 31 miles per gallon in the city.  My particular vehicle also only had 10,000 miles on it, much less than almost every vehicle that I looked at.

I decided to purchase my particular car on Saturday the 18th through Shift. I had already gotten pre-approved for a loan, and earlier that day, I had talked with a loan advisor to get the terms of my loan altered. After I got the terms I wanted, I went through with the purchase. I uploaded my driver's license and proof of insurance. I then paid for the delivery charge. Finally, I scheduled a time to talk with a purchase advisor the following day.  

Sunday I got a call promptly at the time I chose (10 AM), and the purchase advisor I talked to was helpful and friendly.  She answered all of my questions and gave me the assurance I needed for this process.  I was having the car shipped to me from San Francisco.  

The next day, Monday, I got a call from Shift to let me know they were scheduling delivery for my car.  They also confirmed a few other details, which I felt I had already established the previous day, but I understood they were trying to be thorough.  On Tuesday, I got a call that the delivery company had picked up my car and started taking it to Seattle.  They told me it would arrive no later than Thursday.  Cool.

Wednesday, I got a call that they had already not only delivered my car to the Seattle hub, but they had also completed the post-delivery inspection.  I scheduled my car to be delivered to my home on Saturday, my next day off.  I was eager to see my car, but unfortunately, with work, I did not have a good time to receive it until Saturday.

Nothing happened Thursday, but Friday, I got a call from Shift saying that one of the guys who was cleaning the car noticed that the volume knob on the stereo wasn't functioning properly.  He said the volume control on the steering wheel works just fine, as if that made it any better.  He also said Shift would be willing to give me a $50 credit and that I would simply have to take it to a Nissan dealership to get it fixed.  Knowing my experience with dealerships, I knew it would either cost more than $50, or they'd try to upsell me on something else for the car.

I told him I wanted it fixed.  I also said I'd be willing to push my delivery date back if need be.  He said he'd have his team look at it; and explained the reason he offered what he did was that most people are firm on the delivery date and cannot push it back.  But I told him again I'd be willing to wait.

Saturday comes, the original day of delivery, and I decide to just call them.  My delivery still looked like it was scheduled for 2:30, and when I called that was less than four hours away.  So I called, and the guy I talked to told me the same thing as the guy yesterday did, which is that he'd have his team look at it and get back to me.  I told him it was already the same thing I heard.  But I did get the impression from him that he would definitely get back to me later that day.

I did end up getting a text that evening from Zach who I spoke with earlier.  He said his team would do a diagnostics check on Monday to see what is needed for it to be fixed.  So I decided to be patient and wait until at least Tuesday to do anything.  

Tuesday afternoon comes, and I have not heard back from them yet.  I decided to try texting them back at the number they texted me at, and I did get a response saying my car was at a Nissan dealership.  I definitely would have appreciated an update saying they were taking it there, but seeing as it's not technically my car yet, I can't blame them too much.  They also said that the Seattle office would reach out to me.  

They did so on Wednesday, saying the volume knob was fixed.  Thank goodness.  They scheduled delivery for me on Saturday with an open window of 11-1:30.  

I receive no further contact until Saturday morning when I get a call from a (206) number I didn't recognize.  Seeing as I was expecting a delivery later that day, I answered.  It was an Asian man who was the courier tasked with delivering my car.  He asked if he could drop by earlier.  I said that would be ok.  

He only ended up being about ten minutes early, but I appreciate the phone call heads-up nonetheless.  He asked what unit I was at, and I asked him where he was.  He was at the leasing office, so I told him I'd meet him there.  I met him there, checked out the car for a bit, and then we went to some outdoor tables to do the paperwork, most of which was on a tablet.  

There was a bunch of waiting around on my end.  He filled out a lot of information I had already provided Shift, such as my driver's license.  I felt like this stuff could have been filled out ahead of time to save some time.  But I was patient.  As part of the process, I got a call from a loan specialist who informed me of a lender with a better rate.  I wasn't particularly keen on switching lenders, but I did see a better interest rate and lower payment, so I agreed.  

We ultimately finished and I bid the courier farewell.  He had driven my car to our complex, so I wondered how he was getting back to his place of work.  I didn't ask, however.  I checked out my car again--I instantly fell in love.  I put the temporary "plate" on the rear window.  

I did receive a call from the lender, which is Capital One, on the following Monday.  They had me answer a 7-10 minute questionnaire.  It concluded with questions about features on my car and if I was aware of them being on the car.  I was definitely unsure about a few of them.  On Wednesday, I got a call from Shift saying that Capital One had "sent" my loan back to them saying I was unhappy with a feature not on my car.  I definitely did not give any indication that I was unhappy--just that I was not sure.  They then sent the loan "back" to Capital One.

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with the process.  But it was not without its share of hiccups and complications.  Although, to be fair, to expect an absolutely seamless process would be a bit too much.  There are certain things Shift could improve upon, namely offering to fix issues themselves and having some paperwork pre-filled out when it came to completing the purchase.  But there was nothing that occurred that made me want to back out of the deal.  I have to say I am pretty happy with my new car, and I would definitely purchase online again, especially since I now have the experience for it.  

Companies I Refuse to Do Business With (And past experiences with them)

As you go through life, you're bound to do business with many companies.  And unfortunately, not every single one will give you great service.  I'm going to talk about a few companies I've bought things from or done business with, but now I refuse to anymore because of a bad experience I had.  Of course, a recent one is what inspired me to do this post.

Best Buy
I've been in a Best Buy since my bad experience, but I haven't bought much since.  Maybe something like a CD that was on sale.  But I mostly try to avoid the place. 

I had gotten a PC game from my parents for either my birthday or Christmas (they're close together, so it's hard to distinguish sometimes).   That PC game was Star Wars: The Old Republic.  I tried to load it on my PC, and it technically worked, but it was so slow and there was just no way I could enjoy it.  Therefore, I went to Best Buy with my dad to try to return it.

Now here's where it gets interesting.  They would not let us return it (because it was "open"), not even for store credit.  I know we were in the right, as their return policy stated so long as it was within the time period, which it was.  They explained how we very easily could have made a copy of it or something, and my dad just exploded.  I had never seen him yell at strangers like that before.  I think the part where they borderline accused us of trying to scam them was what made my dad mad.  In the end, my dad said he wouldn't do business with them anymore, although I think he's been back to a Best Buy since then (although not as much, like me).

I ended up selling the game online for a bit of a loss and shipping it away.  It was better than holding onto it for no reason, because I was never going to play it.

Car Toys
The unfortunate thing with Car Toys is that there's not really any other business around the area that does what they do.  They install car stereos, speakers, alarm systems, any car accessories.  I originally had a pretty decent experience with them when they installed the car alarm on my car.

However, in recent years, their service has greatly lacked.  I can't remember what exactly happened with my sister's car, but she had her stereo taken out of her old car (because her car was basically totaled), and they I think ended up damaging a part of the speakers and claiming they didn't do anything to damage them.

But more recently, I bought the stereo and speaker system from my dad, who then said I could take it to Car Toys to get it installed.  They were pretty darn unprofessional about it.  It's hard to remember exactly what they did wrong, but they first said they'd be able to install a type of speaker called tweakers, but then afterward they said they couldn't.

I do remember that my stereo was having major trouble connecting to the speakers and kept displaying an error message and I wouldn't be able to listen to music.  I had to go back and get them to fix it.  I think I ended up approaching them four separate times to get them to fix something.

Fortunately, they finally got it to work.  I have a cable that's sticking out inside my glove box that wasn't before, which is oddly a USB plug-in.  I just know that every time either me or my dad has gone to Car Toys for service recently, it's been a huge headache.  HUGE.

The Bradford Exchange
This was the most recent one.  I saw a Mickey Mouse limited edition coin in a catalog I wanted to get my grandma for Christmas, but on the catalog's website they were sold out.  So I looked online for another place to purchase it and found The Bradford Exchange.

I purchased it for about 40 bucks and got it in the mail a few weeks later.  Over a month after that, I received a giant display case and another coin in the mail from them.  I went to check my bank statement and saw two charges of 25 bucks on there.  Apparently, I had enrolled in a subscription with them, even though at no point in the checkout process did they say I was doing that.

I then got shipped a third coin just a week ago or so, and another charge on my card appeared.  I have emailed them many, many times.  The time I was trying to return this third coin, I was told a barcode that came with it would work as a return label.  It did not.  I had to ask three or four times for them to send me a return label until they did.

They also say on their website that the return and refund won't be processed until close to a month after they receive it.  For an item I purchased for Christmas, I won't be able to receive a refund until April at best.  And right now, I'm constantly checking the status of the shipment back to them, and the first display case hasn't been updated in over a week.

I left them a 2/5 star review on ConsumerAffairs.com, only to see everyone else has rated them a ONE star.  They may have high quality gifts, but they suck at business.

Honda of Kirkland
I have to point out the location because I doubt every Honda dealership is like this.  I purchased my Civic from them years ago.  I've taken it in to them twice for a service since then.  The first time, they supposedly found something like a hole or that my fan belt needed to be replaced; I can't remember.  But I ended up paying much more than I thought. 

The next time I took it there because I had no other choice.  My girlfriend borrowed my car from my work's parking lot (which is across the street from this Honda), and when she got back the steering started acting up.  I asked my parents for advice, and my dad took it to the closest repair place, which was this Honda dealership.  I don't remember exactly what they said was wrong with it, but my parents suggested taking it elsewhere for a second opinion.  I had it towed to a Midas, and they gave me a different answer and told me it would cost much less.  So I ended up having Midas fix it and not Honda.

In other words, I think this dealership does whatever they can to earn more money, at least in their service department.  I refuse to go there, even when they mail me coupons for services like oil changes.