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.