Why I gave up shopping in person, and what it was like buying a new car online. Here's my personal review of my experience buying a car from online car sales retailer Driveway. Make sure you read all the way to the end!
My Review of Buying a Car from Driveway
I don't enjoy shopping for cars, I don't like bargaining, and I prefer to do most of the legwork online before I set foot in a dealership.
All I want to do is walk in the door, sign the papers, and drive away.
Unfortunately, in the aftermath of the pandemic, my usual methods got thrown for a loop.
Despite dutifully doing my homework to find a reasonable price, locally, on my make and model of choice, I ended up being completely frustrated with nearby dealers.
How I Ended Up at Driveway in the First Place
When I started car shopping, I knew exactly which year, make, model, and trim level I was shopping for. It should have been easy. Find dealerships with a car in stock, call and get a price, make a purchase.
Nope.
The better dealerships would tell you, up front and matter of fact, that they were charging a three- to five-thousand dollar surcharge known as a "Market Value Adjustment" on top of the manufacturer's suggested retail price, or MSRP.
The worse dealerships would pretend they didn't have one... until you got there. Then they slapped it on the paperwork and hoped you would pay it anyway.
The awful dealerships added the huge markup and a lecture on the economy and then smugly expected you to thank them for it.
I wasn't going to pay extra for no good reason and end up upside-down on a car loan.
Back to the drawing board!
The Driveway Shopping Experience
I briefly considered buying a used car, but used cars were far more expensive than usual. It just didn't make sense to overpay.
So I tried to find a website that would give me a real new car price, not just the fake price meant to lure you in.
Most websites that said they were for buying a new car were in fact just collecting information to send it to a local dealer, who then called, emailed, or texted you. You couldn't actually make a purchase online; it routed you into the traditional purchasing process.
So when I ran across an ad for Driveway, in the form of a decorated box from a recent Amazon purchase, I decided to check it out.
The website made it look so easy. Search for a car, make the purchase online, have it delivered. Was it too good to be true?
It was the real deal. Driveway is the online car sales division of Lithia Motors, one of the largest automotive groups in the US.
Reassured that I was dealing with a legitimate company, I found the car I wanted, priced exactly at the MSRP, and no bogus fees that I could see. It was all the way in California, across the country from where I live (in Florida).
A couple of clicks and I was in the checkout process.
The Driveway Checkout
I quickly filled out the online checkout forms with the basic information, skipping over the financing part since I had my own financing lined up with my credit union.
I could easily see the price of the car itself, the price of having it shipped, and the estimated government taxes and fees.
Done. A little confirmation popped up that said a Driveway representative would be in touch to complete the transaction.
The Actual Purchase Process
That same day, within a few hours, I received an email and a text from a Driveway rep.
The first car I picked turned out to have already been sold. But, as I had seen on the website, there was one other car still available that was identical except for the color. It was a couple hundred dollars more, and it was located in Oregon.
Could they price match the other one? No, because the individual dealerships set the prices, and the two cars were at different dealers.
The price difference wasn't very much, and the color didn't bother me, so I said I'd take it.
They sent over a purchase proposal for me to approve.
Since I was used to finding all sorts of dealer fees, market value adjustments, and dealer-installed accessories (that I didn't want) added to the price, I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the money added up just like it had on the website: a price, a shipping charge, and the usual taxes and government charges.
I approved it.
Then they sent a link to pay a $500 deposit to hold the car.
I paid it.
Then, the actual dealership that had the car overnighted me a package of paperwork to fill out. This was a little unusual, since many contract-based transactions now use DocuSign or some other similar method.
The paperwork contained the standard purchase agreements, and everything lined up with the pricing details I'd been given in the proposal. I sent the paperwork back in its prepaid overnight envelope.
I used email to loop in the Driveway reps, the dealership rep, and my loan approval officer on the transaction so they could all communicate with each other. I paid the down payment over the phone, directly to the dealership.
There was some confusion about who, exactly, would be doing the title, registration and tag work. The Driveway website said Driveway handled all of that. The dealership said that other than mailing the paperwork to the DMV, the customer handled it.
I called Driveway, and the first rep I talked to didn't seem to know, but when I asked to speak to the department that handled the registrations, that rep was able to clarify that Driveway would indeed handle everything, and that the dealership had been incorrect.
Delivery
It took a few days for the car to be moved from Oregon to Florida. After that, a Driveway delivery coordinator called the following day to set up delivery.
The car had been relocated to a Lithia-affiliated dealer near me. Two staff members drove it over to me and turned over the keys, the remaining paperwork, and an Oregon temporary tag.
After the Purchase
Since the car could only have a temporary tag until the purchase was finalized after the 7-day return period, Driveway couldn't initiate the tag and registration process until they were sure I was keeping the car.
When the temporary tag I'd been issued got close to its expiration, I contacted Driveway, and they had the dealer overnight another temporary tag.
Here's where things went sideways.
Driveway contracts with a third-party company to handle the out-of-state registration. There were two things I didn't realize at the time.
- There is a limit of temporary tags that you can use. In many states, you only get one. In Oregon, you only get two. I had just received the last one.
- Someone, whether it was Driveway or their third-party contractor, had dropped the ball on my registration entirely. Despite the purchase taking place in the last week of December, by the end of January, nothing had actually happened with the registration process.
So...
When the second temporary tag ran out, I got the very unpleasant surprise that I couldn't have another one, and my brand new car had become illegal to drive. I spoke to both a local sheriff and the Florida Highway Patrol: if I drove the car, I could risk a citation or even a criminal charge!
Needless to say, I was extremely upset.
I called Driveway, and the first customer service representative I reached seemed annoyed that I had even called. At one point, I was told I could just keep driving with the expired Oregon temp tag, that it wasn't a big deal. Instead of doing anything about it, they tried to put me off.
Obviously, you can't put someone off when you've made driving their new car a criminal offense.
It took an irate email, tweet, and more phone calls before I finally got someone's attention. At that point, when my situation was handed off to someone empowered to do something about it, things began to happen.
I was given a complimentary rental car to use until the registration came through, and Driveway paid my first month's car payment as a way of apologizing for all the inconvenience.
It took about a week and a half for the Florida registration to arrive after that. Presumably, that should have been the duration in the first place if everything had been handled properly.
Final Thoughts
Although I use a lot of technology, I never thought I'd be an early adopter of online car buying-but the poor experience with trying to buy locally pushed me into it.
In my opinion, the shopping and checkout experiences are very good. However, they should be a bit quicker to remove cars from the website that are not actually available.
The purchase process was relatively smooth. I think online signing would be easier than mailing back and forth, but the hard copy version wasn't too difficult.
There should also be better communication and coordination between Driveway and its affiliated dealerships. As it is, it's a little chaotic. I had to contact up to five different people to find out what was going on at any given time: the two original reps, the dealership rep, the registration rep, and the delivery rep.
As for the registration debacle, it was awful and stressful.
Despite the fact that I had a difficult time at the end, I still feel that this method of car shopping could become a popular way to buy a car. The old-fashioned paperwork and the poor communication absolutely must be fixed, though. If it were my company, I would assign a concierge to each purchase-a contact person whose entire job would be to make sure each deadline was hit on time. The patchwork of different people and third-party contactors made it too easy for someone to mess up without it being caught.
That said, if they were able to fix those problems, I would definitely consider buying from Driveway again. Although I wasted several hours dealing with the registration problems, I still saved over $3000 on my car.
Want to read about another online shopping experience? Here's my review of Poshmark.
We recently purchased a car and like you, living in Central Florida also, there wasn't much to choose from due to lack of used cars out there. I did use an online car finder and was able to find what we were looking for in a good used small SUV at the price point we wanted to pay. I haven't heard of Driveaway, but I will keep them in mind for the future.
@Tammy, Do yourself a favor, Use Carvana. Driveway was a horror story from purchase to delivery.
How interesting. I hadn't heard about this before. It does sound like it would be easier than the traditional way.
I need to check this out. I too hate car shopping and need a new car.
It's so good to hear you got a customer rep who knew what was the right thing. I do not like it when the website and actual reality don't match up!
I'm glad that the process was relatively smooth. it's all I care when buying a car
I now have enough understanding of how driveway works. I need to explore more financing options through Driveway.
I've never bought a car this way, but I have looked online to find a car. I'll have to check out this site. I think it would be nice to be able to buy a car this way.
@Kathy, If you want a good experience. Don't use Driveway!
This is such a really interesting post. I'm surely going to check this out.
Sounds like a really cool way to buy a car and I would try it. It sounds similar to Carvana. It is crazy to see the used car prices right now... inflation's insane so good for you going with something new 😉 Enjoy and glad you liked Driveway as I had not heard of them before today 😉
Sound like really nice idea, I don't know much about driving. I would love to check it out.
Did you buy Any of the extras : like the oil change or service ? I was wondering if those were with it f
No, I didn't get any extras.
I just went through this process and all that you said has been my experience from start to finish except that the initial car I chose and put a deposit on still sol to someone else. Also if you try to find financing from their website your credit report will be accessed MANY times which will gut your credit. I am going through the expired tags experience at the moment. Thank you for your thorough review!
You're welcome. I really wanted to like the whole experience - I hate car shopping in person! - but it seems they still have some work to do on making the process completely smooth and unstressful.
@Jolene, Never have I experienced the problems that I encountered with Driveway. All your time will be spent on the phone with them and they don't return calls. Registration is another problem to look forward too.
I’m experiencing the same issues. Bought a car then sent it back after they picked up my trade. Now we are 4 weeks into this on the second car and can not get any answers and the vehicle I traded now is calling wanting to know why I haven’t paid l. Anyway I can that email that got someone’s attention thank you
@Joseph Cogdill, Same issues I am now facing. In 2 weeks it will be 2024 and they have not cleaned up their act. You would think that 1 1/2 years they would learn. Sad
I received my car from Driveway on the 19th of February 2022 and STILL have not received my tags or plates. Pulled over 4 times with one ticket in which says they will reimburse however do I have much faith in receiving a check.......NO. I have contacted Texas DMV inspection agency, CA DMW inspection agency. At this point... I may have to get an attorney. The whole buying process was GREAT however following the delivery of my car-A NIGHTMARE!!
@Heather, Same problem encountered. Except the whole process was bad.
How long did delivery take? The car I chose (I’m in SC & the car is in Arizona) is about the same distance as yours. The delivery coordinator is saying it could take up to 2-3 weeks 😅
That's the estimate I got, and it took about 3 weeks as I recall. Just make sure you follow up on the registration! 🙂
@Kam, Same problem I had . Car was 630 miles away. Couldent find my house. Same problem with pick up of my trade in.
@Katie Moseman, Just another problem encountered with this company (Driveway).
This was the WORST experience!!! I would NEVER suggest this company!!! I got the run around no one would help me ! Nothing went right it was 2 1/2 months of pure hell to get my tags and registration!!! DON’T EVER USE THIS COMPANY!!!!!!!!
@Linda Koene, Wish I had red you blog. I am still going through the same thing. Start to finish.
I got a car off of driveway too. I don't recommend them. Just go to the dealership
@Erika, I don't either. Start to finish a horror story..
I purchased a car 5 months ago from them, I live in Colorado, and STILL don't have a title so I can get tags.. I'm also getting married in a week out of state so you can imagine the stress I'm feeling. Would not recommended using Driveway to anyone I actually care about, this has been hands down the worst experience and SO beyond frustrating.
@Chandra, I feel the same about Driveway experience.
Can you please let me know when you finally recieved your stuff before I buy
I'm actually in the process of buying a truck from Driveway my self, I just finish reading all this comments and it seems like the main problem is the registration of the vehicles, I did contacted the dealer where the truck was located and talked to the sales manager to see if the truck was in fact there, it took me some time and effort to locate the truck but I did after I talk to my credit union they suggest for me to try to get the dealer to just sale the truck with put them doing the registration and me taking care all the paper work at the DMV , I don't know if that is even worth it I live in California and the DMV is a struggle and a headache to get something done. Anyway after talking to 3 different people at Driveway from custumer service and my agent who is supposed to be helping me with the purchasing, and not getting any respond from them to correct the sale taxes amount, I finally gave up and I'm not moving forward with the purchase, glad I found all this comments were definitely helpful, I wish the dealership where Driveway was getting the truck from was closer to me, I will go straight with them to do the purchase, but they are located in Michigan while talking to the sales manager from the dealer he did suggested to just do the purchase through them since the truck was still in their possession, but after finding out where I lived he said it would of cost me double than what Driveway would. To finish with my comment I'm going to do the purchase the traditional way even though is probably going to cost me more money, but I will be saving all the headache and fustration from dealing with Driveway.
@Jose, Same runaround I got from Driveway.
I started the process of buying a car from them, but after reading your blog I cancelled my application on a next day. Today is a day 10, after cancelation, and I can't get my deposit back. My salesperson disappeared, and nobody will even talk to me. Can anyone suggest how I can return my $500.
Thank you very much Katie, for writing this review, I can't even imagine headache I would have if I would go forward with purchase.
Keep calling Driveway, and ask to be escalated to a manager every time. Don't settle for the first person who answers the phone. Take notes of who you spoke to, get their direct extension and email, document what they said, and repeat it back to them in an email, CC-ing all parties who are involved. This creates a paper trail and will hopefully add some pressure to speed the return of your deposit.
Will also email you directly with more info.
@Katie Moseman,
My daughter cancelled her order and is having the same experience as the person in the previous comment getting her deposit back. Could you forward the information you mentioned to me as well?
I think if you check the fees in the "taxes and fees" section you will find about $600 add-on which is basically a service fee. I don't think you saved $3000 on your car. If you check the price you paid with Kelly blue book, private seller, you will see that you actually paid $2000 more than the privates seller price. Plus the shipping charge was also padded with $100 or $200 or even $2000. Nothing beats Craigslist. But I would be willing to pay $1000 over Craigslist private party price if a good online service existed.
@don, Me too. Carvana was the best Real people who cared and returned your calls and available to answer questions.
@don, Thanks Don here's my input: I purchased from Driveway delivery late Feb 2024 and didn't have any addtl fees, In state Cal. origin would have cost $800 range.
I am waiting on registration & title 3 weeks. Found them to be competitive than Carvana (used cars). Communication mirrors a bureaucracy, however. They do need to assign a Concierge for each transaction..
Worst experience of my life and I'm old. Highly recommend not use this company. Customer service is the worst and the pass you around like your a hot potatoe.
I selected a car to purchase, I put a $500 deposit to hold the car. I had sent in my driver's license and proof of insurance and waiting for the documentation to give my bank. This process took about a week and a half. I then received notice that they sold the car out from under me.
The process is a mess, steps are not clear, the deposit doesnt hold the car, I told them I would have put what ever amount they wanted to hold the vehicle.
I would stay away from them.
@Johnny, Smart. Drive way is NOT the company to use to purchase a car!
Just Purchase a Cyber Orange 2021 Mach E GT Performance with 14200 miles on it out the door for 44000 including shipping. I have been looking to purchase a Mach E and every dealer in California gives you a MSRP than when you get their hikes on addition garbage upgrades. Yes, it's a little time consuming and sometimes a little stressful but you can save thousands. I thought my process went relatively smooth. The cheapest out the door price I found in California for a comparable spec Mach E which had more than double the mileage was $51k so I saved over $7K. Driveway is relatively new at online sales so they maybe working out kinks. I will buy again through them. My registration for the car went pretty smooth.
Don't do it! They sold me a car for $5,000 over blue book that supposedly had a clear car fax 1 owner no accidents low mileage but 2014. Confirmed this car fax with my salesman He stated it was correct Put my down payment in once i received my insurance payment
after my car accident in May then i paid the total $16,000. I Paid my insurance for the month yet never received the car they kept telling me they couldn't find me a delivery service to get it from Monterey California to Lake Havasu Arizona. During this time I was receiving thank you notices from the dealership for service And that brought up 1st red flag. So when I asked about it they said they were doing oil change but I got 2 more after that notice. I was in desperate need of the vehicle to get back and forth to my doctor's appointment in California after having back surgery from the accident So I even offered to fly up there and come get it. It was at that point they talked me out of it saying that they would get it to me really soon So I told them I don't care It has to be a late delivery due to the fact that I used to work nights so I was used to be in it up late. So finally the miraculously found a delivery driver That delivered my car at 1:00 AM Now when I said late I meant 10-11. 1:00 AM I didn't have anybody to help me Take a look at the car and inspect Plus it was really dark. So I preceded to take possession of the vehicle all seemed to be pretty good. Except the horn sound a little funny But didn't think anything about it at the time, until I was almost at day 4 of the retun policy And then I noticed My rear fender didn't match up so I told them I was gonna take it in and have it looked at my mechanic. Took it in and found out that it had been badly wrecked in the front end . And they know I had just had an accident and broke my back They still preceded to sell me the car. I called the dealership that came from And ask them who does the inspection you guys or driveway they said that they did but they give them a video of everything that is wrong with it. I can't give you the technical term of the part but it was basically a part that connects the wheels to the frame. And when they repaired they didn't even use the parts they prefab something themselves and welded it in. So after that I called to dealership telling him that I really liked the car but I didn't think I should have to pay $5,000 more than the car was worth in the 1st place and then for it to be wrecked on top of that. All I was asking for was them to give me Couple thousand dollars back. I was told that they had to go up to the higher ups to find out if this is possible and explain my situation and see what they could do and they would get back to me. They finally got back to me 3 days later In there for me that there is nothing they can do as it was sold as is I said well then you can just come pick it up. Thinking since I let him know before my 7 days was up Dad I was having an issue And I was now waiting on Ben That my return would still be in play but he proceeded to tell me that it was not so I was basically screwed. So now I worry about driving it During travels Speaking something might happen to the front end and I end up in another wreck again I say don't do it ,stay away. I don't mind a good gamble once in a while odd 50/50 That you are getting good vehicle , but I prefer not to go through another front end accident It possibly lose my life this time.
@C.J., Sorry both you and I had to deal with Driveway. The Dealer in Ca. Says they had the car but Driveway is owned by Lithia and the Lithia dealer has no responsibility. What a Scam.
It was a horror story from start to finish. Over 3 months and many non returned calls. I finally got thru to a Driveway rep. Who told me that my expired temporary registration was being handled by a third party, and they were missing a document. Someone would contact me within 48-72 hours. I cannot drive the car as the Highway Patrol who stopped me for expired registration said it was not legal to drive on any public road in the state. He did not cite me but told me he could have the car towed and impounded. He let me go with a warning. All in all I would never do business with Driveway ever again for various reasons not including the afore mentioned problem. I am going back to Carvana. Fast and efficient. Not one problem!
Experiencing pure hell getting my car registered. This company is AWFUL at customer service. I am a pretty forgiving person but the fact that I was looking into legal options as my last resort. First, they tried getting me to finance with them and told me a complete lie to take the bait. I called the dealership directly and told them what was going on and the dealership let me know the truth. Bought the vehicle November 3rd, 2023 still have yet to drive it. Go ahead and use CarMax even if prices are higher, this stress isn't worth the hassle. I absolutely love the car but hate the experience with this company.
If you have good credit, DO NOT finance with them even if they try to bully you into it and tell you that others are interested in a car. It's dumb sales tactics. Go to a credit union and you'll find a better rate anyways. This process has not been smooth at all. The customer shouldn't have to spend countless hours getting their car registered and even have them to ask to pay more funds even after the fees have been sent...it's just poor all around. I never had this experience with CarMax. I will never buy a car from Driveway again at this point unless they reimburse to alleviate all the pain and tress that has been caused up to this point. It's been bloody hell.
SO glad I read this article and ALL the reviews. I detest the car buying process and have always hoped the online process would be a solution. The headaches and problems with contact and follow-through will stop me immediately from dealing online with any purchase--much less a car. And I will be paying cash, so I can imagine how that nightmare would go. I'll deal with a real person at a real dealership. I do all my research, and if I don't get a fair price, I just walk out. Have before, will again if necessary. Thanks for this candid article.
Driveway was misleading adding fees at the end of the sales process so I abandoned. Disappointing.
Hi. Thanks for sharing all your experience with driveway very helpful. I placed my order as well and I approved the proposal and paid the 500 deposit. Then the sales guy said the contracting team will call me but it has been 48 hours and nothing. How long it took to you after you paid the deposit? Did you get any confirmation call or package sent confirmation?
I believe it only took a day or two for someone to get in touch.