Vroom Review

Monday, December 5th

2022 Used Car Site Reviews

Vroom

• Promises an accident-free CARFAX vehicle history on every car
• Vehicles are inspected prior to sale
• Non-negotiable pricing
• Non-refundable deposit required to hold a car
• Delivery fees range from $0 to $1,399 and are non-refundable
• 7-day/250-mile return period
• 90-day/6,000-mile limited warranty on all cars
• Not available in Massachusetts, Alaska or Hawaii

Vroom is one of several used car buying services that let you do it all from home. You can find a car, trade yours in, and take delivery of your pre-owned vehicle without ever having to make a trip to a car dealership.

Need to know what you have in mind

Vroom isn't going to be your ideal way to research the used car you want. When using the site, you're expected to have an idea of what you're looking for, shopping by truck/SUV/sedan or by entering a make/model/body type in the search box. Next, use the filters on the left side of the page to narrow down the results by year, price, miles, fuel/efficiency, engine/drivetrain and popular features. Your list of matches can be organized by newest-to-oldest, price (high-low or low-high), and lowest miles.

Non-refundable deposit to place a hold

If you choose to place a hold on a Vroom used car, you'll have to pay a deposit. Bad news - your deposit is non-refundable. They say this is "to cover the costs associated with putting a vehicle on hold" . You can click on the letter "i" in the circle by the price to get a better idea of your anticipated fees. As an example, on a 2014 Toyota Highlander with 110,000+ miles, the car was priced at $22,499 with an estimated delivery price of $699, a $249 deposit, and documentary fees that varied by state ($300.50 in FL/NJ/NY, $350 in AZ, $150 in all others).

Delivery fees are also non-refundable

All Vroom vehicles come with a 7-day/250-mile return period. However, your delivery fees are non-refundable (and that's important to note, given that those fees can be as much as $1,399, depending on the delivery distance). Beyond that, you'll also have a 90-day/6,000-mile limited warranty; unfortunately, Vroom doesn't go into much detail about what's covered and what's not.

How long can you wait?

This is not the service you want to use if you need a car right away. Vroom vehicles are usually delivered within 14 days of when the purchase is completed. We also found more than a few customers who said that their delivery date kept getting pushed further and further out. You might like Vroom if you're buying a hard-to-find make/model and you've got plenty of time and patience, though.

Poor BBB rating

Vroom has the rock-bottom worst reputation of any service we've found for buying used cars. Not only does the Better Business Bureau give them an "F" rating, but the BBB has also gone the extra length to write up a lengthy alert on Vroom's listing. There were nearly 3,000 complaints filed in the year prior to this evaluation alone.

Horrible track record

Many customers report a wonderful sales process that went south as soon as they put down a deposit or finalized their purchase. However, complaints included no ability to get support, registration paperwork never completed (thus rendering the vehicles unable to be driven legally), and so much more. Beyond that, both the BBB alert and shopper comments indicate that Vroom may be selling cars with accidents in their history and falsifying documents to hide that fact. It's ironic, because at the bottom of their site it recommends that customers verify vehicle information before purchasing. How, exactly?

Avoid buying a used car here

There are plenty of reliable ways to get a good-quality used car out there. Vroom is not one of them. We can't recommend strongly enough that you avoid this platform when searching for your next pre-owned vehicle.