Michigan Carvana Dealership Suspended for Being Awful

Photo: Joe Raedle / Staff (Getty Images)

Carvana, the relatively new CarMax competitor, hasn’t exactly been in the news for good reasons lately. Just a quick search shows it’s bleeding cash, it laid off workers the same day it spend $2.2 billion buying an auction company, it lost its ability to sell cars in Illinois twice, and customers have been filing tons of complaints. So it probably shouldn’t be surprising to hear that Carvana’s in trouble yet again.

Click on Detroit reports that a Michigan Carvana dealership has had its license suspended. State officials claim they made the decision after “employees destroyed documents, odometer records weren’t maintained, and investigators found more than 100 customer title delays and probation violations.”

In total, 112 customers were unable to get their titles and registration on time. The dealership also reportedly improperly issued temporary registrations, didn’t have their records available for inspectors, signed odometer disclosure forms in their customers’ names, and violated the terms of their probation agreement. Yeah, that’s not good.

It didn’t have to end this way, either. After a February 2021 inspection found several problems, the dealership was given 18 months to get its act together. But it was caught breaking the agreement, so the state brought the dealer in to yell at them again, then gave them a six-month extension. Since you’re reading this news post, obviously, the dealership did not, in fact, get its act together.

And while it’s just a suspension, it doesn’t sound like that particular Carvana will be back in business any time soon. The state has said it hopes to formally revoke the dealership’s license soon. Currently, it doesn’t appear that a date has been set, but considering they broke the terms of their probation twice, don’t hold your breath waiting for Carvana to get its license back.

That may be bad news for Carvana, but it sounds like great news for Michigan’s used-car buyers.