'You Sell To Carvana, You Do Not Buy From Them:' Woman Gets GM Car From Carvana. Then It Almost Causes Accident 1-Hour In

A woman has gone viral on TikTok after calling out Carvana for what she says was a misleading and dangerous car purchase. According to her, the vehicle she received looked one way online and quite another in person. Oh, and it was smoking—literally.

Jane (@aunt_janetuncle_brad) shared in a video earlier this week that she had been “excited” to show off her new car from Carvana, a 2017 General Motors model. But when it was delivered, that excitement quickly turned into concern.

In the clip, which accrued more than 731,700 views as of this writing, Jane walks viewers through the issues. Most notably, she points out that the brakes were smoking. There’s visible puffing from the front driver’s side wheel, and she says the car wouldn’t brake properly at all. At one point, she claims it “almost killed” her when she tried to drive it.

“Thanks, Carvana, for totally screwing me over,” she says. “You sold me lipstick on a pig.” 

What’s Wrong With the Car? 

Beyond the visible puff of smoke coming from the front driver’s side wheel, Jane says there were even more problems under the hood, though she wasn’t exactly sure whether it was the motor, the transmission, or something else entirely. Either way, it wasn’t good.

While she did mention the car had a “cute” interior, that was about the only upside. According to Jane, the brakes didn’t work correctly, making the car unsafe to drive. In a follow-up video, she added that the vehicle wouldn’t go faster than 30 mph.

“This is our Carvana experience,” she said. “Just got it off the trailer about an hour ago.”

At one point in her original video, Jane can be heard asking her husband whether they needed a fire extinguisher to deal with whatever was smoking. They didn’t end up using one, but the concern was clearly real. As she continued documenting the situation in a series of follow-up posts, Jane pointed out other red flags—like the tires, which she said had been spray-painted black and chrome to appear newer than they were.

“I can’t believe this is our life,” she said.

Jane didn’t hold back, accusing Carvana of selling her a “death trap” that, in her words, “almost killed” her and her family. To make matters worse, she said the return process wasn’t exactly seamless. She says when she contacted Carvana to return the car, a representative asked if she’d like to shop for a replacement instead. Jane declined, saying she wanted a full refund, shipping included.

But things only got more frustrating from there. According to Jane, the Carvana worker asked her to drop the car off herself. That’s despite the fact that, again, it was smoking and couldn’t go over 30 mph. Oh, and the nearest drop-off location? Over 100 miles away.

“That’s a joke, right?” she quipped.

Difficulties Using Carvana 

Jane’s isn’t an outlier by any means. Over the years, Carvana has faced a steady stream of customer complaints, some of which Motor1 has reported previously. In one instance, a man recounted ordering a blue Chevrolet SS Sedan off the site and then receiving the same car a in poorly-applied blue wrap to mask the fact that the vehicle wasn’t blue at all; it was black.

On Reddit, other customers have complained about Carvana vehicles arriving with bald tires, misaligned wheels, and mechanical problems that weren’t disclosed upfront. Warranty and repair coverage have also drawn complaints, with buyers citing delays, bureaucratic hurdles, and out-of-pocket expenses.

CarEdge reported in February three reasons why customers should avoid Carvana entirely—one of them being its spotty track record on selling quality cars. 

“While not every car they sell has problems, it’s a recurring theme that cannot be ignored,” it wrote. “Poorly reconditioned cars, or worse, are all too common in their inventory.”

But it wasn’t just buying cars off Carvana that the site recommended avoiding: It advised against selling vehicles to the company, too. It claims that Carvana is known to “lowball” customers and then resell their cars for a significantly higher price. 

Some accusations go beyond bad service. Carvana has been the subject of lawsuits alleging deceptive practices as well.

Even the delivery process gets called out. As Motor1 reported, one customer said her car was delayed just hours before it was supposed to arrive, with no explanation.

Viewers Say This Is What to Expect

Commenters who watched Jane’s video didn’t hold back, with many suggesting she shouldn’t have bought any car from a website that’s faced repeated customer complaints.

“Lol, first mistake was getting anything from Carvana,” one man wrote.

“An… ESCALADE? From… CARVANA? This is 100000% on you, babe,” said another.

“You sell to Carvana, you do not buy from them,” added a third person.

Others said Jane, and anyone watching, should never buy a car without test-driving it first.

“Glad I’m not too lazy to go to my local dealership and test drive cars,” one man quipped.

“Never buy a vehicle that you didn’t test drive first,” another advised.

Jane responded that this isn’t her first time doing this, and it won’t be the last. “I’ll just keep sending them back until I’m happy,” she said.

Some commenters urged her to return the vehicle and get her money back.

“You have 7 days, send it back,” one person wrote. “Problem solved. I bought a car from Carvana, and I love my car.”

Jane confirmed this was her plan. “Are you sending it back?” one person asked. Jane responded: “Yes!!!!!”

Motor1 has reached out to Jane via direct message on TikTok and to Carvana through email.