Yahoo Autos Police Say Maserati That Carvana Sold for $68,000 Is Actually Stolen
Carvana has had a rough couple of years. After riding a sales high during the pandemic and offering people great trade-in values on their used cars, things came crashing down for the company that was once heralded as a game changer for car sales, from a tanking stock price, sales license issues, and bans in multiple states. Buyers also have horror stories, and it’s still happening. ABC’s Raleigh-Durham WTVD recently reported how a man who purchased a car for his wife as a gift later learned the car was, in fact, stolen.
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Jason Scott wanted to do something nice for his wife since her birthday was coming up. So he went to Carvana and dropped over $68,000 for a 2021 Maserati Levante. They both loved it. “It was exciting for it to be coming down the hill, waiting for it outside, everything was fine,” he told WTVD. Everything was great until it came time to get the car serviced at a local Maserati dealership in February. That’s when the couple learned that the Levante was stolen.
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Scott was under the impression the Levante was a 2021. At least that’s what the paperwork said that Carvana provided. But dealer techs informed him that wasn’t the case. They had discovered that while the paperwork said the Levante was a ‘21 model year, different parts on the car didn’t match the model year VIN. A bit more digging and it was found that the 2021 Levante was in fact a 2017. “When they checked the VIN number on the chassis, that’s when they saw that it was a stolen vehicle. The VIN on the car on the window and the car door was different,” Scott said.
The dealer called the cops and they questioned Scott. But they let him go after he showed them the paperwork showing the transaction with Carvana. That cleared him but not the car. It was still a stolen vehicle so they impounded it.
Scott quickly got on the phone and called Carvana. He demanded his down payment back as well as the two car payments he had made so far. But Carvana told him that he couldn’t trade the car until he brought it back, which was impossible because it was impounded. He even provided proof of the police report. “They wasn’t responding back to anything at all,” he said. Now Scott is suing for $1 million in damages and a public apology. The company did send a letter to Scott and his attorney, but it only said the company didn’t have any knowledge of the vehicle being stolen, something that was similarly echoed in a statement the company made to WTVD:
“When Carvana acquired this vehicle, someone had taken sophisticated criminal steps to steal and alter the vehicle and we’re taking all the necessary steps to make it right for our customer in this rare instance.”
Scott said he wants the company to be more thorough but is still suing. The North Carolina Attorney General’s office is looking into the matter as well, on top of 130 other complaints people in the state have against the company.
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