It came to my attention a few months ago when a local news report described how a nurse bought a vehicle from Carvana and now had to rent a vehicle in order to get to work every day. Why? Well, it seems Carvana could never seem to get her the title to the car and the already two-times temporary tags had expired.

Poking around some more, seems there is a building epidemic of fraud with Carvana. Beyond the FBI that should be investigating…seems Wall Street experts should look a little deeper as well when rating investments into Carvana, the balance sheets and well….police reports.

But read on…

Park it: Carvana prohibited from selling cars in Raleigh, DMV says

Carvana has an 8-story vehicle vending machine is at 4830 Koger Blvd. in Greensboro.

WOODY MARSHALL, NEWS & RECORD

LAND O’ LAKES, Fla. (WFLA ) – The State of Florida filed a complaint against Carvana on Wednesday, 8 On Your Side has learned.

The complaint comes as Better Call Behnken continues to hear from Carvana customers who aren’t receiving titles after purchasing cars.

According to the administrative complaint, between December 2020 and February 2021, Carvana sold eight different vehicles to customers in Florida and failed to turn over the titles to the buyers within 30 days, as required by state law.

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“I’m paying every month,” said Michael Johnston of Treasure Island. “But my car is completely useless.”

Johnston turned to Better Call Behnken, fed up that after four months, he still could not register his new Infinity SUV in his name.

The hold up? Carvana had not located and sent the title to the state of Florida.

When Carvana was no longer able to legally issue Johnston another Florida temporary plate, he says the mega car dealer emailed him a copy of an Arizona plate and told him to tape it in his back window. That led to Johnston getting pulled over twice by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.

“When he pulled me over, I gave him all the paperwork. He ran this and said it’s not valid,” Johnston said of one of his traffic stops. “[The deputy] doesn’t even know why they would give this to me. It’s not legal either to have it in Florida if I am a Florida resident.”

Johnston is the latest to turn to Consumer Investigator Shannon Behnken for help figuring out how to get their Carvana cars on the road legally.

We’ve heard from five local consumers, but dug up public records that show many others complaining to the state in other areas of Florida.

Last month, Better Call Behnken told you about Dan Padilla, of Tampa, who couldn’t drive the Subaru he bought from Carvana because the company couldn’t locate his title.

After that report, Carvana swapped out the car for a Volkswagen Jetta. Padilla was happy to get rid of the headache, but the car swap still offered no answer as to the location of the title is for the Subaru he bought in April.

A spokeswoman for Carvana said she would look into the issues and get back with Behnken, but that has not happened.

We reached out to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. In response, the department reached out to Johnston and provided him with a new temporary Florida plate so he can legally drive in Florida for now.

Meanwhile, the FLHSMV is looking into Johnston’s issue. Johnston says that’s not enough.

Florida is not the only state where Carvana customers have complained about similar title issues. We found that North Carolina handled complaints differently. Public records show that the state recently suspended Carvana’s license in one county until the end of January.

A spokeswoman from the North Carolina Department of Justice said one of the reasons is that Carvana issued out-of-state temporary tags and plates and failed to turn over titles the state DMV. source

Buyer beware….

A Colorado man has accused online used car retailer Carvana of selling him a stolen, damaged vehicle. According to a July 30 complaint, filed with the U.S. District Court of Colorado in Adams County and reviewed by FOX Business, buyer Dennis Atencio paid $300 down and financed over $22,000 with loan servicer Acceptance Corp. to purchase a white 2019 GMC Terrain from Carvana on Dec. 18, 2020.

The complaint states that a repossession company called Anytime Towing showed up at Atencio’s front door on June 23, 2021, to take the vehicle out of his driveway. After Atencio explained to the repossession agent that he was up-to-date on his payments to Bridgecrest, he learned that the vehicle was being repossessed on behalf of Hertz Corporation.

The complaint accused Hertz of civil theft and trespass to chattel, or use of property without permission of the owner.

On July 29, 2021, Atencio was notified by the Denver Sheriff Department that the vehicle was impounded on July 22 and on a hold from police in Memphis, Tennessee.

A Memphis International Airport police report obtained and reviewed by FOX Business revealed that the vehicle was stolen from Hertz on May 6, 2020, several months before Atencio purchased it. A Hertz spokesperson told FOX Business that it was aware of the situation and was investigating. FOX Business reviewed the vehicle condition report by SOS Inspections, which determined that the Terrain was deemed unsafe to drive due previous crash damage that had been poorly repaired. The report noted various defects, including wrinkled sheet metal, missing bolts and a bad radiator.