Bought a car from Carvana or CarMax? Inspect it inside the return window
With Carvana, CarMax and the other online retailers, the car arrives before you have ever seen it and you get a short return window, usually seven days, to decide. That window is the only inspection you are going to get. We come to your address, go through the car properly, and give you a written report while you can still send it back.
Full inspection at your address inside the return window, with a written report and photos you can use if you send the car back.
How the return window works as an inspection
| Retailer model | What you get to do | What to book |
|---|---|---|
| Delivered to you, 7-day return | Drive it and return it for any reason, within limits | Inspection in the first two or three days, not the last one |
| Pick up at a hub, return window applies | Same, clock starts at pickup | Inspection the day after pickup |
| Big-box lot with a return policy | Test drive on site, return after purchase | Inspection on the lot before signing, or at home right after |
| Their own certification | A checklist their reconditioning shop signed off | Treat it as a starting point, not a verdict |
Return windows come with a mileage cap, often a few hundred miles. A road test of fifteen minutes is nowhere near it.
The deal you actually made
Buying a car online is buying it unseen. The photos are good, the description is written by the seller, and the inspection they mention was done by their reconditioning department, whose job is to get the car ready for sale.
The retailers know this, which is why they offer a return window. It is their answer to "how can I buy a car I have not seen": you can un-buy it. That is a reasonable answer, and it works, but only if you use the window to find out what you bought. Most people use it to drive to work and back and decide the car feels fine.
Fine is not a mechanical assessment. The car that feels fine can have a transmission that only misbehaves when hot, a cooling system that is a season away from a head gasket, a respray on two panels, and a set of tires that pass the retailer's minimum and will need replacing before spring. None of that shows up in a commute.
Inspect early, not on day six
The window is short and the retailer's process for a return is not instant. You need time to get the inspection done, read the report, decide, and start the return before the deadline. That means booking the inspection for the first day or two after delivery, not the last.
If the report finds something serious, you also want time to take it up with the retailer. Some will fix a problem under their limited warranty rather than take the car back, which can be a better outcome than returning it if you otherwise like the car. That conversation goes better with a written report from an independent mechanic and a few days left on the clock.
What we check that a delivery checklist does not
Everything on a normal pre-purchase inspection, done at your address.
Cold start, which is easy to arrange because the car is sitting outside your building. Every fluid by condition. The cooling system under pressure. Brakes measured. Suspension and steering checked for play. Underneath for rust, damage and fresh undercoating, which on a car shipped in from a salt-belt state is worth a close look. Every panel with a paint thickness gauge, which is how you find the accident repair that was never reported to anyone. Tires for wear and date codes, because retailers replace tires only when they have to and a nine-year-old tire with plenty of tread passes their check. A full scan of every module for stored and pending codes, and whether codes were cleared before shipping.
Then a road test long enough to get the transmission fully warm, because that is when a lot of them start to tell the truth.
Using the report
Three outcomes. The car is sound and the price was fair: keep it, and you now know what the first year of ownership looks like. The car has a problem the retailer should address: you have a written report and a deadline, and you take it to them. Or the car is not what it was sold as: you return it inside the window with the report as your reason, and the retailer's customer service is a lot more responsive to "independent inspection found evidence of front-end collision repair" than to "I do not like it".
We include photos of anything significant. Return processes are run by people looking at a screen, and a picture of a paint gauge reading does more than a paragraph.
Before delivery, and before the window closes
If you have not ordered yet, the history report is worth reading properly, and a video call with us while you look at the listing can save a bad order. If the car is coming from out of state, ask where it spent its life. A car from Buffalo and a car from Arizona are different purchases with the same mileage.
Once it lands, text us the delivery date and we will book the inspection for the day after. We come to your address anywhere in Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island or Long Island. Inspections start at $95, take about an hour, and the report is in your hands the same day.
Common questions
Is the retailer's own inspection not enough?
It is a reconditioning checklist: the things that must be fixed before the car can be listed, done by their shop, on their car. It catches a bald tire and a warning light. It has no incentive to note a hard shift when warm or a paint gauge reading. Their certification is a warranty product, not an independent opinion.
Can you inspect a CarMax car on their lot before I buy it?
Usually yes, and it is the better order of events. CarMax stores generally allow an inspection on site. If that is awkward, their return window means you can buy it, have us inspect at home in the first days, and return it if the report says so.
What if the inspection finds something after the window has closed?
Then you are relying on whatever limited warranty came with the car, which covers some things and excludes wear items and anything it can call pre-existing. It is a much worse position than being inside the window, which is why the inspection should be early.
Will an inspection use up my return-window mileage?
No. The road test is fifteen minutes or so, well inside the allowance, and we note the mileage before and after.
Do you inspect cars bought on Facebook Marketplace or from a private seller the same way?
Yes, and the difference is there is no return window at all, so the inspection has to happen before the money moves. That is covered on the private-seller page.
Car arriving this week?
Text us the car, the year, and the symptom for a free quote. We typically reply in under five minutes and can often come the same day.
More on pre-purchase inspection
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