Before a used car earns a spot on Carvana.com, it moves through multiple stages of evaluation to ensure it meets our retail quality standard. Here’s what that actually looks like — and why we built it this way.
Every pre-owned vehicle has a unique history – who has owned it, how many miles has it been driven, where has it been driven, how has it been maintained or repaired, and more. We know that car buyers understand this variation, but we also know they deserve to have confidence in the vehicle they are buying.
The Carvana process is designed to provide that confidence across the wide selection of used vehicles we sell. We hold a high bar with the retail quality standard each of our vehicles must pass before making it to our website, we put time and work into every vehicle to make sure each meets our standard, and then we stand behind our work and our standard with a 100-day limited warranty.
Our Inspection and Reconditioning Centers (IRCs) are at the center of this process. At IRCs, our technicians put every used vehicle headed for Carvana.com through a comprehensive 150-point inspection assessing mechanical systems, safety features, wear items, and cosmetic condition. We fix what we find that doesn’t meet our standard before listing the car on Carvana.com. If it can’t be brought up to our standard, it won’t be listed.
150
inspection points
mechanical, safety & cosmetic condition
Multiple
inspection stages
from acquisition through pre-delivery
Millions
of used cars sold
each used Carvana vehicle goes through this process
Inspection Stages
Acquisition
The process starts before we own the car. When Carvana purchases a used vehicle—whether from a customer, a wholesale auction, or another seller—we review its history and condition using a wide range of tools including vehicle history reports, condition reports, and on-board diagnostic (OBD) scans.
This is a filter stage. A vehicle with frame damage, fire damage, flood damage, or a history that doesn’t meet our basic retail standard doesn’t go into our retail reconditioning or to the Carvana website. Instead, vehicles that will not meet our retail condition standard head for wholesale auction.
Initial Inspection & Reconditioning
Anything that doesn’t pass our 150-point inspection gets repaired or replaced. Our standard is uncompromising on the mechanical functioning of the car. We don’t list cars with unresolved mechanical issues.
Quality Control
After reconditioning, we run a quality control pass on every vehicle. We check that every item on the 150-point inspection was addressed to our standard and that the reconditioning work was completed correctly.
If something was missed—yes, it can happen—this process helps catch it and sends the vehicle back to the step in the reconditioning process where the issue can be resolved before moving to the next stage.
Annotation & Merchandising
Our team photographs the car in 360°, and calls out the most significant cosmetic imperfections with close-up photos so customers get an idea of the look and feel of the vehicle.
We then compile and share the inspection report, the vehicle history report, and the original window sticker, where available, with the customer on the vehicle details page. If a vehicle has an open recall, the listing notes it and links to the NHTSA lookup for details.
This gives buyers everything they need to honestly evaluate the car, including vehicle condition and key features. We include the available resources on every listing, visible before checkout.
State Inspections
Our 150-point inspection is built to meet or exceed the safety and mechanical standards most states require. But some states require a separate, state-administered safety, emissions, or VIN inspection, and when that’s the case, we complete that official check as a distinct step before delivering the vehicle. That’s how we ensure every vehicle arrives legally roadworthy and ready to register in its destination state.
How Does Carvana Check Vehicle Quality Before Delivery?
Once a car is listed on Carvana.com, we continue checking its condition while it awaits sale and as it moves through our network toward delivery. Every vehicle in our frontline inventory gets an abbreviated inspection every 14 days while it waits to be sold, and vehicles pass through additional checkpoints from our operations and logistics teams — including checks at facility check-in and again right before delivery.
When the vehicle arrives at the local Carvana hub, a Customer Advocate checks its condition, including tire pressure, fluid levels, and battery, to confirm it still matches its listing and hasn’t drifted from our cosmetic standard in transit. We check it again just before delivery or pickup and even ensure it has at least a half tank of gas or, for EVs, the battery is at least 50% charged.
What Happens If Something Comes Up After Delivery?
Every used Carvana vehicle comes with a 100-day/4,189-mile limited warranty. We offer it because we’re confident in the process covered above, but also understand that unexpected repairs can happen over time.
Even with that many checkpoints, no inspection is permanent. Cars are large, complex mechanical systems, and our 150-point inspection is a snapshot of condition at a single point in time, not a permanent guarantee against everything that can happen over time.
Our Limited Warranty allows us to stand behind the work we do to certify the mechanical condition of the vehicles we sell for more than just a moment in time. Our customers have the peace of mind of knowing that if a seal that passes inspection then fails from additional wear, or a sensor that reads fine under test conditions behaves differently in daily use, we’re there to support.
For longer-term protection against unexpected repairs or prepaid maintenance programs, we offer various Carvana Care plans.
And finally, we always want customers to have time to make sure they find the car that’s right for them. If for any reason the car you’ve bought isn’t the right one for you, our 7-Day Money Back Guarantee lets you return it for any reason within the first seven days.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Carvana's 150-point inspection cover?
Technicians evaluate vehicles across more than 150 checkpoints — mechanical systems, safety features, wear items, and cosmetic condition, from brakes and tires to electrical systems and interior condition. We repair or replace what we find that doesn’t meet our standard before the car is listed on Carvana.com.
Is Carvana's 150-point inspection the same as a Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) car?
Not exactly, though the goal is similar. Traditional “Certified Pre-Owned” programs are run by automakers at franchise dealerships, where a subset of used vehicles meeting the manufacturer’s own age, mileage, and condition criteria are inspected to that brand’s standard in exchange for an extended manufacturer warranty.
Carvana’s version is called Carvana Certified, and it’s Carvana’s own certification, modeled after the Lexus Certified Pre-Owned Standard. Look for the Carvana Certified badge on the vehicle’s description page. Each Carvana Certified vehicle passes the 150-point inspection, has no reported accidents, fire, frame, or flood damage per CARFAX and AutoCheck, and comes with a 100-day/4,189-mile limited warranty and 7-Day Money Back Guarantee.
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