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Vroom is an online marketplace for vehicles. The idea is that you skip the hassles and hardships of dealing with an in-person dealer when shopping for a used car. It’s a sound concept, but how does it actually work in practice? Pretty poorly, based on reviews we uncovered in our research.
One year ago, Vroom came to our attention when a colleague of ours tried to use Vroom to buy a car. It went badly, and we detailed the situation in our story titled Used Car Purchased Online From Vroom Goes Horribly Wrong.
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The story has generated three pages of comments from Vroom users. Here are some selected comments abbreviated for simplicity. We wish to emphasize that the comments in the quotes below are not the opinions of Torque News or its staff. You can read them all in full by clicking the link above.
- “I wish I had visited this website before embarking on the nightmare I’m dealing with.”
- “I’m also experiencing a nightmare situation.”
- “Vroom customer service is a debacle.”
- “...absolutely awful….. it's just inexcusable and downright unprofessional”
- “No matter how many times I call... my issue falls on deaf ears.”
- “The worst service I've ever had buying a car!!!”
- “I can NOT believe Vroom is still in business.”
- “I’ve been on hold for hours and the horrific piano music stops and nothing. No one is there.”
To see how things have changed in the year since we wrote our story, we turned first to the Better Business Bureau. As of today, BBB rates Vroom an F. Here are the reasons that BBB lists for this low rating:
- "Failure to respond to 1129 complaint(s) filed against business"
- 665 complaint(s) filed against business that were not resolved
- 3635 complaint(s) filed against business
- "Business has failed to resolve underlying cause(s) of a pattern of complaints"
When we looked at the reviews on BBB for Vroom and sorted them by most recent we found page after page of 1-star horror stories. We wish to emphasize that the comments below are not the opinions of Torque News or its staff. Here are some examples from the BBB reviews:
- “Vroom is the most unprofessional company I have ever dealt with.”
- “The worst experience I've ever had”
- “...talking to a human is nearly impossible”
Next up, we turned to Google Reviews. They are found in the Google Maps app. Vroom rates 1.2-stars and has 190 reviews. We sorted by most recent reviews and here are some comments we found. Please let us emphasize that these are not the opinions of the Torque News staff or the publication:
- “Absolutely terrible customer service.”
- “The WORST car buying experience of my life, in 45 years.”
- “This is the worst buying experience I've EVER had. No one communicates.”
- “I thought my case would be different from the terrible reviews, and I was wrong.”
We next checked out Yelp. Here Vroom has a 2-star score and almost 800 reviews. We sorted by Newest, and again found page after page of 1-star reviews. Please note that the comments below in quotes are those we found on Yelp, not our own opinions or suggestions:
- “Once they sell you the car, it is all horrific after that, delivery delays, lost paperwork, sending things 3 and 4 times, Customer service reps are overseas and cannot do anything”
One Yelp review has multiple updates over a period of many weeks. It starts, “Ughh where do I start.. this is the WORSE EXPERIENCE EVER!!!“ The next update is “I'm so upset... This has not been settled.” The third update is “...after 2 months still no registration or title for my car.”
The majority of the problems that we see reported by Vroom shoppers stem from what appears to be an inability by Vroom to effectively process the vehicle transaction. One typical review comment we found on Yelp exemplifies this. David W writes, “I've been waiting SIX months to get my title and registration.” David goes on to explain that he can’t reach Vroom for help. Under his review, Vroom responded, saying, “Hi David - thank you for your feedback and for bringing this to our attention. We are disappointed to hear you have not had a seamless experience with us. We'd like to learn more about what happened, so that we may look into it further. We will be in touch shortly to request your personal contact information.”
Vroom’s main attraction was is the promise of a simpler car buying experience. That’s a noble goal and something we think all shoppers seek. Vroom’s website lists among the reasons shoppers should consider Vroom, “Buying Made Easy. No haggling. No hassles. An easy and efficient car buying process— the way it should be.”
Given the results of our research, Torque News felt it was only fair to reach out to Vroom, alert them to the coming publication of this story, and ask the company for its input. Vroom uses an outside PR agency for its media requests for information. We advised them that we found mainly negative reviews and provided links to the sources listed here in this story and asked if they could offer a counterpoint. Vroom’s spokesperson was kind enough to provide this statement: “Our goal is for every customer to enjoy their vehicle from the moment their purchase is complete. As consumers turn more and more to buying cars online, we are investing significantly in our people, processes and operations so every step in getting a customer their vehicle is an experience they deserve. We regret that some of our customers have not had the experience we strive to deliver and are committed to working with customers to solve any issues they have at any point of that process."
If you wish to comment on your own experience with Vroom, please feel free to leave a comment below. Your experience may help another shopper.
Top of Page Image courtesy of Vroom PR agency Moxie Group.
John Goreham is a long-time New England Motor Press Association member and recovering engineer. John's interest in EVs goes back to 1990 when he designed the thermal control system for an EV battery as part of an academic team. After earning his mechanical engineering degree, John completed a marketing program at Northeastern University and worked with automotive component manufacturers, in the semiconductor industry, and in biotech. In addition to Torque News, John's work has appeared in print in dozens of American news outlets and he provides reviews to many vehicle shopping sites. You can follow John on TikTok @ToknCars, on Twitter, and view his credentials at Linkedin
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Comments
I can't believe that the
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I can't believe that the situation that I'm in is even real. I bought my car one year ago and I still have not received my tag. My last extended temporary tag expired in September of 2021 and I haven't been able to drive it since then, even though I'm still making payments for it every month. That is nearly 7 months that I have not been able to drive a car that I'm paying for. It is truly impossible to speak to upper management. They have created a system that only allows you to speak with third party employees that have been contracted out and they have NO idea how to help or even know what's going on. Every time I have asked to speak to upper management, I am told there is no number that exist, even for themselves, to contact upper management. I don't even know what to do anymore. To this day, there has been zero progress with my case and nobody cares to resolve it. I can't even tell you the amount of times I have called and emailed. This is a nightmare.
So disappointed. I purchased
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So disappointed. I purchased our second vehicle from Vroom because I work out of town and my wife need the vehicle to go to work. It’s been two months since our purchase and we haven’t received the registration and tags. Or temporary tags expired last month and even though I requested new temp tags two weeks in advance I still have not received new temporary tags three weeks after submitting the paperwork requested. I’ve call in several times and gotten people over seas that always say they will add a comment to my file escalating the issue. The one time it sounded like I got someone in the U.S. the call dropped. I would appreciate it if someone could reach back out to me asap.
In 48 hours, it will have
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In 48 hours, it will have been SEVEN months since we purchased our vehicle from Vroom. We still do not have a title or a registered vehicle. Most frustrating vehicle purchase ever! Customer service is a joke. Typical hold times for my experience is 30 minutes to 1.5 hours. After which my issue is still not resolved only promises that someone will be in touch soon. Not sure what the holdup is maybe the TVA has pruned the agent who was handling my case, but save yourself some agony and DO NOT BUY from Vroom! I wish I could contact the CEO , sadly at this point I’d settle for someone who can figure out my issue and handle it!
Ordered my vehicle 3 months
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Ordered my vehicle 3 months ago purchasing went great just could not get my truck delivered and everyone I talked to lied or would not return calls. The only thing I can say is when I canceled my purchase check was delivered in 4 days
Absolutely do not buy from
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Absolutely do not buy from this place there are plenty of options go to one of your local dealers! Vroom is not held accountable For some reason! Your local car dealer would be shut down if they had these issues!
Can’t these people got to the
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Can’t these people got to the FTC or their state government? When a used car dealership did this to me by not giving me my license plate or registration in a timely manner, I went to my state and the dealership called me back next day with my plates and registration.