Carvana's Google listings often point to addresses that aren't its own, car loans are the easiest to get since 2015, and lease returns are climbing, so the store that keeps its own customers wins.
Carvana's Google listings often point to addresses that are not its own, and the loans behind this year's sales keep getting riskier.
An analysis by a LocaliQ Automotive executive and Car Dealership Guy News found at least 266 Google business listings tied to Carvana (Car Dealership Guy News, October 14). Of those, 101 are real Carvana sites. Another 109 point to addresses that are not Carvana's, in 36 states. Fifty-one of those are civic or government buildings.
Credit moved the other way. Cox Automotive's September credit index reached 107.1, which CBT News says is the highest since April 2015. A record 31.8 percent of loans now run longer than 72 months. Cox puts the share of loans where the customer owes more than the car is worth at 57.8 percent (Cox Automotive, October 13).
The big picture: an online seller is borrowing local addresses to look nearby, and your buyers are borrowing more against cars that may be worth less. Both reward the store that keeps its own customers. A real address, real reviews and a busy service lane are the things a map pin cannot copy.
The general manager has the marketing manager search Google in your city for "used cars near me" and "[your brand] service near me." Screenshot who appears. Then check your own listing's address, hours and reviews.
Google's rules for national sellers. The article says a Google beta program may allow broader advertising, and it does not say whether Carvana is in it.
Chris Wood, vice president of client strategy at LocaliQ Automotive, began tracking Carvana's Stellantis dealerships in May. With Car Dealership Guy News, he then counted Carvana's Google business listings, the free listings that put a business on Google Maps (Car Dealership Guy News, October 14). They found at least 266. Of those, 101 are real Carvana sites, such as vending machines, inspection and logistics sites, storefronts and seven Stellantis dealerships. Another 109 point to other addresses in 36 states. Fifty-one of those are civic or government buildings.
Reviews show the gap. The real sites carry about 40,700 Google reviews, roughly two-thirds positive. The 109 other listings carry 630 reviews, about a quarter positive.
Carvana told the authors its listings help customers searching locally find vehicles it can deliver or pick up nearby. Google did not respond to requests for comment. Adam Crowell of KPA warns of possible unfair-or-deceptive-practice claims and licensing questions. Seth Dobbs of Fox Rothschild says the issue is clear information for customers and fair competition, not stopping Carvana from competing. Those are their views, not findings by any regulator.
The listings are not the real story. The rule is. If a map pin without a building can show up in your town, your address stops being an edge in local search. Reviews and the service lane are the edge left. My bet is Google tightens or rewrites its local rules within a year. I am wrong if these listings stay up and nothing changes by next fall.
Search your market for new cars, used cars and service, and keep dated screenshots. If a rival's listing sits at an address that is not theirs, you will want the record.
Do not report anyone to Google or a regulator until your lawyer has seen the evidence.
Cox Automotive's credit index rose 1.9 percent in September, to 107.1 from 105.1 in August. It was 9.4 percent higher than a year earlier (Cox Automotive, October 13). Lenders approved 73.9 percent of applications. Subprime borrowers made up 17.4 percent of loans. Down payments slipped to 12.8 percent.
Lenders earn less on each loan. The average contract rate rose to 11.22 percent. The five-year Treasury yield rose faster, to 4.80 percent, so the gap narrowed to 6.42 percent. CBT News says this gets harder to sustain if Treasury yields keep rising faster than contract rates (October 14).
Two dealers told Car Dealership Guy how they cope (Car Dealership Guy, October 13). Eric Frehsée, president of Tamaroff Group in Michigan, says much of his negative equity comes from customers leaving brands whose cars hold their value less well. His stores give new buyers the first three oil changes and tire rotations, to bring them into the service department. Spencer Webb, general manager of Audi Salt Lake City, says his store has written no 84-month loans this year. He also says Audi Financial Services pulled back its near-new leasing program in June or July and restored it after dealers asked.
The limit is equity, not approvals. A lender can say yes to a long loan with little down. It cannot make the car worth more than the payoff. The customers with the longest loans and the least down will reach your trade-in desk first, and they will cost you gross or the deal.
Count your open loans over 72 months with under 10 percent down, written in the last 12 months. That list shows when the trade-in problem arrives.
Ask your lender reps which programs they would pull first if funding tightens. Webb's account says dealers who push together can get one back.
Cars coming back off lease are up 21 percent from 2025 (Car Dealership Guy, October 13, citing the Manheim Used Vehicle Index and Cox Automotive). They rose 11 percent from the second quarter to the third but are still down 55 percent from 2019. Electric cars should be 16 percent of lease returns in the second half of this year and 19 percent in 2027. Jeremy Robb, Cox Automotive's chief economist, says the low level of returns keeps wholesale supply limited through 2028 and 2029.
Prices fit that picture. CBT News reports the average used car on a dealer lot costs just above $27,000, up 7 percent from a year ago. Eight- to ten-year-old cars rose just under 10 percent (CBT News, October 13, citing vAuto Live Market View data). Robb says incomes are up about 48 percent since the pandemic and expenses about 53 percent.
More lease returns will not make used cars cheap. Prices are rising fastest on the older cars your budget buyers want. The limit is cars you can source, not shoppers. The one source you control is your own lease customer.
Set your pricing and holding rules for used electric cars now, before they are nearly a fifth of what comes back.
A Digital Dealer article on October 14 describes a one-hour test for software that answers leads and calls for your business development center (BDC), the team that handles them. Today a person does the job, slowly or not at all after hours. The limit is your people: software can book a visit, but your sales team still has to sell. The article names no dealer results.
Use five situations from your own store. A 9:40 p.m. lead asks about a used truck with $3,000 down. A caller misses lunch-hour service and leaves no message. A service booking mentions a noise and asks about a loaner. One customer sits in your records twice, as Bob and Robert. One asks for something the script did not expect. The software may confirm availability, ask one question and offer a time. It may not quote a payment. The BDC manager reviews each case, scored pass, pass with a fix, or fail. The article says to pause after two failures.
The group is customers within six months of lease end. The money line is used car gross: a car you know costs less to find than one bought at auction. The used car manager approves the list. The sales manager or BDC makes the call. The limit is the payoff. If the customer owes more than the car is worth, the trade loses money. It also fails when the customer is already shopping elsewhere. Run it for 60 days and compare against lease customers you did not call. Calls and texts fall under customer permission rules, so ask your lawyer first.
The finance director builds the list of loans over 72 months with under 10 percent down by Friday.
The used car manager then calls the 20 with the biggest gap between payoff and value. Count how many answer, how many owe more than the car is worth, and how many would trade today. Stop if fewer than five can be helped. I think the number will be larger than your managers expect. I am wrong if most of those customers are already at break-even or better.
If a map pin with no building can put a rival in your customers' search results, what do you offer this year that a pin cannot copy?