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I've seen the same figures on Carvana. For the PT Cruiser, it's a niche market. People either love or hate them. I got my first one to help someone out in a nursing home that had to settle things. I sort of over paid but once I was using it, I got to liking it. I eventually sold it so when my current one came up, again to settle affairs, this time for a pending estate, I picked it up.

For a PT Cruiser, you'll be better off to sell to an individual.

On a related note to Carvana, a few years ago, a dealer across the river in Kentucky was selling cars and the owners suddenly had them shut off. They had paid for the cars and were waiting on the titles. The dealer didn't pay for the cars so the titles were held up and the cars had remote shut down devices to shut them down.

 

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With that many miles, faded paint, and that old of a car... that isn't too far off from a typical offer. Hate to say that. Sure the dealer might get a few grand for a PT, but most are being sold at auction or for parts.

I used Carvana once and had a great experience. They offered me almost $5k more than all the dealerships. Sure I could sell for more on my own, but they got rid of the hassle and saved so much time. Good luck on selling or not selling your vehicle.

Unfortunately, that's looking to be their downfall. They over paid to snap up cars so other dealers couldn't get them.

 

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Even the newest PT is now 13 years old. Too old for a viable used car. Fuel economy of 22-24 mpg doesn't really make the charm of owning a PT worthwhile for most buyers.
Don't get me wrong, I like the PT fine & it is a matter of finding a buyer who is looking for one.

Our dealership wholesaled or auctioned used cars that were over 5 years old after the deal was concluded. The trade-in allowance going towards a new car just made it worth it. Anything on the lot that old had to be sold 'as-is'.

Normal dealerships don't like older cars, that is true. However, around 15 to 18 years old, there is a market for the collector cars for drivers who can now afford the cars they desired when they were younger. Look at the big money going at auctions for restored collector cars. While the occasional Deusenburg and Cord crosses the block, Mustangs, Camaros, even pickup trucks are the hot property now. Granted, the PT's are never going to be a major factor, there will still be the kid who grows up and wants to get the car that Grandma had. I tried for years to buy a particular 1968 Plymouth Satellite. It was the only new car my parents bought while they were married and it was one I learned to drive in.

My current PT was bought to A, teach my niece to drive a stick, and B, help settle a pending estate. Unfortunately, unlike my previous PT, it's a soft top with wider doors and I can get out of a car with 4 doors by levering myself out, the soft top had larger doors and I tend to fall out.

 

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Carvana is piece of RIP OFF Nirvana!
Went there to look at an advertised car.....NOPE! Can only look at the on line.
NO TOUCHING! NO TEST DRIVE!
DROP DEAD, I SAID!

Carvana is trying to appeal to Millennials and Gen Z customers. You know, the ones who pay $300-400 a year in hidden charges because plastic the best thing. Never carry cash and use plastic everywhere.

A friend was in NYC when Hurricane Sandy hit. He was the type to go plastic only. He nearly starved as no credit cards were working and he couldn't even charge his phone.

 

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The funny thing is Gen Z can't even afford it and it really doesn't appeal to mine(Millennials) or there is limited interest in it. I thought the whole thing was stupid from the start.

A friends son is 24 and he doesn't have a drivers license yet. He'll be getting one as mom and dad are retiring and moving to Florida. He can stay in the house but will have to pay for the utilities. His older siblings have made it clear they aren't his private drivers. Around here you HAVE to be able to drive. Otherwise live near everything and use your feet. Cabs take 2 hours to show up, buses are only in town and the nearest Amtrak station is 150 miles away. He's talked to people who live in Metropolitan areas too much.

Evidently most kids today don't care about driving. The phone is more important.

 

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I have a 28 year old daughter who is TERRIFED of driving. She's okay riding in a car with me and even if I crank it up to 100mph to get around slow moving traffic. BUT, she's disabled and even though I think she'd be able to do okay with it, she's not really interested. I keep telling her that I'm not going to be around forever and she's going to have to learn eventually. She saw the after effects of a head on collision that my son and I were in back in 2010 and freaked out over that. We were both fine, but it left a negative impression on her. I STILL miss that 2008 Caliber. At least all of the airbags worked the way they were supposed to and other than my son getting a damaged knee, we walked away. I was sore for weeks from the seat belt and had a couple of burns from the airbag. The other driver lived as she was a drunk/stoned 18 year old teenager at the time. She passed out behind the steering wheel of her 2002 Neon. They had to cut her out and she had a broken ankle and a few scrapes and bruises as a result. Lucky girl!

Not being able to drive is no excuse in my family. When I teach someone to drive, they know how to DRIVE! Now, a bad experience is notable, but no excuse. My youngest niece is a girly girl, but she has been raised to be independent. The reason I got my ragtop Cruiser was to teach her to drive. My driving lessons are comprehensive. Including gun fire. I taught her how to unlock a jammed steering wheel and key switch, anything she needed to know, she was taught. Maybe she can't fix a car, but she knows the problem so the mechanic (often me) knows in advance what to bring. There are reasons for everything I do when I'm teaching. The gun fire came in when I was teaching panic stops. We'd drive along and I'd say "Stop, stop, stop" and she had to stop as fast as possible but keep from skidding. There is a gravel road on my property. I was giving her the drill and had reloaded my .38 with blanks. While she was stopping, I fired several blanks out the window. If looks were daggers, I'd have had a shirt full of holes. However, after she got her license, she was taking her brother to work and hit a huge pothole full of water that destroyed the wheel and tire to the point I had to cut the wheel off the caliper. She did not panic but kept control and pulled over out of traffic. He said she got out, calm and collected to inspect the damage. Then she broke out crying. Well, she WAS 16 at the time.

By the way, before you think I'm a big meanie, I'm also the Uncle who gives the kids their first car. In her case, it was a Mitsubishi Eclipse coupe.

Hey, a first car ought to be cool, right?

 

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By the way, she knows how to drive, but not a stick shift. That's what the convertible is for.

 

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Wasn't Carvana the ones with the Car Vending Machines?

Yep, they gave you a coin about the size of a dinner plate to drop in the slot. It was keyed to the position your new cars was in. Gonna be fun to repurpose those.

 

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I knew Carvana was on trouble. I didn't realize how MUCH trouble they are in. 6.6 Billion dollars in debt? Buying stolen cars? I often look at companies in trouble and think about how they could have avoided it. Sears for instance started out as mail order. The internet of its day. They didn't pay attention to their start and got into deep trouble. I think they are still around, but maybe not. Carvana though, I see no way they can come back from this. I think a lot of investors are going to lose their shirts.

 

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Carvana isn’t buying and selling stolen cars. But they aren’t providing timely titles for the cars they are legitimately selling.

Tell that to the guy who bought a car that got towed because it was stolen.

 

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Here in Alabama, I found out that you can't drop your insurance on a car unless you've sold it, traded it or it gets totaled. What a racket!!

That seems odd. I keep comprehensive on all my vehicles and if I take one off the road, I still carry comprehensive, I just can't legally drive it on the road. If the garage burns down, the car is covered. If I have one that gets hit, if I part it out, I cancel the coverage, period. Indiana just cares if you pay the road taxes. A junker not driven, they don't care about.

 

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I am terrified of stick shift.
I can't drive that to this day. My dad screwed me up on it, because he decided he wanted a belly laugh and my first time out directed me up a super-steep hill, so of course I konked out, and the worst part was, I could not get started again...not only that, it was so steep that even with the car in gear and the e-brake set I was still going backwards.

I had to cruise backward turning till I was perpendicular to the road to stop creeping back, and I got out of the car and told dad he was driving the rest of that way. Of course, he got his laugh, and I got soured on stick for the rest of my life.

I tried, one other time, and konked even on a flat stop...tried 11 times to start up again, and could not do it in a Mazda Miata. I gave up after that. No stick for me ever again.

I'll bet if you had someone who was a trainer interested in teaching you, not pranking you, you could do it. I've taught numerous relatives, girl friends the kids of girlfriends and so on to drive a stick. I've got a niece, who if we can get time, wants to learn. Your dad wanted to teach EVERYTHING at once and treated it like a joke. If I was training you in manual shifting, before we ever got near the road, you'd be taught clutch control. No traffic, no hills, nothing else.No jokes either. I used to train people on operating a lift truck. Some got better at it than me.

You can do it. You just need someone interested in teaching you not messing with your head. I didn't drive an automatic until I was 18. When I was learning to drive, I remember turning left and stalling in front of an older man. He just put his hands up in the air. You have a kid and an older adult and the car gets hiccups and dies. Fast forward many years, I'm teaching a niece to drive a stick. She kills it. I get out to move the car rather than have her freak out. The lady behind us sees a kid and an older adult and a car stalling. She just grinned and threw her hands up. I think it's programmed into older people.

People built the car. People (like you) are it's boss.

 

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I learned long ago - first on motorcycles, then later on vehicles. With motorcycles your left hand operates the clutch while your left foot shifts (up or down). With a car it's more or less opposite - operate the clutch with your left foot and shift with your right hand. Admittedly it has been a while since I operated a vehicle with a manual transmission, but in a pinch I can do it. It's like riding a bicycle - you never forget.

I started at age 8 by driving a tractor. Grampa would have taught me at 7 but I couldn't reach the pedals yet. On motorcycles, NOW they operate like you said. My first bike was a 1955 Harley Model F. Complete with "Suicide" clutch. I found out really fast why it's called that. You shift with your left hand on a shift lever and push the clutch with your left foot. If you're at a light and your right foot is down, you're in gear ready to go and lose your balance and instinctively put your left down......... Alarums and consternations result. Also road rash.

 

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I had to reread what you posted. So that bike was opposite of normal bikes? Yikes, that would be concerning.

I think H-D went with conventional controls a year or two later. My last bike was an H-D and while some controls were unique, they weren't too different from other bikes I've had.

 

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Frankly, t may sound bad to say this...but dad was a jerk. He always loved getting a laugh at someone else's expense...and it was not good-natured practical joking it was mean.

He's been dead twenty years now, and he still messes with my mind. I am just plain terrified of a stick shift.

Are we cousins? I had a bunch of relatives like that. At my age, most have died off, but I had a lot like that. On the other hand, I retired after 45 years at a factory where people liked to mess with you. Eventually they learned that what they start, I finish.

Someday you might decide to face your phobias and find someone to teach you. Don't rush it, it will be when you are ready.

Then again, with the advent of hybrid and total electric cars, you might never need to know. I can think of a lot more important things in life than driving a stick.