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An image of a BMW i8 parked outside on display.

Buying a $63,000 BMW i8 Online via Vroom Turns Out to Be an Expensive Nightmare

A multitude of online car shopping websites have appeared out of nowhere in recent years. The concept is fairly simple. These sites allow you to choose, purchase, and finance your new or used car completely online. However, The Fast Lane Car recently tried to purchase a BMW i8 on Vroom.com and ended up in a …

A multitude of online car shopping websites have appeared out of nowhere in recent years. The concept is fairly simple. These sites allow you to choose, purchase, and finance your new or used car completely online. However, The Fast Lane Car recently tried to purchase a BMW i8 on Vroom.com and ended up in a nightmare scenario.

According to The Fast Lane Car, Vroom allegedly lost a $63,000 cashier’s check that was supposed to pay for the electric supercar. Unfortunately, the situation only gets worse from here.

How do you buy a BMW i8 online?

An image of a BMW i8 parked outside on display.
BMW i8 | BMW

Part of what makes the BMW i8 so appealing as a used car purchase comes from its heavy depreciation curve. Despite having a pricey $147,500 base price, used examples often sell for around $60,000. As a result, The Fast Lane Car came across a used example on Vroom with a $63,000 asking price.

Since this particular BMW i8 had around 8,000 miles on the clock, The Fast Lane Car decided to pull the trigger. This involved placing an immediate deposit of $500 to secure the car. Eventually, Vroom allegedly offered the ability to finance or pay for the car in full. Of these options, The Fast Lane Car opted to send a cashier’s check for the vehicle’s full amount.

According to The Fast Lane Car, it sent the check overnight via FedEx. This is significant because this required Vroom to sign for the check, acknowledging that they had received it in the first place. However, The Fast Lane Car reports that Vroom allegedly lost the check.

Vroom allegedly states that it lost the $63,000 check

This BMW i8 nightmare scenario reportedly began as The Fast Lane Car received an email from Vroom asking for payment. Keep in mind; this is days after the Vroom staff took delivery of the check and signed for it. According to The Fast Lane Car, it tried to contact the support staff over at Vroom. Unfortunately, the support staff wasn’t easily accessible.

As it stands, The Fast Lane Car didn’t have the money or the BMW i8. Thankfully, someone from Vroom allegedly confirmed over the phone that the check had been found and everything was on track. Unfortunately, this positive twist didn’t last long.

The following week, The Fast Lane Car grew suspicious again as no one arranged to have the BMW i8 delivered. Upon contacting Vroom, the staff allegedly claimed again that the check was missing. Part of what makes this story sting even more, is that The Fast Lane Car had to do all of the legwork. No one at Vroom allegedly reached out to fix the issue.

The buyer had to find an unsatisfactory solution

An image of two BMW i8's parked alongside one another.
2020 BMW i8 | BMW

Thanks to the FedEx tracking number, The Fast Lane Car was able to prove that it paid for the BMW i8. However, a representative from Vroom allegedly claimed the company somehow lost the check despite receiving it. This meant that The Fast Lane Car had to go to the bank and see if the check had been cashed by someone. Thankfully, the bank confirmed that no one had cashed the check at that point.

Unfortunately, after not receiving the BMW i8, The Fast Lane Car decided to look for a way out of this situation. This involved stopping the payment of the check and issuing a bond for the full $63,000 amount. Additionally, this includes a cost of around $1,300 to retrieve the money.

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In the last update, The Fast Lane Car confirms that Vroom allegedly has not responded to any further emails, leaving the YouTuber on the hook for the sizable fee to retrieve the original amount.

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