Over the past several weeks, CDG News has heard from Stellantis dealers voicing concerns over Carvana's growing presence in the franchised dealership space.
Specifically, they wondered whether Stellantis has allowed Carvana operational flexibility that other dealers believe they would not receive.
The dealers we spoke with collectively said they were unsure whether any of their concerns violated franchise laws and/or standard dealer agreements.
But in short, the concern is that those perceived differences could cut into other franchised dealers' sales and profits, and ultimately disrupt the dealer model.
Knowing this: CDG News dug around to confirm whether the worries had weight and were not just a case of disgruntled folks taking shots at the new guy.
At press time for this story, CDG News talked with 40 sources across the country, including dealers, GMs, brokers, dealer association members, and auto retail lawyers.
More than half were dealers or dealer employees, generally operating near the seven Carvana CDJR stores in Arizona, California, Texas, Ohio, Georgia, and Massachusetts.
This includes dealers that operate in or nearby Carvana’s primary market areas (PMAs).
Important to note: A majority of our sources reported fears of retaliation. Dealers, in particular, worried that Stellantis would ding allocation amounts, decrease incentive eligibility, and/or raise sales targets in response to any comments shared on the record.
Due to the volume of nearly identical concerns, CDG News granted anonymity.
We also contacted Stellantis and Carvana, requesting their responses to a range of related questions via email.
Carvana did not reply.
Stellantis told us:
"Stellantis remains committed to treating dealers fairly, consistently, and in accordance with our Dealer Sales and Service Agreements, established policies and procedures, and applicable law. Dealers across our network operate under the same allocation methodologies, incentive program rules, facility and image standards, and performance expectations. Decisions regarding allocation, program eligibility, dealer approvals, and network requirements are made pursuant to established processes and objective business criteria.
Maintaining the confidence of our dealers in the fairness and integrity of the franchise system is critically important to us. We remain focused on building a healthy, competitive dealer network that provides exceptional service for our customers with the brands and products they love and trust."
While Stellantis' response addresses the broader concern, dealers, however, pointed to several specific areas they believe warrant a closer look.
Concern 1: Website standards
CNBC reported in June that Stellantis granted Carvana permission to become its own certified website provider for its CDJR sites.
Other Stellantis retailers, for context, pick from six choices, including DealerInspire, Dealer eProcess, Dealer.com by Cox Automotive, Pixel Motion, Team Velocity, and DealerEdge. A dealer-focused Stellantis website and a 17-page Stellantis guide reviewed by CDG News confirmed the six options.
Stellantis on July 10 sent website guidance reminders to dealers not in compliance.
Whether or not those compliance notes affected Carvana’s certification status was unclear, especially given the possibility that the retailer has other website exceptions that may excuse it from the usual rules.
What we do know is that Stellantis guidance includes, in part:
That the main navigation/utility bar must use contrasting colors (black and white only) to align with Tier 1 sites.
That sticking to one brand’s color scheme is preferred, such as the “Chrysler blues,” to maintain uniformity.
That there must be a utility bar (with dealer contact info/address) positioned above the main navigation bar.
That the dealer or brand logo(s) or name are left-justified in the main navigation bar, and that competitive brand logos are not allowed.
Stellantis’ guide also “recommends no more than eight menu tabs; first two are required in the order below”:
New (Required)
Pre-Owned (Required)
Specials (Recommended)
Finance (Recommended)
Service & Parts (Recommended)
About (Recommended)
Work Ready (If Applicable)
From our research: The Carvana-hosted Stellantis sites, compared with other CDJR pages, showed noticeable differences that appear inconsistent with portions of the published guidance.
Stellantis told CNBC that Carvana operates as a "corporate owner" of its brands, similarly to other publicly traded companies such as Lithia Motors, Inc., and AutoNation Inc.
Stellantis also said it applies "the same consistent standards and criteria" to all dealer partners, all of whom must meet its franchisee qualifications.
Tools that can benefit the company get certified, Stellantis said, adding that certification seekers "must complete a rigorous onboarding process and meet program standards and requirements."
CDG News reviewed several CDJR websites for stores owned and operated by Group 1 Automotive, Penske Automotive Group, and Lithia. They all looked similar to other CDJR sites used by the private dealership groups, and all that we looked at were hosted on one of the six Stellantis-approved providers.
This is a screenshot of the top half of a Carvana CDJR site. (Referred to as above the fold in the automaker’s guidance).
Below is the top half of a CDJR site for a store owned by Lithia (under the Suburban Showcase moniker) in Garden City, Michigan.
"Their website does not look like a CDJR [site],” one dealer told CDG News.
Other site concerns: Carvana’s apparent website exceptions, according to multiple sources, appear to allow advertising that encourages shoppers to avoid traditional dealer models.
"The new way to buy a new car," the site says. "Test drive on-site, buy online and get it delivered."
Also on the website topic, dealers wondered whether Carvana receives the same digital incentives as the dealer body generally does, even though it uses its own site and style.
Tom Taira, president of special projects for Carvana, said at a June event in Dallas that Carvana uses national pricing so that shoppers in all places see the same prices for transparency.
They also don't charge document fees and primarily finance purchases through their affiliated finance company, unlike many Stellantis dealers, which frequently use Stellantis-backed captive finance programs to access manufacturer incentives and promotional financing.
Concern two: Service capacity
At least 20 of the sources we spoke with shared opinions about Carvana's approach to service work.
According to those dealers, and sections of a sales and service agreement (SSA) reviewed by CDG News, dealers are expected to maintain enough service bays, technicians, and on-hand parts to service its customers in the area.
A dealer "shall employ... such number of competent technicians... as may be required to assure prompt, satisfactory and competitive customer service," and must maintain a Customer Satisfaction Index rating "equal to or greater than the average... for the national Sales Level Group" in its area, according to the SSA.
Why dealers care: Personnel from at least four dealerships in separate states shared with us an increase in service work, especially warranty and recall jobs, saying customers reported being sent there by Carvana staffers.
Similarly, at least two dealers who sold their stores to Carvana have heard from frustrated customers.
"I get calls every day from customers that are angry,” one dealer said, referring to what they described as brisk and inconvenient treatment.
Another dealer said a former customer told him that he took his vehicle in for an oil change, expecting to wait on-site, but a Carvana staffer told him that since they didn’t have a waiting room, he’d have to leave and come back.
Two dealership associates told us only fixed-ops workers were kept under the new management.
And in one of those stores, the techs told a former boss that Carvana had them complete warranty work, then asked the techs to handle the corresponding paperwork, which we were told should fall to someone else for a myriad of reasons, including: You want the service techs servicing cars.
Addressing the obvious: Naturally, a rise in service work brought mixed reactions. After all, who doesn't want more business?
In fact, at least three dealers said they're happy to take any and all work that Carvana sends.
The potential issue: Some shops, however, said that the volume of tedious, undesirable, and lower-paying jobs reportedly coming from Carvana has started to stretch their resources and capabilities, leading to frustrated customers.
Monthly service numbers are not shared with dealers, according to our research.
That said, hearing similar accounts and concerns from dealers in multiple states where Carvana sells, and at times in neighboring states, caught our attention.
For Carvana's part: The seven dealerships the retailer acquired each came with service departments, and its corporate websites show they are hiring techs.
Each Carvana website also has service links, along with phone numbers to reach the department.
CDG News called each dealership to ask questions, including about service work.
Here’s how that went:
In Ohio, none of the listed phone numbers were working when called, and multiple visits to its website on multiple days showed no available service appointments well into 2027, even for a quick fix such as a tire rotation.
Service appointments were available to schedule via the other six Carvana CDJR sites.
Concern three: Sales and allocation
In June, Carvana's CDJR store in Casa Grande sold a record 998 units, making it the top-selling Stellantis dealership in the country. We were given relevant sales data numbers that typically aren’t publicly available.
Editor’s note: This is a truncated version of the sales numbers shared with us that came from the OEM. Our charts show the top three metro Phoenix CDJR sellers each month, with only Casa Grande named, along with the total vehicles sold across all 14 area CDJR dealerships. Under the total, we included sales tied to the closest dealership, just a short walk away, selling a different brand.
Here are the monthly totals (Carvana took over Casa Grande CDJR in February 2025):
The table below, created the same way, shows a snapshot of June sales from 2023-26.
SavvyDealer released a report today (August 5) that dug further into the July sales numbers in one Pennsylvania market.
From the report: “Here is what July 2026 looked like: 693 new CDJR vehicles sold into that radius, split across 99 selling dealers. The number one seller was the region's biggest local auto mall with 40. Number two was Carvana Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Casa Grande, Arizona, with 29. The store that actually holds the franchise for this market sold 24…”
Related, allocation calculations are fluid and vary by OEM. And at least five dealers we spoke with said that though the formula is hard to define, a dealer earning nearly 1,000 units of allocation seemed unlikely and unusual, but not necessarily impossible.
OUTSMART THE CAR MARKET IN 5 MINUTES A WEEK
Get insights trusted by 55,000+ car dealers. Free, fast, and built for automotive leaders.
Concern four: Inventory and vehicle storage
At least three dealers said Carvana didn’t appear to have the proper amount of cars on site, based on in-person observations.
They theorized that some inventory could be stored at nearby Adesa properties, the wholesale auction company purchased by Carvana in May 2022.
Adesa locations are dotted across the country, including seven within two to about 50 miles of a Carvana CDJR, as shown below.
Still, all dealerships can (and do) store vehicles at offsite locations, but are generally expected to keep a majority of their advertised vehicles on site, we were told.
CDG News could not independently verify inventory levels at the Carvana CDJR stores.
Dealers in two states described lonely lots.
One dealer said he drove to a store to sniff around.
He said he didn’t see cars onsite, and was told by an employee they were mostly held in central locations to aggregate the inventory more easily and prep them for delivery.
A second dealer said the cars were removed after the dealership sale closed.
"They moved every single car, gone; off the lot,” the dealer said.
In Dallas, Taira said inventory stays on site.
“So like any other deal that we have, we have inventory here,” Taira said. “And then, as you can imagine, as our sales increase, you have overflow lots, just like any other dealership. But nothing in transit."
Concern five: PMA and market reach
Dealers we spoke with described cross-sale data, similar to what SavvyDealer published, that they said also showed significant registration volumes from Carvana CDJR stores clustered in towns outside what a typical PMA “should” be, though they acknowledged to us there isn’t technically a limit to how many cars a dealer “can” sell in other PMAs.
Two dealers specifically described seeing Carvana sales numbers that they said showed more out-of-state sales than what is considered normal.
Taira, meanwhile, said the group’s out-of-state sales volume is not unusual.
“We are very small right now,” Taira said at the Dallas press event. In fact, he estimated 9–10% of new-car sales nationally are already sold out of state industry-wide, regardless of dealer.
Again, dealers told CDG News that they can and do sell and ship cars to customers, but felt that out-of-PMA sales of even 30% or more would usually prompt an automaker to take an interest.
Concern six: Economics of the model
A few dealer sources marveled at Carvana’s ability to sell cars for a profit without charging typical fees, such as those related to documents, and especially if they’re possibly giving up some incentives, too.
When CDG News shared with some of those sources that our research seemed to show that Carvana generally charged prices that were comparable with those posted by nearby competitors, three dealers walked us through a hypothetical.
Each showed how a similar advertised price could still result in a profit or loss. Using those examples as inspiration, we created the hypothetical visual seen below.
Please note: CDG News does not have direct knowledge of how Carvana approaches the sales model, nor could it independently determine the profitability of any individual transaction.
Carvana saw things start to turn around in June 2023 after a struggle period. Based on today's trading (August 5), Carvana's stock is priced at $68.92, giving the company a market capitalization of about $78.0 billion.
Other recent sources place it in a similar range, around $76-78 billion, with slight variations depending on the exact snapshot and shares-outstanding figure used.
In the second quarter of this year, it set a vehicle sales record of 197,325 units sold and a total record revenue of $7.37 billion, according to its July 29 earnings report.
It is not required to, and does not, at this time, separate its new and used car totals and financials when reporting, as it's not considered material to its main business, which is selling used cars.
The company did, however, call the new-car segment profitable during its July 29 earnings call.
What about the other publics? Lithia, Penske, Group 1, Asbury Automotive, AutoNation, and Sonic Automotive each break down their new- and used-vehicle sales in corporate filings.
Sonic also breaks out numbers for Echo Park, its standalone used-car chain.
And while automakers do not separate sales numbers by dealers in public filings, it’s safe to say Carvana’s “New cars are profitable for us today, but beyond that, there’s not a ton of detail that we’re ready to provide…” phrasing will likely soon feel tiresome to interested parties.
OUTSMART THE CAR MARKET IN 5 MINUTES A WEEK
Get insights trusted by 55,000+ car dealers. Free, fast, and built for automotive leaders.
Adding to concerns: The SSA section we reviewed opens with "the mutual goal of this relationship" is "to promote the sale and service of specified FCA US products," — language multiple dealers said Carvana's franchise model does not appear built to fulfill.
To name a few additional guidelines cited by dealers and the Stellantis SSA we reviewed:
Dealers must have brick-and-mortar buildings and store at least some cars on-site.
Dealers can't sell cars they don't have, according to FTC regulations.
Dealership buildings must be image compliant, often down to the color of the chairs.
And again, dealers must have an appropriately staffed dealership, including the number of service bays required by their PMA, and they're expected to stock enough parts to fix the cars coming into those bays.
Specifically, the SSA also says dealers "shall at all times maintain the Dealership Facilities so that they are of adequate capacity to accommodate [dealer's] total vehicle sales volume," and must keep on hand "the number of assortment of FCA U.S. LLC or Mopar parts" necessary to meet local service demand.
"We were forced to put in the EV stations, and at an astronomical expense," one dealer said, adding that he doesn’t think Carvana had to complete as much image compliance as what is typically required.
That said: Image requirements are often part of a buy-sell deal, and OEMs can allow for agreements that delay said upgrades.
So Carvana, which entered the new-car market in 2025, may have image upgrade requirements planned for later dates.
Worth noting: The ownership connection
More than a fourth of sources we spoke with wondered if a financial connection they said they recently learned about was common knowledge.
Elkann, for context, is heir to the Agnelli family that created Fiat. Via a family holding company, the Agnelli family controls Exor, which owns stakes in Stellantis and Ferrari, both of which Elkann chairs. (Similar to Bill Ford Jr. having Ford stock.)
On behalf of Exor, Elkann founded the London-based investment company Lingotto in May 2023.
Carvana is Lingotto’s second-biggest investment, as explained below.
The Agnelli family (led by Elkann) controls Giovanni Agnelli B.V., which holds a majority of economic and voting rights in Exor N.V., the family's publicly traded holding company.
Exor is a major shareholder in Stellantis and Ferrari. Elkann is CEO of Exor. Lingotto is Exor's in-house asset manager.
According to recent filings, Carvana is Lingotto's second-biggest holding with about 9.3 million shares worth about $611 million at last check, making up about 13.1% of Lingotto’s portfolio.
That amounts to less than 5% of Carvana's total shares outstanding, so Carvana does not need to report it nor any other shareholders that don’t meet that threshold.
Lingotto is mentioned in Elkann’s biography page on the Stellantis website, with information about it and its investments easy enough to search online, including in at least one publicly available letter from Elkann to Exor's shareholders.
Why dealers say it matters
Concerns that Carvana's infrastructure and perceived flexibility granted by Stellantis are mounting, because the high-level dealer perspective is that the manufacturer is allowing them to advertise and sell cars anywhere in the country more easily than other dealers, and without much of the hefty financial investments typically required to become a franchisee.
They feel this could give Carvana an unfair advantage in selling, one the dealer body can’t replicate in a way that allows them to be profitable and to stay within franchise guidelines at all levels.
Several dealers told CDG they believe the core franchise model is at risk if those differences continue.
Not to mention, dealers are part of local communities, and they said they feel that dealer models that may ship out inventory far from the home base could create a distance from those communities and customers.
Boiled down, a majority of the 40 folks we spoke with wondered in so many words: If some models strip away the need for fully staffed dealerships, service bays, and the like, isn’t it indirectly a direct-to-consumer model?
For now: We were told that no matter what, dealers will continue to focus on adapting, finding ways to improve the customer experience, and making more money.
— CDG News’ Ash Savage and Richard Greene contributed to this report.
