A North Carolina man was shocked to learn that the $68,000 Maserati SUV he bought for his wife through Carvana was stolen. Not only was it stolen, but it was a different vehicle than the one he thought he had purchased.

Jason Scott told WTVD he bought what he thought was a 2021 Maserati SUV in November 2022 and had no issues with the car. However, that changed in February when he took the vehicle to the dealership for service.

Scott said that the technicians told him that the VIN number on the door did not match the number of the window.

"When they check the VIN number on the chassis, that's when they saw that it was a stolen vehicle. VIN on the car on the window and the car door was different."

The technicians then informed him that his vehicle was actually an SUV from 2017. The dealership called the police, who impounded the car and interviewed Scott. He was released without charges after providing the paperwork from Carvana.

Scott then reached out to Carvana, but they initially said there was nothing they could do.

"She said well, we can't trade the vehicle back in until you bring the vehicle back. I said I can't bring the vehicle back. I said the police have the vehicle."

Scott hired a lawyer, who sent a letter to the company demanding $1 million in compensation. Carvana finally responded to the letter and denied knowing the car was stolen. The company said it would refund the money he had already paid or allow him to put it towards the purchase of a different vehicle.

Scott said that isn't enough and wants Carvana to be more vigilant when checking cars before selling them.

"I know they say they have 150-point inspections. I want them to have 151. Check to see if the vehicle is stolen. The last thing I want anybody to do is to get caught late at night on some strange road in the backcountry, and they can't verify it, and they look at that person as a criminal," he said.

Carvana said that it is working with Scott to "make it right."

"When Carvana acquired this vehicle, someone had taken sophisticated criminal steps to steal and alter the vehicle and we’re taking all the necessary steps to make it right for our customer in this rare instance," the company said in a statement.

Ed Lambert