Wow, they have been a terrible experience and would not buy from them again. The actual buying process was fine, they were fairly prompt and mostly responsive and I had to follow up a few times about the delivery and status but all pretty manageable.
The real problem started with getting the title, registration, and plates. The car came with a 30 day out of state temp tag. Turns out they didn’t submit the paperwork until 5 days before that temp tag expired. The email I got said the paperwork was submitted to my local DMV so I called but they had no record of anything.
I called Driveway to ask about this and time frames and they assured me this 3-week time frame delay was normal because they do a "pre-audit" whatever that is. And that the paperwork wasn’t submitted to the local DMV but a third-party processor. They could not say what the name of that processor is but that they are so great and have a 1-2 week turnaround time. I said that would be past the expiration date of the current temp tag and was told that is normal and driveway would pay for any ticket I got. Which didn’t sound normal or good policy or a good enough solution but it seemed I was stuck so I foolishly just accepted it.
Fast forward almost 2 weeks and I call again to get a status and that person says the communication says it was submitted to my DMV. I said I called my DMV again and they have no record and I was previously told it was sent to a third-party processor. She said it might be that the DMV hasn’t processed the submittal.
Well, I called my DMV again and they are at a next-day turnaround so it’s not that. She says she will email the customer care person and get back to me. I hear nothing so I call again the next day. This person was nicer and gave me her direct line and said she will try again and get back to me and that this super great third-party processor has a 2-3 week time frame, which is just more inconsistent info. I say don’t care how long the plates take but I need a temp tag immediately and since my DMV has no record of anything I can’t get one through them so I need some other solution. I hear nothing and call again at the end of the day and she says that person must be on vacation so she’ll ask a colleague. I hear nothing and call again towards the end of the next day. Hear nothing and try again the next day. Still haven’t heard back. Just stuck in limbo. This can’t be normal.
I’m now 9 days out from the temp tag expiration, over 2 weeks from when the paperwork was submitted...somewhere unknown third-party processor. No response, no solution. Everyone I talked to had some line about how great the third-party processor is and it’s so much faster than the DMV, but if they submitted to the DMV they would at least have a record and I could get a temp tag and be driving fully legally so it wouldn’t matter how long it took, their canned lines just make no sense. They are a mess and what a terrible way to do business.
Do not recommend and would never use again. If you do I would get the info about where this paperwork goes up front, including how they plan to deal with a temp tag extension, and request it goes to DMV and not this mysterious third-party processor. No, I’ve looked around and there are lots of similar complaints.