EXCLUSIVE: How Carvana Was Bilked By A Mysterious And Scandal-Plagued Former Vendor

In 2019, Alexander Cabrera, a lot attendant working the night shift in Carvana’s Tolleson, Arizona reconditioning facility, was promoted to the position of coordinator. His new responsibilities included reviewing invoices submitted by HyperSport Industries, a reconditioning vendor that performed cosmetic work, such as paint jobs and dent removals, on the used cars that Carvana sells to customers.

It didn’t take long for Cabrera to become suspicious of HyperSport.

“When I was coordinating in QC [quality control], I would notice in the paint department invoices for vehicles that were sold months ago with the current date on it. And I was like, ‘This car's not even here,’ or [invoices for] panels that weren't even done,” says Cabrera, who adds that he raised the issue internally, but that the problem persisted.

Two former Carvana managers who worked in other Carvana-owned reconditioning facilities also told Forbes that HyperSport was submitting duplicate invoices that were being processed. “They would charge multiple times for the same repair. I know for a fact they were doing that,” one of them says.

Carvana has never mentioned HyperSport in any public filings or statements. But the two firms are linked, a Forbes investigation finds. From 2017 until at least last year, HyperSport technicians worked alongside Carvana technicians at over a dozen Carvana inspection and reconditioning centers (known as “IRCs”), according to eight former Carvana employees, who worked as managers, technicians and inventory coordinators across the company’s facilities. These employees – most of whom spoke with Forbes on the condition of anonymity – say that HyperSport employees were often underqualified to do the work that Carvana was paying them to do. They also allege that HyperSport was controlled by a Carvana manager or his associates–and that as a result, HyperSport was incentivized to push through duplicate invoices to Carvana and skimp on buying its own supplies.

“We had a feeling that someone was getting a kickback out of this,” says Cabrera, who left Carvana last year. “It didn't make sense.”

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