NBC10 Boston Responds helps woman get resolution from Carvana after SUV fire

There are upwards of 2,300 vehicle fires in Massachusetts every year. A Saugus woman's new SUV was destroyed in one of them.

When she couldn't get a resolution from the online dealership where she bought it, she contacted our NBC10 Boston Responds team for help.

Alayna Brinkley picked out a new vehicle on Carvana in December. She traded in her old Subaru and financed a pre-owned luxury SUV.

"I loved it," she said. "It was gorgeous on the inside, all of the bells and whistles … It was great, it was comfortable, it was, it was a smooth ride. It was a good car."

Brinkley says she had a week to decide if she liked the car or wanted to return it.

"So, I decided to keep it," she said. "On Jan. 2, I got it, inspected it, passed inspection, and then while driving it on Jan. 5, it burst into flames."

Police bodycam video captured the SUV burning on the side of the highway. Brinkley says she was driving with a friend in Somerville when the the vehicle stuttered and the lights flickered. They pulled over when they smelled smoke.

"I went around to the back of the car to get stuff out, and that's when a pedestrian let me know to get away from the car, because the bottom of the car was on fire," she recalled. "When I looked, there were all flames coming out from under it, so of course, we took off, further down the street, away from the car, and called 911."

She says the whole vehicle was engulfed in flames within minutes.

"I just started crying, because it's just -- it's something that is completely out of your control," she said.

The fire department report listed the cause as undetermined.

Brinkley says she contacted Carvana the next day, asking for a refund even though she was a few days outside the company's "7-day Money Back Guarantee." She says the company initially told her it would process a return, but later said it couldn't because the vehicle wasn't in the condition she received it in.

"Obviously it's not the same condition. And I really got a lot of runaround," she said. "I just wanted either the money I gave you for my Subaru or the car itself. Just so that I could, you know, just kind of walk away from the situation and be in the same position I was in when I first bought the car."

She says her insurance company covered the personal items she lost in the fire, but told her she would probably be underwater on her auto loan.

"It just it didn't seem fair, I just got this car," she said. "It wasn't anything that I did. It wasn't an accident, I didn't hit anything, nobody hit me. So why am I ending up kind of screwed in this situation?"

A friend put her in touch with NBC10 Boston Responds, and we contacted Carvana on her behalf.

"By 7:30 that night, I had a call from a resolution specialist from Carvana," Brinkley said. "And he said, 'You know, we want to see what we can do about making this situation right. And I'm sorry for what you experienced first, and I'm glad everybody is physically OK, but let's see what we can do to fix it.' And so they did."

Brinkley says Carvana bought back her vehicle, paying off the loan, and refunded her the $4,000 for her trade-in and $600 in shipping charges.

"The safety of our customers will always be our top priority, and that is why we are conducting a thorough investigation into the case," a Carvana spokesperson told NBC10 Boston Responds. "We are grateful our customer did not experience any injuries and worked closely with her to resolve her concerns."

"I am super excited for the way that it turned out," Brinkley said. "Sorry that it ever happened, but I'm really glad to see that working with NBC, that there are people out there who really want to have your back and really want to make things right. And so that was that was really great to see."

The Massachusetts Department of Fire Services says if you ever smell smoke in your vehicle, pull over as soon as possible, put the vehicle in park, turn off the ignition, get out of the vehicle and get 100 feet away from it.

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