Stockholders' Equity - Convertible Preferred Stock (Details) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands			3 Months Ended		5 Months Ended	9 Months Ended		11 Months Ended
	Dec. 11, 2017	Dec. 05, 2017 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Sep. 30, 2018 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Sep. 30, 2017 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2017 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2018 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Sep. 30, 2017 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2018 USD ($)	Jan. 29, 2018 $ / shares	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($) $ / shares	May 03, 2017 $ / shares shares
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Stock sold during period, net proceeds					$ 205,925
Preferred stock, par value (in dollars per share) | $ / shares			$ 0.01			$ 0.01				$ 0.01	$ 0.01
Conversion ratio						1.25
Accretion of beneficial conversion feature on Class A convertible preferred stock			$ 0	$ 0		$ (1,380)	$ 0
Preferred stock			$ 0			0				$ 0
Dividends paid						$ 4,279	$ 0
Class A Common Units
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Conversion ratio			0.80			0.80
Carvana Group | Class A Common Units
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Convertible preferred stock, shares issued upon conversion (in shares) | shares			4,800,000			4,800,000					43,100,000
Convertible Preferred Stock
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Issuance of stock (in shares) | shares		100,000
Gross issuance of stock		$ 100,000
Stock sold during period, net proceeds		$ 98,500
Preferred stock, par value (in dollars per share) | $ / shares		$ 0.01	$ 0.01			$ 0.01				$ 0.01
Preferred stock initial value per share (in dollars per share) | $ / shares		1,000
Conversion rate (in dollars per share) | $ / shares		$ 19.6945							$ 50.78
Percent of stock price for company option to convert preferred stock to common		150.00%
Conversion ratio		0.8
Conversions of Class A Convertible Preferred Stock (in shares) | shares						75,000
Redemption price, calculation premium to volume weighted average stock price		20.00%
Beneficial conversion feature of Class A convertible preferred stock								$ 2,600
Redemption price, trading days used In calculation	5 days
Accretion of beneficial conversion feature on Class A convertible preferred stock						$ 1,380
Preferred stock			$ 24,627			$ 24,627				$ 97,127
Liquidation preference during change in control			101.00%			101.00%
Preferred stock dividend rate		5.50%
Dividends paid						$ 4,300
Accrued dividends			$ 100			$ 100
Accrued dividends (in dollars per share) | $ / shares			$ 3.36			$ 3.36
Convertible Preferred Stock | Carvana Group
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Sale of stock, number of shares issued in transaction (in shares) | shares		100,000
Class A
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Conversions of Class A Convertible Preferred Stock (in shares) | shares						3,800,000
Convertible Preferred Units
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Stock canceled and retired during period (in shares) | shares						75,000
Convertible Preferred Units | Carvana Group
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Dividends paid						$ 4,300