Stockholders' Equity - Narrative (Details)														8 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Jun. 20, 2019 USD ($)	May 24, 2019 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Oct. 02, 2018 USD ($) shares	Sep. 10, 2018 USD ($)	Apr. 30, 2018 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Dec. 11, 2017	Dec. 05, 2017 USD ($) $ / shares shares	May 03, 2017 USD ($) vote $ / shares shares	May 02, 2017	Dec. 09, 2016 USD ($) shares	Jul. 12, 2016 USD ($) shares	Apr. 27, 2016 USD ($) shares	Jul. 25, 2015	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2019 USD ($) class $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Jan. 29, 2018 $ / shares
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Preferred stock, shares authorized (in shares)								50,000,000.0							50,000,000	50,000,000
Preferred stock, par value (in dollars per share) | $ / shares								$ 0.01							$ 0.01	$ 0.01
Classes of common stock, ownership interest | class															2
Conversion ratio															1.25
Common unit, multiplier used for conversion ratio															1.25
Stock issuance costs charged against additional paid in capital | $								$ 4,900,000
Stock issuance costs | $																		$ 1,300,000
Payments of stock issuance costs | $															$ 0	$ 12,000		$ 400,000
Equity Instrument, Convertible, Beneficial Conversion Feature Accretion | $															$ 0	$ 1,380,000	$ 1,237,000
Preferred stock, shares outstanding (in shares)															0	0
Accrued dividends | $														$ 413,000	$ 0	$ 0	413,000
Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Issuance of stock (in shares)															200,000	200,000
Senior Unsecured Notes Effective September 2018 | Senior Notes
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Amount of debt repaid criteria | $			$ 1,000
Chief Executive Officer | Contribution Agreement | Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Stock contributed, fee charged, related party | $				$ 0
Exchange Agreement
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Conversion of stock, converted (in shares)					6,900,000										5,400,000	14,200,000
LLC units received (in shares)															5,400,000	14,200,000
Class A Units
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Conversion ratio															0.80
Partners' capital account, units (in shares)								18,600,000
Class A Units | Carvana Group
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Investment owned, balance (in shares)					8,300,000			18,800,000
LLC price per unit, multiple on initial public offering price less underwriting discounts and commissions (in dollars per share)								0.8
Class A Units | Carvana Group
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Common unit, outstanding (in shares)															189,700,000	182,300,000
Conversion of Class A Convertible Preferred Stock (in shares)																6,300,000
Class B Units
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Conversion ratio															0.80
Class B Units | Carvana Group
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Common unit, outstanding (in shares)															4,900,000	5,600,000
Class C Redeemable Preferred Units
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Temporary equity, stock issued during period (in shares)								43,100,000
Temporary equity, coupon rate													12.50%
Class C Redeemable Preferred Units | Investor
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Temporary equity, stock issued during period (in shares)												18,300,000
Convertible Preferred Units | Carvana Group
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Conversion of Class A Convertible Preferred Stock (in shares)																100,000
Class A Non-Convertible Preferred Units | Carvana Group
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Issuance of stock (in shares)			600,000
Repayment of debt, number of shares canceled and retired (in shares)			1
Garcia Parties
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Ownership percentage of outstanding shares, minimum requirement									25.00%
Carvana Sub
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Percentage of voting power									0.10%
Ernest Garcia, II | Class A Units
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Investment owned, balance (in shares)								200,000
Interest acquired								0.10%
Ernest Garcia, II | Class C Redeemable Preferred Units | Investor
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Temporary equity, value stock issued during period | $												$ 100,000,000.0
CVAN Holdings, LLC | Class C Redeemable Preferred Units | Related Party
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Temporary equity, stock issued during period (in shares)											8,600,000
Temporary equity, value stock issued during period | $											$ 50,000,000.0
GV Auto I, LLC | Class C Redeemable Preferred Units
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Temporary equity, stock issued during period (in shares)											1,700,000
Temporary equity, value stock issued during period | $											$ 9,700,000
Fidel Family Trust | Class C Redeemable Preferred Units
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Temporary equity, stock issued during period (in shares)										500,000
Temporary equity, value stock issued during period | $										$ 2,700,000
Class A
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Common stock, shares authorized (in shares)								500,000,000.0							500,000,000	500,000,000
Common stock, par value (in dollars per share) | $ / shares								$ 0.001							$ 0.001	$ 0.001
Number of votes | vote								1
Required ratio between shares issued and shares owned of subsidiary								0.8
Stock issued during the period, value | $														205,800,000
Conversion of Class A Convertible Preferred Stock (in shares)																5,100,000
Class A | Chief Executive Officer | Contribution Agreement
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Contributions of Class A common stock from related party (in shares)															200,000	200,000
Stock contributed, fee charged, related party | $															$ 0	$ 0
Class A | Exchange Agreement
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Conversion ratio								0.8
Conversion of stock, issued (in shares)					5,600,000										4,300,000	11,300,000
Class A | IPO
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Sale of stock, number of shares issued in transaction (in shares)								15,000,000.0
Sale of stock, price per share (in dollars per share) | $ / shares								$ 15.00
Stock issued during the period, value | $								$ 205,800,000
Class A | Follow-On Offering
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Sale of stock, number of shares issued in transaction (in shares)		4,200,000			6,600,000
Sale of stock, price per share (in dollars per share) | $ / shares		$ 65.00			$ 27.50
Sale of stock, consideration received from transaction | $		$ 258,800,000			$ 172,300,000
Class A | Follow-On Offering - Selling Shareholder
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Sale of stock, number of shares issued in transaction (in shares)					6,100,000
Class A | Over-Allotment Option
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Sale of stock, consideration received from transaction | $	$ 38,900,000
Sale of stock, option to purchase, number of additional shares, period		30 days
Sale of stock, option to purchase, number of additional shares (in shares)		600,000
Class A | Class C Redeemable Preferred Units | IPO
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Temporary equity, conversion ratio if offering price as a percentage of original issuance price threshold exceeded (in shares)								1
Class B
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Common stock, shares authorized (in shares)								125,000,000.0							125,000,000	125,000,000
Common stock, par value (in dollars per share) | $ / shares								$ 0.001							$ 0.001	$ 0.001
Number of votes | vote								1
Conversion ratio								0.8
Class B | Exchange Agreement
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Conversion of stock, converted (in shares)															3,100,000	10,300,000
Class B | Garcia Parties
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Number of votes | vote								10
Class A Convertible Preferred Stock
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Preferred stock, shares authorized (in shares)							100,000
Preferred stock, par value (in dollars per share) | $ / shares							$ 0.01
Preferred stock initial value per share (in dollars per share) | $ / shares							$ 1,000
Conversion ratio								0.8
Stock issued during the period, value | $							$ 98,500,000							98,507,000
Temporary equity, coupon rate							5.50%
Conversion of Class A Convertible Preferred Stock (in shares)							100,000									100,000
Gross issuance of stock | $							$ 100,000,000.0
Preferred stock initial value per share (in dollars per share) | $ / shares							$ 1,000
Conversion rate | $ / shares							$ 19.6945												$ 50.78
Percent of stock price for company option to convert preferred stock to common							150.00%
Issuance of stock (in shares)							100,000
Redemption price, calculation premium to volume weighted average stock price							20.00%
Redemption price, trading days used In calculation						5 days
Beneficial conversion feature of Class A convertible preferred stock | $														$ (2,600,000)
Equity Instrument, Convertible, Beneficial Conversion Feature Accretion | $																$ 1,400,000
Liquidation preference during change in control															101.00%
Payments of dividends | $															$ 0	$ 4,619,000	$ 0
Preferred stock, shares outstanding (in shares)																0
Accrued dividends | $																$ 0
Class A Convertible Preferred Stock | Carvana Group
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Sale of stock, number of shares issued in transaction (in shares)							100,000
Conversion of Class A Convertible Preferred Stock (in shares)																25,000
Payments of dividends | $																$ 4,600,000
Class A Convertible Preferred Stock | Shareholder
Limited Partners' Capital Account [Line Items]
Conversion of Class A Convertible Preferred Stock (in shares)																75,000