Ernie Garcia III is the chief executive officer of Carvana, an online marketplace for buying, financing and selling used cars. The Phoenix-based company reported revenue of $13.7 billion in 2024. Garcia is the son of the founder and chairman of DriveTime Automotive Group, an operator of used-car dealerships.
Garcia's wealth stems from his stake in Carvana, an online marketplace for used cars.
He owns about 14% of the combined Class A and Class B shares directly and through trusts, according to a January 2026 Form 4 filing and an August 2025 13G/A filing. Garcia's father, Ernie Garcia II, has depository power or is trustee of some of those trusts. The younger Garcia is credited with the shares held by them in this analysis because he and his children are the ultimate beneficiaries. Garcia also held over 800,000 stock options as of March 2025, according to the 2025 proxy statement.
Garcia also owns 23% of closely held DriveTime Automotive Group, based on a 2017 insurance company filing. It's valued using reported financial results and the average enterprise value-to-sales, price-to-book value and price-to-earnings multiples of three publicly traded peers: America's Car-Mart Inc., Carmax Inc. and Sonic Automotive Inc.
Media representatives for Carvana didn't respond to requests for comment on the net worth calculation.
Garcia was born in the early 1980s and earned an engineering degree from Stanford University.
He worked at Royal Bank of Scotland from 2005 to 2006. In 2007, Garcia began working at a company founded by his father, DriveTime Automotive Group. His first role at the Phoenix-based operator of used car dealerships was as a financial strategist and he became a vice president of the company in 2009.
In 2012, Garcia co-founded Carvana with Benjamin Huston and Ryan Keeton. The company provides an online marketplace for used cars. Once purchased, buyers can choose to get the car delivered to their doorstep or schedule an appointment to pick it up from one of the company's vending machines.