Carvana is by far the most valuable used-car seller in the US, and it wants to become the Amazon.com of cars. To try to accomplish this Ernie Garcia III, the co-founder, chief executive officer and chairman, did the most American of things: He loaded the company up on debt. It took out $3.5 billion in high-interest loans to buy an auction house named Adesa just as the Covid-19-fueled fever dream in sky-high used-car prices was winding down. The timing was disastrous. Short sellers circled, sensing an opportunity to profit from a falling share price, and Carvana—a pandemic meme stock—suddenly lost 99% of its market value. But investors got over it. The shares reached an all-time high in January, and debt remains a big part of the story. Many of Carvana’s customers—like the company, whose bonds are rated junk—have less-than-stellar credit histories but want to take out a loan, which they do through Carvana. The entire business runs on a cycle of borrowed money.