Has anyone bought or sold to CarMax?

[yitbos]

We are looking at selling our 84 Corvette and looking for a C5 model. I know CarMax will buy your car even if you don't buy one from them. Has anyone on this forum purchased or sold a car through CarMax?

It looks like they have a no haggle policy and the price on the window is the price you pay. Were they fair with your trade in or purchase price for your vehicle? How is their customer service? How about the pricing on the vehicle, were they fair and in line or were they way out of range?

Any advice would be good here.

Thanks,
John

 

[Ed02]

John, I sold a Saturn to them a couple of years ago. I just wanted to get rid of the car and didn't want to go through the hassle of selling it privately. From what I remember, they came very close to the midpoint between trade in and retail prices given by Kelly Blue Book. It was very easy. They inspected the car, drove it and told me to go get lunch and they would have the paperwork done. I came back and 15 mins. later all the papers were signed and I had a check. And your right, they will just buy your car regardless of whether your buying one from them or not. Anyway, that was my one experience with them.

 

[Eric]

John,

I've done both, or at least I attempted both.

Selling to Carmax: We took my wife's 99 Malibu there to sell two months ago. It was in great condition with very low miles for the type of car and age (40k). I had researched private party prices and dealer prices to the nth degree. They took the keys and inspected the car. When I left home I told Kelly they would offer me between 5500 and 6000. Sure enough, they offered me 5500. When I got it home I sold it for 6k to my neighbor's niece. Even though I didn't sell to them, the price they offered was more than fair considering that it saves you from the hastle of advertising and selling your car. Since I sold mine through word of mouth that wasn't an issue. If I didn't have an unsolicited buyer, I would have sold it to Carmax. I'm probably going to sell my Grand Am to them.

Buying: A month before we purchased the Malibu referenced above, we purchased a 99 Cutlass (identical to a Malibu) with 8k on the clock from Carmax. Price was on the high side but not too much considering the warranty. They have a 3 or 5 (forgot) day money back return policy so I took the car to my mechanic for an inspection. The car had been hit hard right side front end. The passenger fender wasn't even all there - the point that should have attached to the front was cut off. He showed me several differences between the left and right. I took the car back and the salesman and manager were cool about it, the buyer/inspector was a jerk. If the one guy hadn't been a jerk I may have considered another car there.

My assessment: If you buy, take advantage of the 5-day money back thing and get the car inspected.

 

[Eric]

One more thing - they have a 30-day deal where they will fix anything whatsoever on the car.

 

[RoadReady]

I would buy from CarMax, but not sell a vehicle to them. I had an evaluation done on my C4 in Memphis and it was insulting low, much lower than what I sold it for. I priced a couple of C5s in Nashville and thought they were priced about right--without the usual haggling.

 

[yitbos]

I stopped in at carmax today. They offered me 3,000 for my 84. That's half of what a dealership offered me two weeks ago as a trade for a 2000 they had on the lot. So I passed and will let the car run in the paper the next two weeks to see what happens. The thing that killed me was the woman said something to the effect of it sometimes looks like dealerships are giving you a better deal but not if you have to trade it in on another vehicle to get that price.

I replied by saying, that's what I would have done here as well. I want the sales tax break that I get by trading in and would have done that at either location if they had a vehicle I was interested in.

Days like today are disapointing when you see how little some people thing you vehicle is worth.

John

 

[Eric]

I stopped in at carmax today. They offered me 3,000 for my 84. That's half of what a dealership offered me two weeks ago as a trade for a 2000 they had on the lot. So I passed and will let the car run in the paper the next two weeks to see what happens. The thing that killed me was the woman said something to the effect of it sometimes looks like dealerships are giving you a better deal but not if you have to trade it in on another vehicle to get that price.

I replied by saying, that's what I would have done here as well. I want the sales tax break that I get by trading in and would have done that at either location if they had a vehicle I was interested in.

Days like today are disapointing when you see how little some people thing you vehicle is worth.

John

The way I understand it, they will offer a decent price on newer low miles cars that they intend to prep and put into inventory. Cars that they send to auction they undercut you so they can make more on the auction.

- Eric

 

[Tom73]

They offered me 3,000 for my 84. That's half of what a dealership offered me two weeks ago as a trade for a 2000 they had on the lot. So I passed and will let the car run in the paper the next two weeks to see what happens.

Last year I was looking at trading my truck for a new one. Was end of model year so the dealer was working off of invoice price on the truck rather than the sticker price. As such they could not inflate the trade in amount as they were not making it up in the sale price. I took the truck to CarMax and they priced it at about $1,000 more then the dealer was going to allow. Since the truck had over 100,000 miles on it they would not keep it in their inventory, they would wholesale it off, so they were not offering top dollar at that. Ended up not doing any thing and still have the truck But when it does come time for a new truck, the old one is going to CarMax.

tom...

 

[wayneinvirginia]

I purchased my 2004 Commerative edition from Carmax three months ago. The car was a couple thousand below book value. I traded a 2002 Monte Carlo SS in on the Vette and the price they offered was $500 below what I had estimated the car to be worth. Carmax has a great website. I searched it and found my car listed in Greenville, SC. Carmax moved the car to Richmond, VA for $150 which they credited towards the sale at the time of purchase. They have a 30 day warranty on all cars they sell. I was very pleased with my entire experience at Carmax.