Anyone with experience with Carmax?

[fidelio]

i bought a vehicle there last year. no problems at all. as other posters have stated, they will sell you a car for about market price, and buy yours for the wholesale price. i think the difference is that they have employees who are real mechanics who inspect and recondition all their product, and they therefore can provide a real warranty.

[Roger12]

Bought a 2013 Arcadia from them that was advertise as an awd. Well 2 years later come to find out its a front wheel drive. Are they anything we can do.

[Yuba]

I had a positive sales experience with Carmax. My situation was a little different in that I was selling a car that was titled out of state. They handled everything on the same visit and I had my check within 2 hours from start to finish (they did apologize as it was a Sunday and they had a large number of people ahead of me)

Yuba

[02nz]

I posted recently on another BH thread about my experience with getting a car appraised by Carmax. On that thread I also got recommendations for Vroom (think online version of Carmax). Looked more into this and also found Carvana. I ended up selling the car privately through Craigslist but Carvana offered a much better price than Carmax (Carmax $31000, Carvana $32457, Craigslist private sale $33500 but took a lot more effort and time). If I were to do it again I'd just sell to Carvana. And I'd consider them in the future for buying as well - the selection appears to be very good.

[inbox788]

Bought a 2013 Arcadia from them that was advertise as an awd. Well 2 years later come to find out its a front wheel drive. Are they anything we can do.

Wow and wow.

[PFInterest]

I hate going to a car dealer and trying to negotiate a price? Has anyone had any experience with Carmax? Are their rpices reasonable or should one stilll try to get a better deal? I will be looking for a used suv like a lexus or bmw about 2-3 yrs old. i need 4wd or awd as I sometimes drive in snow and ice and occasionally a little bit of off road. I could trade in my currrent car but may keep it as a car for upcoming teenage driver.

You're going to take your Lexus/BMW off road?

[LadyGeek]

This thread is now in the Personal Consumer Issues forum (car).

[jehovasfitness]

I posted recently on another BH thread about my experience with getting a car appraised by Carmax. On that thread I also got recommendations for Vroom (think online version of Carmax). Looked more into this and also found Carvana. I ended up selling the car privately through Craigslist but Carvana offered a much better price than Carmax (Carmax $31000, Carvana $32457, Craigslist private sale $33500 but took a lot more effort and time). If I were to do it again I'd just sell to Carvana. And I'd consider them in the future for buying as well - the selection appears to be very good.

Good to know. Hadn't heard of them but seen them selling cars online and would ship free to you. Almost seemed like a scam

[inbox788]

I used this process last year. I found what I was looking for on Autotrader. I immediately went to the dealership. They had not even cleaned the car yet. After a test drive and brief negotiation I traded my used car for a Toyota Avalon. The salesman claimed there were several other people who also were very interested in it. Who knows, but I do know from the price, it was priced 15% below what I could have got from Carmax, which would have been a fair price. It was also a Toyota certified used car which gave me a 12 month bumper to bumper warranty. That certification usually increases the car’s price.
My wife was amazed we did this so quickly. There is so much info on the web today that it enables one to efficiently shop for a car without the typical hassle. KBB, NADA and Edmunds pricing for the Avalon and my car were all over the map and never seemed to compare well with Carmax or other dealers. Carmax does not play games and gives you confidence in what the market price is for the car you are looking for and what you want to trade in.

The Avalon is an odd duck where market prices have a wide range. You'd have a harder time finding such a deal with a Corolla or Camry. It's possible the Avalon was a tradein that the dealer was about to let go to auction and Carmax might have picked it up for around what you paid for it and mark it up 15%.

[blackcat allie]

I'm surprised to see so many positives from a group of bogleheads. I always view "no-haggle" prices as a negative. I *want* to haggle.
I've never bought a car there, but I've looked quite a bit. It looks to me like their prices are pretty much in the middle -- not the highest, not the lowest.

I too like to let my inner " Persian Rug Trader" emerge occasionally. It's fun and good practice for the small biz world!

So...perhaps I'm a bit thick, but wondering if anyone had more recent Carmax experiences where there were exceptions to "No Haggle" for out the door costs? (maybe involving what another poster wrote about the price reduction after 30 days)

[Jack FFR1846]

They will change their prices, but that is based on time on the lot, not negotiations. Whether a car is a good deal at Car Max or very highly priced depends on the car and likely, what they paid for it. I tend to look very, very far in the future and have been looking at Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicons and Car Max had several of them. The best priced one had only a soft top, no hard top, but otherwise was priced lower than most competing vehicles. A couple months later, Chrysler's flood of just off rental fleet Wrangler JK's (2018) hit every used car dealer known to man and they've just decimated older vehicle pricing. The 18 Rubi unlimiteds were listed mostly at $35k. That's about what 2016's were going for in the summer.

So with any deal, you really have to get a feel for the market and prices and why prices do something strange.

[PGR]

Never bought from them.

But I flipped cars in HS and college and was around dealerships a bit here and there...

I've been to Carmax once out of curiosity and a couple times because someone wanted me along. My perception was VERY positive - they seem very transparent and fair. Nice way to sell lightly used cars.

They are THE option I suggest for someone needing a used car.

[dsmil]

We recently bought a vehicle with Carmax. The appeal of the no haggle pricing is lost a bit because in our recent experience, everyone is now posting their best price online and is not really willing to haggle. They need to put their best price out there so people are walking in the door. The appeal with Carmax is that people trust them, there is a lot to choose from, the cars are in good shape, and they come with a short warranty as well as a return period. You may pay a bit more with them vs. a used car dealer, but you may trust them and the car a bit more.

[BBQ Nut]

We tried going the Carmax route for our son's first college car.

It was a very good experience up to the point after our purchase we took the car to our trusted mechanic for a thorough going over.

The purchase from Carmax is a requirement to drive it off the lot, but they do have a full refund return policy.

Our mechanic found several serious items that had not been fixed and not mentioned in Carmax's own safety/condition check.

We took the report back to Carmax to get them to fix the items and they refused; so we got our refund.

ALWAYS get an independent mechanic to go over your car.

[TierArtz]

My only experience is selling them a Saab that I perceived was soon to need another clutch replacement. The offer and sales process went quickly and I recall being offered a fair price based on what I knew about the vehicle (excellent aesthetic condition, low mileage, and crappy clutch).

[BigFoot48]

Two year ago, four years after I posted a comment in this thread that I planned to use CareMax, I did! My 90-year old MIL decided she should not be driving anymore, a good decision after some strange long distant trips, and wanted to sell her car, a 2007 Buick. We took it to CarMax and had a very good experience, getting a very fair price for her car. Took about an hour.

After selling some of my old cars to individuals for nearly 50 years, I will be using CM should I have a car to sell in the future.

[tc101]

I wish carmax sold new cars. I went there with a friend who bought a used car and it was so quick and easy.

[Rupert]

The Carmax process is quick and easy, in part because their employees are salaried. So you don't get the sleazy sale tactics that you often get at other dealerships. They do not, however, have the lowest prices, at least not on popular cars. Regularly checking their inventory on 2 and 3-year-old Subarus, Toyotas, and Hondas when I was car shopping last fall re-affirmed for me that you cannot get a good deal on those cars at Carmax. They will offer you a fair price for your car (which is always a separate transaction from your car purchase at Carmax, so no sleazy trade-in shenanigans occur) if your car has a clean Carfax and is at least a somewhat popular model, i.e., if they think they can sell it on one of their lots. If they know they'll have to sell it at auction, they tend to low-ball you. If your car has an accident record, you're almost always going to do much better with a private party sale and can even do better at ordinary dealerships. Last fall, for example, I was looking to buy a new car and get rid of an old one that had been in a couple of accidents. Carmax offered me $500 less than one dealership for the old car and almost $1500 less than a second dealership. I ended up selling it in 15 minutes on Craigslist for more than double what Carmax had offered me.

[Broken Man 1999]

We sold MIL's car to Carmax when she became too ill to drive. Quick, and easy. I might have been able to squeeze another dollar or two out of someone by selling directly, but frankly I didn't want the hassle.

Worked well for us.

I typically only buy new, so most likely I will never buy a vehicle at Carmax, but a few of my friends have, and have had good experiences using them.

Broken Man 1999

[mhadden1]

Several good buying experiences with CarMax, both for me and while helping older relatives/friends. I do not disagree that a savvy negotiation might likely produce a lower price from a regular dealer. Overall I find the search process to be easier at CarMax - also used their feature of bringing in cars from other locations.

[bligh]

Another +1 for CarMax. Have bought cars from them and sold cars to them. Always had an excellent experience. I love the no haggle approach. What you see is what you get.

I have also purchased a luxury used car ($40K+). Driven it home (~50 miles away), had buyers remorse, and returned it to Carmax the next day! They took it back without any hassle. I recommend them for sure.

[eye.surgeon]

I've taken 3 cars there for offers over the years, two were too low to bother and one I sold for a lowish but fair offer.

[Michael Patrick]

We sold my Dad's Jeep to Carmax after he passed away. Their offer was fair and the transaction was totally smooth.

They told us ahead of time what documents we would need to bring to prove my brother was the executor and had the right to sell the car, and there were no surprises once we got there.

[Jimmie]

Deleted

[xerxes101]

In my experience CarMax selling prices are above the market, and I do not believe any of the hype trying to convince the consumers that they pay better money for their trade-ins than other dealers. The offer they made me on my car was lower than what the other dealers offered and I would not buy from them because based on my personal experience,if you shop around you could definitely find better prices elsewhere, YMMV.