Carmax, anyone?

[mhfrau]

Looking for any personal experiences with buying a car at Carmax. Successful and happy or horrifying-never-again!

 

[djmeredith]

I have never purchased a car from them, and I never will. A few years ago my sister and her husband were having trouble with their Honda Odyssey van. It was jerking/ pulling as if the transmission were slipping or something. They took it to the Honda dealer and found out it needed a new transmission which was going to cost thousands. They decided to sell or trade it instead of repairing it due to its age. They took it to Carmax to see how much they would offer them, assuming they would get less because of the problem (although they purposely didn't disclose the problem). Carmax supposedly drove it and inspected it and then came back and told them it was in perfect shape and made them an offer to buy. Knowing it had major problems, they were shocked and didn't make the deal. I figure if they missed something that obvious and were going to sell that van as having no problems, they are not trustworthy. Obviously, this is only one experience so take it what it's worth.

 

[mylittlebirdie]

We've bought two cars from them.

I have an Acura RDS and my DH has a Toyota Forerunner. Both are excellent, my Acura is still under manufacturer warranty and I plan on getting every single little thing done before time runs out.

I love the whole no haggle, this is what it costs thing and I'd use them again.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

We have purchased two cars from them (both Hondas). Zero problems. I would buy a car there again.

 

[mrodgers]

Add $4000 to the price of the car anywhere else and that would be my experience looking at cars at Carmax. Dealers are at approximately the average of NADA, KBB, and Edmunds retail price and Carmax is about $3-4000 over the retail price.

Find the used car of X manufacturer in a lot of new Y manufacturer and you'll typically save even more. Bought our Rav4 at a Ford dealer, book retail price of $25k which every Toyota dealer had them at that price and paid $19k at the Ford dealer.

 

[Mrs. Bradbury]

We had a good experience buying my husband's truck from them. Normally we are willing to do more "shopping", but my husband had very specific wants and we were able to put those parameters in the search engine and get exactly what he wanted, and paid a price we thought was fair. He loves his truck.

 

[willowsnn3]

Bought my 2000 Honda at Carmax in 2002. Painless process. Car still going strong 230,000 miles later.

 

[RitaE]

Add $4000 to the price of the car anywhere else and that would be my experience looking at cars at Carmax. Dealers are at approximately the average of NADA, KBB, and Edmunds retail price and Carmax is about $3-4000 over the retail price.

Find the used car of X manufacturer in a lot of new Y manufacturer and you'll typically save even more. Bought our Rav4 at a Ford dealer, book retail price of $25k which every Toyota dealer had them at that price and paid $19k at the Ford dealer.

That wasn't my experience at all the last two cars we bought. The Mazda was around $600 under anything on a Dealer Lot we could find. I think I contacted every dealer in the area trying to find the same model with about the same mileage and options and a better deal.

I didn't do near as much work with my Land Rover but I did visit a dealer who had the exact same vehicle as what I bought from CarMax … same color, same year, same options, mileage odometers within 100 of each other. The dealer would not haggle to anywhere near the CarMax price. I suspect he had just overpaid for the vehicle on a trade-in and wasn't going to let it go for less. I ended up paying nearly $3k less at CarMax.

 

[distherapy]

We had two great transactions - brought a mechanic with us the first time and he told us we didn't have to bother the second time. First car lasted ten years. I'm five into the second car. In both cases, they were cheaper than the dealer and other local places (in one case, by a lot!)

They will buy cars that they have no intention of selling at their regular lot - they use other outlets for cars that are in poor shape.

 

[bdcp]

We bought a 2001 Honda Accord in 2004 at CarMax for my DS to drive while at college. He graduated in 2006 and later that year I sold it to a co-worker's daughter who had recently totalled an Accord (DS bought his own new car). Last I heard a year or so ago, she was still driving it. Never had any problems with it.

My youngest DS worked at CarMax for a couple of years ~2009-2011 and he bought 3 different vehicles from them that they were going to send to auction because they didn't meet their requirements for selling at their dealership, but they had purchased them from individuals. Their policy is as long as you can get a car there, even if it's towed, they'll buy it. Cars that are 10 years old or older, have high mileage or prior major damage (turned bolts, welds where the frame has been "fixed"), they will not sell on their lot. But, instead they send them to auction. DS never had any mechanical problems with any of the cars he bought, but the first two were just transportation and were cheap. The third one was 10 years old, but in great shape and he drove it for a couple of years til he bought his first brand new car.

Point is, we like CarMax and have positive experiences with them. They are also great employers.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Add $4000 to the price of the car anywhere else and that would be my experience looking at cars at Carmax. Dealers are at approximately the average of NADA, KBB, and Edmunds retail price and Carmax is about $3-4000 over the retail price.

........

This is ridiculously untrue!

 

[tinkerbell313]

We have had good experiences at Carmax. Regarding trade ins, they gave us more than other dealerships. Regarding purchasing, it has always been an easy and stress free process. And the cars we bought there have lasted.

What I like is the no haggle pricing and although the salespeople make commission, it's a set amount no matter the price of the car or the make/model of the car. Therefore, they are not pushing a car that you don't want.

 

[CAFarmerGirl]

We bought our truck almost 5 yrs ago...no problem and good price.

 

[tvguy]

I do not know anyone who purchased a car there that has not been happy. But their brand name will cost you more than any other place for the a similar car, or even a better car.
I bought 2 used Taurus' from Hertz. Both in great shape, with less than 30,000 miles on them. At the time they would not sell any car themselves with more than 30,000 miles on it. Those cars were wholesaled, with CarMax picking up the best of the higher mileage ex-hertz cars. Same car, with 45,000 miles on it at CarMax was $2,000 more than Hertz.

 

[Fire14]

no issues with my car. Yes I've had issues but they were issues I would have had no matter where car was bought and they were 3+ yrs after buying car.

 

[PrncessA]

We bought our 2009 Rogue there and got it for about $1000 under comparable cars in the area, plus they trucked in the color we wanted for free overnight. We loved the experience and plan on returning in a few years to replace my van, if it holds out that long. We had one problem (an emissions problem) covered 100% under warranty and good as new.

 

[dwfanatic]

We have bought 2 cars from Carmax, about 2 years apart. I would buy from them in a heartbeat! Very painless, and great service!

 

[Swimalie]

We've had better luck buying cars from people. When we went to sell our Honda CR-V, we took it to Car Max just to see what they would give us and they said it had been in an accident. Nope never had. I won't trust them after that.

 

[mhfrau]

OP here, thanks all! We're trying to pick up a decent second car and give my big, SAFE, 6 year old suv to our son so I don't have fear every time he walks out of the house with my keys. Since we aren't bringing a car in to trade, I was just curious what the process was like. I'm an obsessive researcher and in my area of south Florida, it appears that the cars at Carmax come in right around the NADA suggested retail, while the major dealerships are marked up way higher. I actually had one major Palm Beach County dealership tell me that they DON'T negotiate down from their special "internet prices". And then he told me it was "stupid" to look at the internet inventory. I laughed at him. He was the "internet sales manager"!

My biggest concern was altered digital mileage. Apparently, that is a concern around here. But these are pretty good reviews so far

 

[tvguy]

My biggest concern was altered digital mileage. Apparently, that is a concern around here. But these are pretty good reviews so far

That has been an issue since they put odometers in cars, analog or digital. There is no absolute way Carmax or anyone else selling a car can be certain the odometer hasn't been rolled back.

My dad had a company car, and he switched jobs, and the company sold off his old company car. He went onto the used car lot (known as gravel lots around here) and apparently made some crazy low offer on the car, salesman laughed, said no way for a car with such low mileage.....my dad laughed....pulled out all the service records he still had for the car......and suddenly his offer was just fine.

And I have a friend whose dad drove a lot, and he always bought high mileage used cars and INSISTED the seller rollback the odometer before he bought the car, and amazingly, they always did it. And he always offered to do the same when it came time to sell the car,the difference here was, everyone always knew if was done.