Anyone ever done the Carmax thing?

tonybolton · Nov 16, 2016

Curious what the pros/cons are if anyone has any.

They have a couple cars on their lot that I'm looking at and was curious on a trade-in / purchase deal.

MoparMan · Nov 16, 2016

Yep, I've traded with them a couple of times.

Pros-

Most of their vehicles are in pretty good cosmetic condition that I have seen. And they're usually pretty good on miles for the year model.

Cons-

They typically hit you low on trade in value and they're vehicles are a little on the high side. They will not haggle/deal with you on either price...trade in or selling.

BPINAZ · Nov 16, 2016

My daughter bought her Honda Accord from CarMax in Jacksonville, FL. She had an issue with the registry, but nothing else.

grcthird · Nov 16, 2016

Not so much a pro or con, but if they take in a vehicle to sell any modifications it has will be returned to stock, as in nice exhaust gets removed for stock exhaust, lift kits get taken off, ect

tonybolton · Nov 16, 2016

Re: Re: Anyone ever done the Carmax thing?

MoparMan said:
Yep, I've traded with them a couple of times.

Pros-

Most of their vehicles are in pretty good cosmetic condition that I have seen. And they're usually pretty good on miles for the year model.

Cons-

They typically hit you low on trade in value and they're vehicles are a little on the high side. They will not haggle/deal with you on either price...trade in or selling.

So what do you do? Just take the hit and move on? I figured the wiggled room would be on your trade.

MoparMan · Nov 16, 2016

Re: Re: Anyone ever done the Carmax thing?

tonybolton said:
So what do you do? Just take the hit and move on? I figured the wiggled room would be on your trade.

Yeah, pretty much just decide if it's worth taking the loss or not. Nope, there is not really any wiggle room with them at all.

tonybolton · Nov 16, 2016

Re:

Thanks for the input man.....figured that's prolly what you'd say.

MoparMan · Nov 16, 2016

Re:

tonybolton said:
Thanks for the input man.....figured that's prolly what you'd say.

Anytime man....no problem.

Cabtruck1 · Nov 16, 2016

The only way to come out on a car / truck is to drive them out ....in other words paid off and drive until they start costing you continually to maintain . You go to trade in a vehicle with a loan on it they automatically know they have you over a barrel . And places like carmax thrive on that fact plus like some said they will give you bottom dollar and want top dollar for theirs .

tonybolton · Nov 17, 2016

Re: Re: Anyone ever done the Carmax thing?

Cabtruck1 said:
The only way to come out on a car / truck is to drive them out ....in other words paid off and drive until they start costing you continually to maintain . You go to trade in a vehicle with a loan on it they automatically know they have you over a barrel . And places like carmax thrive on that fact plus like some said they will give you bottom dollar and want top dollar for theirs .

Yup...that's where I'm at now on the upkeep. It's not bad, but it's not something I want to pursue anymore.

....and....can't hide money.....all my shits paid for. 8) :-*

86chevota · Nov 17, 2016

CHM you and pholmann would **** if you had a bill or payment!!!

Zjman · Nov 17, 2016

I didn't know Carmax sold Porsches or Ferraris

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stepup · Nov 17, 2016

Hey Tony. The Carmax thing is probably good in theory but it isn't the best way to buy a car. I have been in the car business my entire life and Carmax is built around the idea that people don't want to negotiate. That is true with a certain set of people and then there are others who will not buy unless you negotiate. With Carmax the price is on the window of the car and the trade-in is whatever the appraiser hits it at. There is no negotiating what so ever. You will get a O.K. deal from there route but if you go to a franchise dealer to purchase and play the game right you will come out ahead. If you would like you are mroe than welcome to call me and I can answer some questions for you and probably help you a great deal. Let me know if you want my number.

money_pit_yj · Nov 17, 2016

stepup said:
Hey Tony. The Carmax thing is probably good in theory but it isn't the best way to buy a car. I have been in the car business my entire life and Carmax is built around the idea that people don't want to negotiate. That is true with a certain set of people and then there are others who will not buy unless you negotiate. With Carmax the price is on the window of the car and the trade-in is whatever the appraiser hits it at. There is no negotiating what so ever. You will get a O.K. deal from there route but if you go to a franchise dealer to purchase and play the game right you will come out ahead. If you would like you are mroe than welcome to call me and I can answer some questions for you and probably help you a great deal. Let me know if you want my number.

I agree with this and do not like Carmax. My dad runs the Chevrolet dealer right acrosss the street from a Carmax and they get a lot of people who get fed up with dealing with them mainly because they negotiate nothing. Like he said, it is for people who don't want to deal or are not smart enough to buy a car.

Now that being said, My wife's uncle took her grandads truck up there after he died to see what they would give for it. He knew they would not give as much as some folks cause he wasn't buying anything but he was from out of town and leaving the next day so he was willing to give them a shot for convenience. I am not sure if the appraiser messed up or what but they gave him clean retail and he had a check in 30 minutes.

Jduck · Nov 17, 2016

We recently did it, gave us a very fair trade value. I could've gotten maybe 1000 more if I wanted to sell it privately but f that nonsense. I don't mind haggling and negotiating but your limited to what's on the dealer lots, with carmax they didn't try to push what they had in stock instead we were able to find one at another lot got it transferred no cost and ended up getting it. Very simple they printed off the sales order, sent it to my credit union and I picked it up 2 days later. All in all I spent 2-3hrs at the car lot. Traditional dealerships in my experience are all night bs or all day Saturday then still have to go back a day or two later when they call you back..

tonybolton · Nov 17, 2016

Re:

Thanks guys.. of course I'm not trying to beat the dealer, the dealer is going to keep the lights on no matter what but I'm also not afraid of someone making some profit on me. Just not enough to put their grandkids through college....twice.

customcj7 · Nov 17, 2016

I give a nice :flipgotcha:

to Carmax.

We had a Mercedes that was Certified Pre-owned, which means that the damn thing has to be immaculate to meet their terms. It was a low-mileage one-off. Meaning an old dude bought his wife the C320, but had a custom paint choice picked from the factory. They had it painted in an E-class color that was not available on C-classes. I didn't even know you could do that. Bought it with 24k. Tried to see what Carmax would give for it at 75k miles.

They came out and said, this car has been painted. Well yeah, every car has. "No, this car has been repainted so it's been wrecked." Nope try again, and I explained the story behind the car, he then tells me, nope it's been wrecked. No, it never has (under our ownership) and per Mercedes that would get them in a lot of trouble legally if it had been.

Offered me $2,000 for an 8 year old C-320 in immaculate condition. And it wasn't just the lowball, but how they told me I was lying to them.

Sold the damn thing to a Hadji for $9500 a few weeks later.