We sold a used Lexus to Carmax in Colorado Springs for around $900 more than we paid for it a year earlier. Their cash offer was better than any of the other dealers offered on it as a trade-in.

We ALWAYS sell out used cars privately. We just have the car professionally detailed and stick it in front of our office with some information on the windshield and usually within 24 hours we have it sold...Usually for $3-5K more than the trade in offer we received when shopping for our new vehicle.
We then buy the new vehicle with as much cash as possible and get very favorable terms on the loan (if we have one).

I almost bought a car from Carmax. Had one transferred in and everything.
It depends on what you are looking for if their prices are reasonable. It is a very easy process.
No silly haggling. They will give you more for your trade in than anyother dealer that is for sure but not more than you can get selling on your own (sometimes this is not worth the hassle).

If you are wanting one transferred in do the following.

Have your local sales person call the location where the vehicle is at and have them ask the following questions if not more that you may have:

Does it smell like smoke?
Does it smell like dog?
Are there any noticeable cosmetic issues that are visible from 6 or more feet away, especially on the 4 corners of the bumpers?
Are there any noticeable interior flaws?.

They will give you the answers in writing and if any of these turn out not to be the case upon arrival you will be refunded your transfer fee if you decide not to take the vehicle and will comp the transfer fee for the 2nd vehicle.
They will not move on the price of the vehicle nor will they throw in the warranty (which I highly suggest you get. They are really good bumper to bumper warranties especially since they cover pretty much everything but wear items, including electronics. You can get the vehicle repaired ANYWHERE that is ASE certified but the deductible is slightly higher.

We ordered a van and had all those questions answered as a NO. Immediately upon arrival there was a huge noticeable gouge in the front bumper that certainly would not have been a simple touch up fix.
Also the passenger side sliding door clearly had been repainted and was a different color silver from the rest of the vehicle.
The front emblem had been epoxied on and epoxy was dripped all over the grill which led me to take a closer look at the hood it too had been resprayed and had quite the tiger stripe to it.

They made no qualms in refunding my transfer fee as I would not accept the vehicle. They offered to comp the next transfer fee for another vehicle. At the time they had no more in inventory that met my criteria.
I lucked out and found one at a Toyota dealership the following day. Actually cost a little more than the one from Carmax would have but ohh well. I was not in a good position to wait for Carmax to get another.

Pretty much from here on out I will most likely be buying from Carmax.
Far easier than dealing with regular dealerships.

I have bought and sold many vehicles with Carmax. I like the experience. I hate the "traditional" BS with car dealerships.

quote:

Originally posted by jcat:
Carmax, like truecar, is a great way to be made to feel good about getting ripped off.

You pay dearly for the increase in convenience and the 'no haggle' way of doing business.

For some people, this is well worth it. Read threads here about buying cars - lots of people are scared of negotiating and haggling over the price of anything.

I don't understand it myself, but it is very real.

My experience was that their "We'll buy your car even if..." guarantee was accurate, so long as you didn't mind an ungreased flagpole as the standard offer.

No haggling on either end (buying or selling), which means they can catch you coming and going. I'd say that they would shine in only one area, and that's if you know what you want, can't find it locally, and are willing to pay them slightly more to just get it and be done, already. Outside of that, not so much.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:

quote:

Originally posted by jcat:
Carmax, like truecar, is a great way to be made to feel good about getting ripped off.

You pay dearly for the increase in convenience and the 'no haggle' way of doing business.

For some people, this is well worth it. Read threads here about buying cars - lots of people are scared of negotiating and haggling over the price of anything.

I don't understand it myself, but it is very real.

Scared?

That's kind of a stretch and frankly kind of a jerk thing to assume that all of us WANT TO PLAY or are GOOD AT the haggling bullshit games dealers play.

For some of us buying a car is no different than buying a toaster or a couple pounds of steak; there's something we want, there's a price and that's what you pay.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: PASig,

Mrs went with Carmax for her new (to her) ride last fall.
They transferred the car from another location for free, the price was very good, and the whole experience was pleasant. I wouldn't shy away from Carmax the next time 'round.

My daughter and son-in-law have bought a truck and a car from Carmax. They seem happy enough that my wife and I will at least look next time.

I appreciate the effort V-tail put into his response; I found it very informative.

When I consulted at carmax I was told they would never sell a car with an accident. The evidence in this thread of your target having been in accident makes me wonder.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
When I consulted at carmax I was told they would never sell a car with an accident. The evidence in this thread of your target having been in accident makes me wonder.

Don't believe this to be the case. A couple I looked at had been in a wreck.

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
My number one gripe: The "sticker" price is NOT the price! They tack on a processing fee of several hundred dollars. No, I'm not referring to tax, title, etc., I am referring to a "dealer fee" that is pure profit to them.

I've found the high dealer fee shit to be the worst in FL. According to online sources I've read, there is no cap in FL on dealer fees. While there are dealers who don't charge fees, from their prices, it just appears that the fees are just built into the price of the vehicles.

Looks like FL has the highest average in the nation and from my experience of shopping for a Toyota Highlander, the fees were anywhere from $600-900.

Dealer fees

Yes sir, those dealer fees are abominable. I would much rather see them rolled into the quoted price of the car. Mullinax Ford does this, they advertise "No Dealer Fees." I bought a 2010 Ford Edge from them a few weeks ago and the price they asked was the price that I paid with just one minor add-on, it was twenty-four bucks to process the title and registration. That was worth it to me as the alternative would have been for me to burn my own time and fuel to go to the DMV office and blow thirty to forty-five minutes standing on line and getting the paperwork done. I'm not sure that Mullinax even retains that $24.00. I have the impression (not verified) that they use a "runner" service for this, and the $24.00 is passed through the dealer to the service contractor.

Some dealer fees, like CarMax, are non-negotiable. To CarMax's credit in this respect, they are up front about it. Some dealers don't mention it until the price negotiation with the sales person is finished and you are in the finance office (they call it that even if you're paying cash) getting the final paperwork done. This happened to my wife and me at David Maus Toyota several years ago, buying a used Dodge Grand Caravan (another mistake on my part, but that's a different story). When the obnoxious finance manager handed me the "final" paperwork to sign I stood up and said to my wife "Come on, we're leaving."

She looked surprised and asked why.

I told her that the cost of the car had just gone up by several hundred dollars more than we had agreed to pay.

The "finance manager" blustered and claimed that he had to charge it as it was Florida state law. I challenged him to show me the law; he got nasty and I told my wife that we had to leave now before I knocked the lying cocksucker (yeah, I used those words) on his ass.

We were on our way out when the general manager intervened. He said that if we agreed to complete the deal he would get somebody more compatible with us to do the paperwork, he could not remove the dealer fee but he could lower the vehicle price by that amount to offset it (for some undisclosed reason the dealer fee had to show on the paperwork, but he could effectively make it disappear by lowering the vehicle price), and he threw in some other incentives.

I agreed with the provision that the original paperwork guy have nothing to do with our transaction and that the general manager would keep that guy out of my sight.

David Maus owned a bunch of new car franchises in addition to the Toyota one. David Maus Volkswagen, and one or more others, I think I remember David Maus Chevrolet. I have noticed that his name disappeared from our area a few years ago. I don't know whether his dealerships were bought by another company, or whether he simply re-branded himself to divorce from customer dissatisfaction.

Bottom line, with CarMax I don't think you can get away from the dealer fees. Other dealers like Mullinax Ford bundle them into the car price, so there are no last-minute surprises at the paperwork stage. Other dealers who might charge this as a separate line item, you might be able to reduce or eliminate the extra cost by offering to walk away from the deal. That one is especially effective if you have your checkbook out as you're inspecting the paperwork. They do not like to see your checkbook go back into your pocket.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:

quote:

Originally posted by jcat:
Carmax, like truecar, is a great way to be made to feel good about getting ripped off.

You pay dearly for the increase in convenience and the 'no haggle' way of doing business.

For some people, this is well worth it. Read threads here about buying cars - lots of people are scared of negotiating and haggling over the price of anything.

I don't understand it myself, but it is very real.

Scared?

That's kind of a stretch and frankly kind of a jerk thing to assume that all of us WANT TO PLAY or are GOOD AT the haggling bullshit games dealers play.

For some of us buying a car is no different than buying a toaster or a couple pounds of steak; there's something we want, there's a price and that's what you pay.

Meh, I see both sides of it. However, with the advent of the internet, there's really not much of an excuse anymore. All the tactics and games are all over the place and one can spend about 20 minutes online, and be totally prepared for everything a dealer will throw at them. Not being good at or enjoying the negotiating process used to be mainly due to lack of education and 'trade secrets', all of which are readily available to anyone with the internet.

Simply understand what a reasonable offer should be based on facts (edmunds etc will give you invoice pricing, look to mfg for rebates, sites like cargurus do both), go in and lay it on the table. They balk, you leave, simple as that. Trades complicate the process but only slightly. Always get the keys back after they look at it, don't play the 'give me a credit card (or blank check) to let my manager know you're serious' bullshit. All tactics to keep you in the building.

Hell, if you don't have a trade most of the time you can incite a bidding war via email and just tell them whoever comes up with the best deal by X o clock today gets the sale.

quote:

Looks like FL has the highest average in the nation and from my experience of shopping for a Toyota Highlander, the fees were anywhere from $600-900.

That is nothing. I looked at a van locally advertised for $26,900. With required state taxes, registration fee, and title fee it would have cost $28,564. The dealer wanted $32,200 for a total of just over $3,600. Those folks were out of their minds.
I offered $28,500 cash and the finances manager said no.
Even the sales person was shocked and looking all sorts of pissed at the finance manager as I was walking out. Already had explained to the sales person I had the cash and was ready to roll.
They called me back a month later asking if I wanted the van anymore. I said nope, bought one later that day for about $3,000 less. The van was on the lot for another 2 weeks after that.

Some of these posts surprise me. Last time I dealt w/ Carmax was winter 2013. The buy/trade-in price Carmax offered for the vehicle I had was much higher than any of the other dealerships I went to. In fact, it was a little higher than what I was expecting based on researching Edmunds and KBB.

It made no difference to Carmax whether you were buying a car from them or not, whereas at typical dealerships, it was part of their shell game. Sales price, Trade-in value, Financing terms: it's their job to get you on at least one of those.

I negotiated a sales price on a vehicle at another dealership. When they asked me if I'd accept their trade-in offer, which was much lower (almost insultingly so), I showed them the offer from Carmax and said, "Can you match this? If not, I'll sell to Carmax."

They wouldn't match it, so I ended up selling to Carmax.

My sister and brother-in-law purchased a vehicle through Carmax in Maryland. My wife purchased a car from a Virginal Carmax a number of years before she married me. Both of them financed the purchase through Carmax. Both paid off their vehicles and continued to use those paid off vehicles for several years. In both cases, when the loan had been paid off, Carmax failed to release the lien on the title, so the cars couldn't be sold when it came time to do so. It took my wife a couple of months and many calls to get her situation resolved. My sister hounded Carmax for over a year to get so they could sell their car after they had bought a larger car for their growing family through another dealership (not Carmax). All of this no doubt compounded by the passage of time and difficulty locating records, etc.

I hope this isn't representative of how they do business, but it has made me think twice before I engage with them personally.

quote:

Originally posted by markand:
Carmax failed to release the lien on the title, so the cars couldn't be sold when it came time to do so.

This sounds highly illegal to me.

We traded our Audi and bought a Ford Taurus (I have sworn an oath to never own another German car). We left happy with the process.

The price we got for the trade in was what I expected I would be able to sell the Audi and the price for the Taurus seemed fair. We were in and out in about two hours.

I regard myself as one of the world's cheapest people. So when I went to buy my daughter a new car I first did a lot of research on models and prices in my area. I was actually quite surprised that CARMAX had "very reasonable" prices. I might have been able to do slightly better by waiting for something to come up on the used car market, but the carmax price was close enough to what I projected would be the lowest that the convenience was worth it.
Very satisfied.

quote:

Originally posted by jcat:

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:

quote:

Originally posted by jcat:
Carmax, like truecar, is a great way to be made to feel good about getting ripped off.

You pay dearly for the increase in convenience and the 'no haggle' way of doing business.

For some people, this is well worth it. Read threads here about buying cars - lots of people are scared of negotiating and haggling over the price of anything.

I don't understand it myself, but it is very real.

Scared?

That's kind of a stretch and frankly kind of a jerk thing to assume that all of us WANT TO PLAY or are GOOD AT the haggling bullshit games dealers play.

For some of us buying a car is no different than buying a toaster or a couple pounds of steak; there's something we want, there's a price and that's what you pay.

Meh, I see both sides of it. However, with the advent of the internet, there's really not much of an excuse anymore. All the tactics and games are all over the place and one can spend about 20 minutes online, and be totally prepared for everything a dealer will throw at them. Not being good at or enjoying the negotiating process used to be mainly due to lack of education and 'trade secrets', all of which are readily available to anyone with the internet.

Simply understand what a reasonable offer should be based on facts (edmunds etc will give you invoice pricing, look to mfg for rebates, sites like cargurus do both), go in and lay it on the table. They balk, you leave, simple as that. Trades complicate the process but only slightly. Always get the keys back after they look at it, don't play the 'give me a credit card (or blank check) to let my manager know you're serious' bullshit. All tactics to keep you in the building.

Hell, if you don't have a trade most of the time you can incite a bidding war via email and just tell them whoever comes up with the best deal by X o clock today gets the sale.

Yeah, except one time for me, I had a specific vehicle picked out, all of the terms were agreed upon including down payment and monthly payment on a lease, etc. This was my 4th leased vehicle in a row with Ford and have a fico of 835. All I had to do was bring a check for the down payment (inceptions etc.) and sign the paperwork......except they tried to bump me $9 a month.....which wasn't a whole lot since the payment was supposed to be $505.....and I had to spend 30 minutes dickering with them after I spent 30 minutes driving there, because I wasn't going to pay anymore than I had agreed to and there was an identical vehicle at an identical price 45 minutes away.