Anyone have any experience with these guys? They say they will buy your car and even order you a new one cheap from certain dealers. We have one that opened here in Tucson.

Ron

 

Yes. To an extent, it depends on how badly they want your car for resale. I've sold cars to them in the past. Sometimes they value your car near where you "think" it should be. And sometimes they don't.

Altho it doesn't hurt (to have a really clean and well maintained car), usually the only two things that count on valuing a car to a "used car dealer" are vin and mileage (based on year). I don't know about the new car purchase thing. That's news to me altho they do have/own some new car franchises (Toyota, Chrysler, last time I checked).

 

While looking for my C6 last October (06), I used their site extensively. I found one in California (I live in New Jersey) that looked beautiful. I put a post on the Forum and asked anyone near the Carmax in San Francisco (I think it was San Francisco) to stop by the location to take a look at the car. Well, it was a Sunday night when he called me and told me that he'd look at the car in the morning. By the time he got there, Carmax had an offer on the car. He told me that the car was "mint" and the price was right ($36k for a coupe with clear top and 3lt option package). Remember, this was last October when the price on a car like that was north of $41k.

It seems like Carmax does a good job in finding clean cars. The one drawback is that their advertisements don't provide a complete list of options, so you have to make some calls to find out what they are. By that time, you could lose the car. Other than that, it's a good souce for pre-owned Corvettes.

By the way, I found my car on Autotrader. A 2005 coupe with 4,200 miles.

 

I purchased a new Toyota from CarMax in WI. (they also sell new Chevrolets there also) last October. I found the trade in price better than the three other dealers I visited. I also feel I got a good deal on the new Toyota purchase as well. The parent Co. of CarMax is Circuit City in case you didn't know.

 

And bought their extended warranty. A few months after he bought the car, he had major problems. To make a long story short, they fixed the problems, did a great job, and he had no hassle, all under their warranty.

 

I bought from them once and had no problems. I love the no hassle sale... Hopefully, these types of dealerships will catch on and all the crook stealerships will go under or be forced to start doing business above board. No more scams, lies, shell games and shady business practices that many dealerships employ!

 

Carmax is owned by the same company as Best Buy. Both are great companies...

 

Actually it's Circuit City but I believe that CC spun off CarMax.

 

I bought my C5 from them. For the most part they are decent to deal with and they guarantee the car hasn't been seriously damaged. However the location I dealt with was a nightmare. The car was a vert and top leaked. It also had some other minor problems which they turned into major problems. Well anyway, they have a 5 day money back guarantee but conveniently, they can't get your car in for service until 10 days after you have had it. So I take it in, tell them the top is leaking and stuff, and you know what? Seriously after 15 times or so,they basically told me to shove off and for the 3 1/2 years I owned the car, the top leaked every time.

So while I didn't have the best experience. I probably would think about buying from them again depending on my needs. Certainly not from that location, even had a guy that worked there tell me that that location had serious issues. Just make sure that if there are any somewwhat major issues that you make them take the car back immediately to service it or catch them on the money back clause with something like "okay I'll wait to service it as long as you extend the money back deadline or I'll take my money back now please and when you fix it, we can talk again"

And finally, when I went there last year to get a price on selling my C5, apparently they get paid by how many test drives they do or something, so the girl was real nice and was like do you want to drive something you like on the lot. And I was like no, and she was like do you want to drive something I like? and of course I was like sure, lets go. I ended up driving a lexus sc460 convertible and I must say its a fun car.

 

I bought my '06 C6 from them. Their price was about $6K less than any other dealership, during my research. They lowballed me a little on my '06 Infiniti M35 that I traded, but I didn't have time to sell it myself as the DSOM was the only color I was interested in and it was a little hard to find at the time.

 

If you don't mind getting low balled (to one degree or another) on the car your selling, they're convenient. As far as buying from them, they can not beat a GMID rate, and you can get a number here if you ask (search is your friend). I went to two Carmax stores locally and their "no haggle" prices were absurd. YMMV.

 

All very good points. Unfortunately, I bought my '06 before I found this wonderful Forum, so all my dealings were with VERY PROUD Chevy dealers (or maybe they were Corvette collectors) in San Antonio. So when I found the exact car I was looking for at CARMAX, I jumped all over it.

 

Visited them recently just to see what it was like. I refer to them as the WALMART of car dealers.

First thing, walking in, I look at Suburbans. They did not have one that met my needs, as I really was in the market to buy one...

Took a look at their online inventory and thought it was way overpriced.... Some cars were mis-represented and very important options were not listed. They listed 4x4 models as C1500 and 4x2 as K1500... That is just opposite of what it should be, but it was inconsistent. Couldn't tell if the models had quad buckets unless you could peek in the pics. The sales person who really didn't know anything about cars was not much help at all. I decided I was not a buyer there and asked them to appraise my wife's car, since I was there.

They advertise that they use Kelley Blue Book. Their appraisal came back so far below what I thought was rational, I was annoyed. I know that is a cliche of sorts, but it was wrong. The kid had no way to know the car has Magnetic Ride Control, and several other valuable packages that made it special. They said that my tires with 2000 miles showed excessive wear , and the interior showed average wear and tear. As long as they can detail the evidence of a couple of Goldfish crackers, it is spotless. They offered me $6000 less than excellent condition Kelley Book, and $4000 below fair condition.

So, I ended up buying a BRAND NEW SUBURBAN LT3 4x4 for the same money they were asking for the 2006 Old Body Style, and I got $3000 more for my trade in.

Furthermore, I really appreciate the Chevy Sales guy's appreciation of me. CarMax didn't care if I was there, or if I was buying, and I hated the 45 minute wait to get my keys back after the 20 minutes it took to decide to leave. I felt like an idiot standing there.

My expectation of CarMax was DEAD ON!
Too Bad consumers buy into their BS...

 

it depends what you want. If you are looking for a fairly new car, it probably won't work for you, if you are looking for a car that is 3 or more years old and you want a warranty and the piece of mind that at least the car hasn't been smashed to crap, it can work out okay.

As far as trade in values. The price they offered on my C5 was 500 more than the lexus dealer offered on it. And both said that kelly blue book was updated twice a year and was worthless. But either way, if you need to get rid of your car for whatever reason, carmax stands ready as a buyer.

 

They refused to value my Camaro as an "SS", because the VIN says "Z28".

All "SS" cars have vins that mark them as Z28s.

Nevermind the WU8 code on the door.....

In retrospect, I bought my "SS" from them, when it was marked as a Z28, so I saved a few thousand due to their ignorance of the subject.

I just can't ever trade it in to them or i'll get seriously low balled.

 

Thanks for the insight. says it all. I still may have to deal with these guys if I can't work a deal with my local dealer. The MSRP on the car I want is 58,490 and Tommy Jr will sell it for 52,000 even. Neither dealer here in Tucson will work with you so I will see what they will give on trade for my 2001 c5 then check with Carmax and see how it all works out. I would rather do this with my local dealer but 6,490 is a big difference.
Ron

 

They said they'd give me $4500 for my old TransAm, I laughed and walked out. I sold it to a private party (individual) for $8500 about 2 weeks later. Hold off for an individual sale if you can.

 

My wife got a bid from C'Max on her '04 Solara of $16K and we held it in our backpocket when we went to Nissan to get here a 350Z convertible. Short story is Nissan couldn't go any higher than $15K, so we sold the car to C"Max and pocketed the cash for other bills.

Leased the Z and never looked back.

I recommend always getting a free bid, which is good for seven days, and pull it out only if a dealer doesn't at least match the offer.

 

I think their cars are a little on the high side to purchase. Can do better else where, but it can be a good sarting point if you are looking. As far as selling, I have sold two cars to them and was happy with the price i got. Maybe that is why their resale prices are slightly on the high side. Of course, you will always do better selling yourself.

 

Something else I haden't figured with the sale to carmax instead of a trade in to the dealer. Sales Tax. On a 50k car if you trade one in at 20k then the sales tax you pay is on the 30k left. If you sell the car to carmax and buy the car at 50k you have to pay the sales tax on the full 50k. Humm It looks like the game may be rigged for the dealer, when you think of the taxs at about 9% that makes a difference.

Ron