Anyone Bought from CarMax?

[BDawg]

Did you buy an extended warranty?

If so/not, what were your experiences? Would you recommend them? Did you ask to have the dealer logo removed, and were they amenable?

 

[Ladies Man]

it might be me... but carmax seems really over priced... and people that i know have had just as much problems with cars from there as buying used from someone else.... although they have fixed the problems to my knowledge

 

[BDawg]

The car I'm looking into is below blue book, with good milage...and it's cheaper than similar ones from a "certified dealer."

 

[jeffrey]

Definately buy the warranty with the car. A friend of mine bought a Ford Probe GT from there and it was in and out of the shop constantly. He finally cut his losses and sold the lemon. Buyer beware!

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

CarMax=Circuit City

 

[T2T III]

Originally posted by: Ladies Man
it might be me... but carmax seems really over priced... and people that i know have had just as much problems with cars from there as buying used from someone else.... although they have fixed the problems to my knowledge

CarMax might seem overpriced to an individual who is good at negotiating deals - and doesn't mind taking the time to get the dealer down to a price they're comfortable with.

Definately buy the warranty with the car. A friend of mine bought a Ford Probe GT from there and it was in and out of the shop constantly. He finally cut his losses and sold the lemon. Buyer beware!

You can't really attribute the lemon Probe as being a problem with CarMax. The car could have easily passed their 125 point inspection, but as a whole, could have been a P.O.S. From what I recall, their warranties run about $340 per year of protection for the power-train warranty.

Since we're talking about cars. This past week, I was looking at a 2001 Ford Focus w / 35K miles on it. I had the dealer down to $6,500 (out the door - including taxes, tags, etc.) I passed on the deal because the car had been a rental vehicle and they only provided me with about 1/2 of the typical CarFax report. I asked them to re-run the report, then I saw the whole history of the vehicle. Another dealer that I was interested in called me yesterday and told me that they got a Ford Focus in that I'd be interested in. So, I hit the dealership last evening. Low and behold, the same damn Focus was now at their dealership - they bought the car off the other dealer. This 2nd dealership wanted $8,700 + taxes, tags and a $297 document processing fee. :Q - I told them that I could have purchased the same damn vehicle for $6,500 (out the door) three days earlier from another dealership and had the paperwork to prove it. They told me there's no way they could get down to $6,500, so diplomatically, I said good-night and walked out of the dealership. Buying used cars is so frustrating. It seems that a lot of them have once been rental vehicles (read: beat to hell).

 

[T2T III]

Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones
CarMax=Circuit City

Yes, CarMAX is owned by Circuit City. However, they did split away from them to some degree late last year.

 

[T2T III]

Did you ask to have the dealer logo removed, and were they amenable?

I've seen many people remove part of the logo - which I find hilarious:

CARMA - they just scraped the "X" off.

If you're serious about buying any car, just take the hair dryer to the logo when you get home. The heat will soften the decal and you'll be able to remove it.

 

[BDawg]

Bump for the morning/weekday crowd.

 

[Aceshigh]

I bought my car from carmax a few years ago. I feel I got a good price for my trade in, and the car I bought was pretty reasonable. The whole experience was easy, and the car I bought was only a year old with 14000 miles on it. (Still under the original dealer warranty, although after I bought the car I went to the Chrysler dealer and bought an extended warranty). I will definitely be going back when I am ready to buy my next car. I feel this avenue is a good way to get a like new car yet avoid the new car depreciation value factor.

By the way, the carmax logo on the back bumper, I peeled it right off.