CARMAX.... an interesting experience

[ponyo]

Originally posted by: GoatMonkey
Back in about 1998 I had my last car appraised at CarMax. It was a 1993 Ford Probe GT. It had around 50k on it when it was appraised by them for $5500. 2 years and about 20k miles later I got rear-ended by some dumbass in a minivan, it totaled the car. The insurance company gave me $6800.

Insurance company will give you retail price. CarMax and others will give you trade-in or lower price. There's big difference between trade-in and retail.

When my S2000 was totaled, I was offered NADA retail price plus tax by my insurance company. Since I purchased the car at around the trade-in price, I ended up making almost $4k.

I find Edmunds trade figure minus 10% is pretty accurate real world figure. KBB and NADA figures are normally too high and not realistic.

 

[Rio Rebel]

Originally posted by: dirtboy
I love how everyone is crapping on Carmax for not giving them KBB for their cars. If you want KBB, sell it privately -- end of story. If you want to sell or trade it to a dealer, then you'll get substantially less, Carmax or anywhere else. So quit bitching. If you've ever purchased from Carmax, you'd already know how great they are.

Once again, you have no idea what you're talking about, you don't read people's comments closely, and you act like a complete asshole for no reason.

It's always such a nice addition to a thread when "dirtboy" decides to join.

 

[GoatMonkey]

Originally posted by: Naustica

Originally posted by: GoatMonkey
Back in about 1998 I had my last car appraised at CarMax. It was a 1993 Ford Probe GT. It had around 50k on it when it was appraised by them for $5500. 2 years and about 20k miles later I got rear-ended by some dumbass in a minivan, it totaled the car. The insurance company gave me $6800.

Insurance company will give you retail price. CarMax and others will give you trade-in or lower price. There's big difference between trade-in and retail.

When my S2000 was totaled, I was offered NADA retail price plus tax by my insurance company. Since I purchased the car at around the trade-in price, I ended up making almost $4k.

I find Edmunds trade figure minus 10% is pretty accurate real world figure. KBB and NADA figures are normally too high and not realistic.

Right! So the lesson here is instead of trading in your car, you need to get into an accident. They're tons of fun. It's totally worth a lifetime of neck pain for a few extra bucks!

 

[dirtboy]

Originally posted by: Rio Rebel

Originally posted by: dirtboy
I love how everyone is crapping on Carmax for not giving them KBB for their cars. If you want KBB, sell it privately -- end of story. If you want to sell or trade it to a dealer, then you'll get substantially less, Carmax or anywhere else. So quit bitching. If you've ever purchased from Carmax, you'd already know how great they are.

Once again, you have no idea what you're talking about, you don't read people's comments closely, and you act like a complete asshole for no reason.

It's always such a nice addition to a thread when "dirtboy" decides to join.

Originally posted by: Rio Rebel
I am no expert on car sales, but I am completely convinced of two truths:

1. Carmax lowballs their offers.

Originally posted by: Rio Rebel
KBB valued my 2001 Chrysler 300M at $5600. Carmax offered me $3600.

pwned noob.

 

[Rio Rebel]

Once again, completely out of context. I was making the point to someone who had said that Carmax is a good place to go AND KBB is the "end all be all" source of car values. My statement above showed that both could not be true.

But this conversation is a waste, isn't it? It's impossible to reply with facts and logic to someone who acts like a 12 year old. You destroy any thread you enter.

 

[summit]

Originally posted by: cbrsurfr
I'll never bother with Carmax again. They offered me $3000 for my car with 67K and tires/brakes within 1 year. The car had a door ding and a couple rock chips, otherwise in mint condition. Needed nothing to put it on the lot. KBB trade at the time was $6700, PP ~$7800, retail $9000. Carmax had a similar car on their lot with 10K more miles, no power drivers seat, no sport, and no convienence package for $10,500. I ended up selling it outright for $7500.

A buddy of mine from work also tried going to Carmax against my advice. He got offered $500 for his Grand Am. Sold it outright for $3500.

what you do to your car has no bearing on what the dealer will offer (tires/brakes), the dealer cannot sell the car and have the value increased any higher since the dealer will be reluctant to give a warranty on said brakes and tires. any cosmetic damage will lower your cars value significantly. think about how much a ding costs to get repaired. lastly, any nonbaseline modifications to your car does not increase the price at resale. my brother works for pre-owned at a major socal dealership.

 

[dirtboy]

Originally posted by: Rio Rebel
Once again, completely out of context. I was making the point to someone who had said that Carmax is a good place to go AND KBB is the "end all be all" source of car values. My statement above showed that both could not be true.

But this conversation is a waste, isn't it? It's impossible to reply with facts and logic to someone who acts like a 12 year old. You destroy any thread you enter.

Your posts were not taken out of context.

My reply in this thread was not directed at you, but you wanted it to be directed at you.

Just because you're a moderator, you feel it is your duty to personally attack me. However if anyone else did that (to you or anyone else), you'd have them banned or threatened.

It's not my fault you don't know anything about trading in cars, how dealers make profits or selling cars to dealers.

Yet this is the second thread you've gone on about how you don't like carmax and how you think everyone should give you KBB for your car. Other people have pointed out you don't know anything either, but I don't see you personally attacking them.

But like a child, you've turned this into attacks on me. And moderators wonder why nobody respects them; you are a classic example.


You have now crossed the line. By associating Rio the member with the being moderator it is a mod callout. We take this very seriously. It's Rule "13" in the guidelines. In your post you have have also called out all mods. I have warned you last week that mod abuse will not be tolerated. PMing my personal account is the 2nd of these infractions today Rule 12. You have two weeks off, starting now.

esquared
Anandtech Senior Moderator

 

[Rio Rebel]

The fact that I am a moderator is what makes me respond to you with restraint. The fact that I am a fair moderator is why I haven't dealt with your rude and abusive way of interacting with people here, because I am one of those people and I cannot deal with you without bias.

Up to now, I have not said anything to you as a moderator. Now, since you have called me out, I will tell you this: if you ever call me out again, I will ban you. Your best choice would be to avoid interacting with me altogether, but I can't tell you that you have to do that. I CAN tell you that if you question me or call me out again as a moderator in any way, I will deal with you.

My participation in this thread is over. My interaction with you is over.

 

[StageLeft]

CARMAX is caveat emptor if there ever was one. I have seen some OBSCENE prices on used cars, like truly f**king insane and way way way above what they should cost. They may say they beat KBB or whatever, but frankly their prices on some vehicles are offensive. Generally they're ok, though. I have brought three vehicles in for trade-in appraisals. One time they offered a fairly decent price for a trade in, though the sales person I used called me privately that afternoon offering more if I'd go around them. Another car they offered again a decent price (neither was at private-party, but somewhat tempting because of how easy it was). Another vehicle they offered, honestly, an offensive price. I was offended by it, like they thought I would go for it. I complained about it. If somebody else had taken their offer, they'd have given the car away for a nearly fraudulent amount.

They are bipoloar and hit or miss on both their sales prices and what they offer on trade-ins.

While I don't own 21 million shares like Mr. Buffett, my 2,000 shares isn't chump change. Hopefully it will increase in value enough in the next 4 years to buy me a nice used car from CarMax.

You admit to owning their stock? No wonder your posts about Carmax are such rubbish.

 

[GTaudiophile]

In November 2006, I sold my 2005 Mazda 3S at Carmax. It had 19K miles on it, was two months shy of being two years old, was fully loaded aside from leather an NAV, was in immaculate condition (they appraiser even said so), and I got $14K for it. The KBB retail value on it was $15K-18K, with mine being worth the latter due to its condition. But the car was a 5-speed manual, and I think that hurt me in the end. I tried my best to sell it myself, advertised the heck out of it, and ended up moving from ATL to DC before selling it. So it sat in my dad's garage with no takers. So when I flew back down during Thanksgiving break, we took it to Carmax and they gave me $14K for it. A little disappointing but at least it wasn't my problem anymore. All in all, my experience with them was fine, aside from thinking that they probably turned around and sold the car for $17K or more at some point.

 

[lokiju]

I've known a few people to get more than other deals would offer them for trade in but this has always been on beat to hell cars that were at the end of their life.

The nicest part with Carmax IMO is that they'll give you money for your car even if you don't buy from them.

 

[compuwiz1]

On the subject of book values, there are many factors driving the market right now. We are in a crap economy and many types of vehicles are not selling well, either because of price or gas mileage.

The KBB, Nada, or any other kind of book values are just guides. The problem now is that dealers are having to go look up TMV reports (true market value), which give wholesale sales history on almost every make and model. Generally most cars are falling way short of KBB value in the real world. Reconditioning expenses are also factored in. Let's say a car has a KBB value of $13500. The TMV report says it's been averaging $11800. The car needs brakes, tires and a full service and detail. The dealer, realizing he's gonna have to spend $1200 to get that car front line ready, is probably only going to pay $10500 - $10750 for that car.

The turnover rate is slow enough these days, that dealerships have to factor in how much interest they will pay on the car as it sits on the lot. This is called flooring. After all that, they need to try and make a profit.

Hopefully, that helps explain how some of the values being quoted seem like rip offs.

 

[batmang]

CARMAX, I've seen plenty of cars at work with the CARMAX plate holders/borders. Seems to be a popular choice in Tucson. As for trade in value, we got a awesome deal at our local VW dealer when we traded in our 03' 1.8T GTI. It had 44k miles, was in good condition according to KBB and we owed about 13k on it at the time. They gave us 13.5K trade in value and we picked up a brand new 07' VW Rabbit for my wife. That was the best experience we've ever had at a dealership.

They were literally dying for a sale, we were really lucky to happen to go their that day. We still miss our GTI, but we love the Rabbit. Awesome car. As for CARMAX, I have no experience with them. Most dealerships will almost always lowball you when it comes to trade in value. To get the most value, sell the car right out. Thats the best option imo.

 

[cbrsurfr]

Originally posted by: Summit

Originally posted by: cbrsurfr
I'll never bother with Carmax again. They offered me $3000 for my car with 67K and tires/brakes within 1 year. The car had a door ding and a couple rock chips, otherwise in mint condition. Needed nothing to put it on the lot. KBB trade at the time was $6700, PP ~$7800, retail $9000. Carmax had a similar car on their lot with 10K more miles, no power drivers seat, no sport, and no convienence package for $10,500. I ended up selling it outright for $7500.

A buddy of mine from work also tried going to Carmax against my advice. He got offered $500 for his Grand Am. Sold it outright for $3500.

what you do to your car has no bearing on what the dealer will offer (tires/brakes), the dealer cannot sell the car and have the value increased any higher since the dealer will be reluctant to give a warranty on said brakes and tires. any cosmetic damage will lower your cars value significantly. think about how much a ding costs to get repaired. lastly, any nonbaseline modifications to your car does not increase the price at resale. my brother works for pre-owned at a major socal dealership.

I mentioned the tires and brakes in an attempt to describe the condition of the car and because I had a dealer try to offer me LESS for my trade by saying both were shot without even looking at the car. I was not expecting more for them being newer, I was just expecting to not be dinged for their condition. As for the door ding it was barely noticeable and would have cost $75 to fix, I doubt they would have knocked much off the car for that. The fact that Carmax offered me less than 1/2 KBB trade in and less than 1/3 the price of a similar car on their lot means I will never waste time with them again. I know they need to make a profit but their offer was insulting. At the time I was only looking for $5K so I wouldn't have to deal with the hassle of selling it. Carmax was even less than the black book price.

 

[WTurner]

CarMax is car buying for people who don't want a hassle, don't want to haggle and don't want to really "deal" with buying a car the "traditional" way (visiting endless dealers, looking through endless newspaper ads, haggling for hours or days, going over and over paperwork, etc). These people are willing to pay (in my opinion) an inflated price for used cars in order to avoid the normal car buying experience, and truthfully there is nothing wrong with that. With CarMax you are paying for convenience and that's about it. Their cars aren't any better or worse than anywhere else.

In 2005 I was looking for a used SUV. CarMax had a 2002 Explorer XLT 4x4 loaded for $14,500 and they wouldn't budge on the price. I ended up buying the exact same truck from a private dealer for $10,500 with 20k less miles. The trucks were identical other than mileage. The point is, if I didn't want to take the time to find that private dealer, find the truck, haggle the price with him over a few days, argue over doc fees, prep fees and admin fees, etc. I could have just paid the "convenience fee" and bought the car at CarMax. My father bought a Mustang there (paid cash) and he was literally in and out in 45 minutes. He could have gotten the car for less money elsewhere but he didn't want to go through the entire car buying fiasco, and really I can't blame him.

Car buying can be stressful and intimidating for a lot of people. CarMax makes it super easy, but you pay their convenience fee. That?s it.