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Carmax

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V

Vortex22

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Does anyone have experience buying from Carmax?
Are their no haggle prices actually 100% firm and non-negotiable?
How come they seem to only have the worst possible colors available for a given vehicle model? Heh.
 
Carmax is the devil. GF (right before we got together, otherwise I would have saved her) bought this :

2006 Kia Rio LX Sedan, 5-speed basic model, ~30k miles : ~$12k

That was in spring of '08. I checked the Kia dealerships around town, and we could have gotten her the same thing with 0k miles, 2008 model, fresh factory warranty .. for $11k.
 
They gave us KBB "Excellent" value when we sold our F-150, despite a little paint damage, which we were impressed with. I have never bought a car there though.
 
Arkaign said:
Carmax is the devil. GF (right before we got together, otherwise I would have saved her) bought this :

2006 Kia Rio LX Sedan, 5-speed basic model, ~30k miles : ~$12k

That was in spring of '08. I checked the Kia dealerships around town, and we could have gotten her the same thing with 0k miles, 2008 model, fresh factory warranty .. for $11k.
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Way to shop around before a purchase. 😱
 
I've shopped CarMax before, but never bought from them. I've had a buddy buy a car there before though.

From our experience, their prices are non-negotiable. Their system will lower the price on cars that are not moving, but I don't believe you can negotiate a lower price. You can watch prices on a car that you like online, but they do move inventory pretty quickly so you might miss it. I really believe there are people that don't shop anywhere else, because CarMax prices are rarely the lowest, and sometimes barely competitive

My buddy bought a car and then had it inspected. The mechanic pointed out some things and commented on how much rust had accumulated. We aren't used to rust in Texas, so my buddy took the car back. The no-hassle return is where CarMax earns its consideration from me. He had no issues returning the car and getting his money back.

I agree about their selection. They usually have several models I am considering, but rarely have a car that I would actually buy (wrong color, no options, etc.)
 
Gillbot said:
Way to shop around before a purchase. 😱
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Hahahaha I know. It's one of the biggest /facepalm moments I can think of. I feel bad bringing it up, I know she's embarrassed about it, so I try to reassure her that next time will be better. FWIW, the car itself has been just fine, a dependable little economical thing. The safety ratings are atrocious though, so hopefully we can get her out of it soon. The hard part is that she owes about 3x what the car is worth in trade-in.
 
Arkaign said:
Hahahaha I know. It's one of the biggest /facepalm moments I can think of. I feel bad bringing it up, I know she's embarrassed about it, so I try to reassure her that next time will be better. FWIW, the car itself has been just fine, a dependable little economical thing. The safety ratings are atrocious though, so hopefully we can get her out of it soon. The hard part is that she owes about 3x what the car is worth in trade-in.
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Nearly everyone screws up at least once on a car purchase.

Just learn and move forward. I was always told to walk out on the first offer, no matter what.
 
I was once leaving the country and had to sell a New 06 Civic EX with only like 6K. KBB was around 18k but they would only give around 15.5. Only use them in desperation or for a pricing range as to how much it would be worth in a trade-in.
 
Gillbot said:
Nearly everyone screws up at least once on a car purchase.

Just learn and move forward. I was always told to walk out on the first offer, no matter what.
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Hah, I know what you mean about that ^^. I bought a Dodge Neon when I was younger. What a ghastly experience that was.
 
Carmax is expensive and non-negotiable, but you do get a non-threatening experience and some peace of mind with its warranty. There's nothing wrong with paying more if you end up satisfied.
 
I bought my Neon SRT-4 from them brand new. Didn't know they sold brand new cars. It was stickered about 4k under MSRP. Had no problems with them at all.
 
So-so experience. I tried to sell my loaded Mazda 3S Sedan privately for around $17-18K with 19K miles and in FLAWLESS condition. It did not sell for this, so I ended up selling it to Carmax, and they gave me $14K, the very low-end for KBB. But I no longer had to manage the sale of the car in Atlanta from Washington DC.
 
Sucks, they actually have a car I might be interested in, but it's many states away and listed as "non-transferable" on their site. Oh well, it's a bit overpriced anyway.
 
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GTaudiophile said:
So-so experience. I tried to sell my loaded Mazda 3S Sedan privately for around $17-18K with 19K miles and in FLAWLESS condition. It did not sell for this, so I ended up selling it to Carmax, and they gave me $14K, the very low-end for KBB. But I no longer had to manage the sale of the car in Atlanta from Washington DC.
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Don't blame Carmax for you getting lowballed. Any dealer is going to pay you less for it. That's why the the price is for private sale.
 
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