Carmax....

[Grubrunner]

What's your shopping/purchase experience with them been like?

 

Is their "no-haggle price" really just that, non negotiable?

 

If you traded or just sold to them, were you given a "fair" price?

 

What about after-the-sales service, what was that like?

 

Any feedback would be appreciated.

[Team Adam's]

I didn't actually pull the trigger, but a few years back we shopped there when we were in the market for a new car for my wife.

 

The sales people were still a little on the 'pressure' side of things, so that doesn't change even though the 'no haggle price' thing is there. As far as I could tell there was no wiggle room in the price tag of the cars, but they'll throw in warranty items, gas cards, or attempt to up the trade value to bring the overall price down.

 

Trade value offered was within $500 of what we were offered pretty much everywhere else.

 

On another note, I was not at all impressed with the quality of the vehicles. Seemed everything we drove had some issue with it. Some it was interior rattles, others its was glaring mechanical problems. Of course the sales person would swear up and down that they'd repair it, but it made me think a bit that if they'd put it on the lot for sale in that shape what kind of repair quality could I expect.

 

We ended up finding her Equinox at a better price, with a better warranty, and better financing at a dealer so take that for what its worth.

[Marylander]

 

On another note, I was not at all impressed with the quality of the vehicles. Seemed everything we drove had some issue with it. Some it was interior rattles, others its was glaring mechanical problems. Of course the sales person would swear up and down that they'd repair it, but it made me think a bit that if they'd put it on the lot for sale in that shape what kind of repair quality could I expect.

 

 

 

Funny you mention that. The few times I've cruised a Carmax I always got the feeling that the cars were all a little bit sub-par in some way. I couldn't really put my finger on it, but maybe it was just that there were a lot of off-lease/never really loved cars in the lot. Or maybe they weren't just as clean as they should have been. Or maybe it was a preponderance of cars that had little cosmetic stuff done, like bumpers repainted to not-quite-perfect match standards. I dunno... something just doesn't sit right with me at that place.

[Team Adam's]

Funny you mention that. The few times I've cruised a Carmax I always got the feeling that the cars were all a little bit sub-par in some way. I couldn't really put my finger on it, but maybe it was just that there were a lot of off-lease/never really loved cars in the lot. Or maybe they weren't just as clean as they should have been. Or maybe it was a preponderance of cars that had little cosmetic stuff done, like bumpers repainted to not-quite-perfect match standards. I dunno... something just doesn't sit right with me at that place.

 

Good. So I wasn't alone in noticing all that stuff.

 

Almost made me wonder if the bulk of the cars on the lot were collision repair, salvage, or auction purchases. A few of them had obvious shoddy paint work on fenders or bumpers where the quality was far below OEM (leaning towards Maaco quality) or things painted that shouldn't have been painted - like textured trim pieces that were clearly just sprayed over, not sanded and primed.

[Doug123]

I thought that they wanted a bit more than market for a car with a 1 year/short mileage warranty. I got an equal or better deal on a 1 yr. old GM certified vehicle with bumper to bumper to 48K and drive train warranty to 100K. Plus, I was with you guys, something about Carmax made me a bit nervous.

 

Plus, I have discovered by accident that CARFAX is not as revealing as autocheck from experian. It showed accidents and repairs that CARFAX did not show, and steered me away from a couple of HHRs that looked good on CarFax.

[onebaucom]

I actually got my jeep from there. When my grandma bought it we did a lot of research on the jeep liberty such as the kelly blue book value and found it was around the same as quoted at carmax. I did test drive several vehicles on the lot including a dodge durango, nissan pathfinder, nissan frontier, ford explorer, and a couple of others. We bought the jeep within a couple of days of seeing it and we also got the extended warranty. So far the jeep has run pretty good. The only issue I have really had is a popping noise from the brakes which was fixed for free from carmax because the brakes they installed before were aftermarket instead of factory. My only complaint for them is they move way too slow for repairs. I still need to go to them to get a tire sensor repaired but it's not really an life-threatening repair so it can wait a little.

[XQIZT]

Never had any issues here in FL. Prices were a little higher, but part of that is that they do (or say they do) go over the whole car top to bottom before selling it and they do not sell cars that have been in serious accidents.

 

All the cars come with a 30 day or 90 day warranty where they will fix anything (try doing that at a regular dealership). They offer all kinds of warranties that can cover the car for a long time. My mom's Charger is covered up to like 94K miles or something.

 

Like anywhere else, do you homework and know for yourself what you are looking for.

 

At the very least, its a nice place to shop if you haven't made a decision on any one particular make or model.

[07SGT3852]

I had a very positive experience here in northern Virginia. They corrected a couple of very minor details on the car that I brought to their attention.

 

Their prices were on a par with what other advertised vehicles of the same type were selling for and my trade in was fair and on a par and in one case higher.

 

All in all I feel they did right by me and would shop there again.