CarMax Experience?

[flyinion]

Carmax can be good to use as a tool before you go to where you are going to actually buy a vehicle so you have something as backup for if a dealer is trying to lowball your trade. They definitely will not be as high as you can sell it yourself for, and may not even be as high as you can get from another dealer when buying a vehicle and doing a trade. The first time I went to Carmax the guy explained why, and it kinda makes sense to me. You go to a "regular dealer" to trade in and buy they work all the numbers around with give & take in various place, and also the dealer knows they are making a sale right there. With Carmax you can just sell your vehicle to them, but they have no guarantee it will actually sell and if you're not buying anything from them then they're not making any instant profit off you. At least you have a guaranteed in writing offer for your vehicle though if the dealer you are going to doesn't want to play ball with your trade.

When I bought my Jeep in January it helped me out. The Jeep dealer was offering about $1000 below Carmax for my 2008 350Z, basically I was taking a hit because of the year changeover now the Z was 4 years old instead of 3 in model years. Because it was a low mileage though they had to wait a bit to hear back from their Nissan "guy" on what they could give for a low mileage bonus. As soon as I whipped out the Carmax offer they were able to magically match it. Carmax was pretty well in line with what the vehicle was worth as well.

 

[yakky]

I used to work there while I was in college, I still have some contacts there. At times they will have too much inventory of a particular car or style car, so instead of saying no thanks, we don't want your car, they tell you that with the quote.

Going to another store isn't going to help you, they will see the price from the other store when they do the appraisal again. You'll get even less.

I always run my cars by there to get a quote, but as of late, they do seem to be dipping lower and lower, I guess people just don't want the hassle so they sell their cars to them. Can't say I blame them, selling on your own can test your patience.

 

[ScottB]

:iagree:

People hold WAY too much value to KBB. There is A LOT more that goes into a price of a vehicle(sold to a dealer) than just what KBB says. If you don't like what CarMax offers to buy your vehicle for, then don't sell it to them. Simple.

rops:

KBB derives its pricing from the paperwork of sales reported from dealers in that area within the past quarter. Problem ... most dealers markup the sale of their unit and your trade-in to make the deal more enticing to the creditors. So many did NOT get that actual pricing on their ride.