Anyone buy anything from Carmax? Good/Bad/Ulgy? I'm not good at car haggling in dealerships, but is it worth buying used cars from Carmax? They seem to use a lot of fleet (?) cars from auction, is this good/bad? On one hand one guy there tells me at least the car would have been maintained correctly. Is their Carmax care package worth getting?..

Carchick Wrote:
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> Anyone buy anything from Carmax? Good/Bad/Ulgy?
> I'm not good at car haggling in dealerships, but
> is it worth buying used cars from Carmax? They
> seem to use a lot of fleet (?) cars from auction,
> is this good/bad? On one hand one guy there tells
> me at least the car would have been maintained
> correctly. Is their Carmax care package worth
> getting?..


I have had good luck with Carmax but seriously, this is the worst market for carmakers in generations. Even for Toyota and Honda. You should think about getting a new car. You could probably get a hell of a deal.

carmax is a no frills dealer. They are a lot easier to deal with than standard dealers and a lot less shady than say Easterns. Id say Lease a car from a regular dealer and or buy from Carmax depending on your long term short term needs for transportation.

yeha i hate haggling .. so i went to carmax and I Had good experience with them .... no problem with the care for the last 6 years..except regular maintenance ..

WHITEY2 Wrote:
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> yeha i hate haggling .. so i went to carmax and I
> Had good experience with them .... no problem with
> the care for the last 6 years..except regular
> maintenance ..


I meant the car ... hehehe

Yeah I bought from Carmax, and haven't had any big problems since. The guy will come up to you and ask if you want help, but you can just say I'm just looking around and they'll back off, but they'll stay close enough where when you need them they're there.

Two things I noticed: most cars were automatic and I wanted a manual, and they had a hell of a lot of Focuses.

i think that easterns in tysons is gone

my dad got me a jeep cherokee from carmax. he overpaid SO MUCH. its a 1999 jeep cherokee, got it with 52k miles for $10k. same thing could be bought in a private sale for $5k. there are no problems with the car, and he paid for it, so i can't really complain. but you should look at the prices of their cars compared to private sales through cars.com

Is there anywhere where you can hire an independent mechanic? Just moved her and dont really know anyone? So Private Sale is kinda lost on me..

they are legit.... Chantilly is where it's at... ask for Andrew, he is the manager I think?

WashingTone Locian Wrote:
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> I have had good luck with Carmax but seriously,
> this is the worst market for carmakers in
> generations. Even for Toyota and Honda. You should
> think about getting a new car. You could probably
> get a hell of a deal.

+1. "buyer's market" for cars is a massive understatement.

The vehicles go through a solid inspection, but you can't haggle the price down. No "steals" or anything like that.

I've bought an 01 ML 320 and a 03 Altima. Both were in great condition, no shady shit.

As most people have already stated, Carmax is good if you don't want any BS. You find a car, you buy it.
They do tend to overcharge for their used vehicles, but in most cases you may find it worth the extra money to not have to hassle with private party sales or shady dealers (Anyone that give their money to Easterns may as well bring a tube of KY for the raping their gonna give you)

If you don't mind the hassles and stresses of haggling, you can score phenominal deals from new car lots, but again, Carmax is for those looking to buy a used car without the nickle and diming.

You're hit or miss if you're trading in at Carmax though...they'll either be fair or screw you over (50/50 shot from what I've seen).

Went there 2 years ago. Found a car we liked but they would only give us a few dollars for our trade. Ended up going to Easterns.

Carmax isn't bad, but it's not great either.

Their cars are pretty decent quality, but you can do better on prices. Being in the business of used cars, you can get something similar from another dealer for less simply by haggling a bit. As others have stated, you might want to look at a new car simply because all the manufacturers are hurting pretty badly right now. A friend of mine traded in her jeep liberty for 3800 at the hyundai dealer, got 2000 'cash back', and walked out with a loaded elantra for about 175/month.

If you need to finance, don't go to carmax. Carmax requires something like 40% down.

Merritt Wrote:
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>
> If you need to finance, don't go to carmax.
> Carmax requires something like 40% down.


Unless things have changed drastically, that's bullshit. I bought two vehicles there and never put anything remotely close to 40% down.

40% down? You must have great credit for them to have required that!

These days, anything close to a 700 credit score will get you in a car with little money down.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/2009 03:23PM by Furfur.

scottydfl422 Wrote:
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> Went there 2 years ago. Found a car we liked but
> they would only give us a few dollars for our
> trade. Ended up going to Easterns.


Was your job your credit?

496 Wrote:
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> scottydfl422 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Went there 2 years ago. Found a car we liked
> but
> > they would only give us a few dollars for our
> > trade. Ended up going to Easterns.
>
>
> Was your job your credit?


They don't require 40% down. That's just the annual interest rate you pay.

496 Wrote:
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> scottydfl422 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Went there 2 years ago. Found a car we liked
> but
> > they would only give us a few dollars for our
> > trade. Ended up going to Easterns.
>
>
> Was your job your credit? After all--I work for the school system

Pretty much



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/2009 08:30PM by scottydfl422.

I would never buy their 'maintenance contract' again. It was a major rip off. When we called to get something that was wrong with it fixed....all they could give us is an appointment 3 weeks out. We showed up for the appointment and they said they had no record of our appt...then did us a big favor by giving us one another three weeks out. They also say you can go other places at a discount...good luck finding someone who participates in that deal.

Our car has been a good car. No problems. Thank goodness since we could never get a service appt anyway. They even tell you if the previous owner was a smoker or not. You can probably get a better deal somewhere else, but its quick and easy. We did most of our shopping online then went there and looked at the cars we were interested in.

better than what i did... ebay; sight unseen...

I totally fucked Car Max when I sold them my Jeep. My Cherokee's tranny was on it's last legs and those dingbats didn't catch it. Blue book.

Sorry to raise this thread from the dead, but it's pertinent.

Recently, I was privy to some information about Carmax and window tinting (a FFXU favorite topic to be sure). When they get a car with tinting, they remove it to ensure that what they sell is street legal, especially if the car originated in a state other than VA that allows for darker tinting. But they don't remove the tint properly (via steaming)...they just rip it off. This fucks up the defrost coils on the rear windows if they are tinted. They won't tell you about this. A friend just bought a car there, went to have the windows tinted and was informed about this from the tinting company. The dude at the tinting shop showed him the old adhesive he had to steam off. My friend had to call them and have them replace the rear window, because the defrost works like shit.

__________________________________
That's not a ladybug, that's a cannapiller.

I would say to go for a new car.. Unless you are paying cash you can get a much better interest rate for a new car. I got a brand new civic fully loaded for what I would have paid for a 4 year old used civic with a higher interest rate. However, I did sell my old car to carmax for them to auction and they gave me 2500 when my car was worth maybe 200. Good luck!

I did not think "white" people were allowed to buy cars from Easterns?

Noooo Wrote:
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> I would say to go for a new car.. Unless you are
> paying cash you can get a much better interest
> rate for a new car. I got a brand new civic fully
> loaded for what I would have paid for a 4 year old
> used civic with a higher interest rate. However,
> I did sell my old car to carmax for them to
> auction and they gave me 2500 when my car was
> worth maybe 200. Good luck!

Would someone explain to me why such a low price on a new car doesn't drive down the price of a less-desirable used car?

In other words, why would anybody buy a used car if a better new car of the same model is cheaper?

I've bought two cars from carmax. I could probably have found them cheaper if I searched around and haggled but buying from carmax was easy. Both cars were high end, late model cars with high mileage and we've been happy with both of them. I bought the warranty and had no problems. In fact, the warranties cost about $2K and over the course of the contracts I probably had $3K in repairs done for each. But, as posters mentioned, you have to schedule the appontment and take it to carmax. I tried to have another shop do the work but they wouldn't cover the whole amount. Took it to carmax - they did the work plus extra stuff and only charged me the $50 fee.

If you know the exact model car you're looking for, you can find it cheaper elsewhere. If your not sure and want a solid car, decent price and decent warranty for no hassle - go to carmax.

Best place to get cars cheap is at aution. Then just fix it up for a few bucks. One mens junk is nough mens treasure.