Anyone buy a used car recently? Where did you buy it (dealer, carmax, Craigslist, friend, etc)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From a dealer. it was a year old, less than 7K miles and cheaper than Carmax. Fully loaded. Carmax is a rip off. I know a guy who does body work for them. He is expensive, carmax is expensive like heck. Email and negotiate ahead of time is what I did. In fact, almost every time I bought a car, carmax was a worse deal than that same car brand new after negotiating. But, I spend more time like this and yes, get ticked off by slimy dealer workers. Darcars Toyota Rockville is especially bad a mansplaining. Their female rep and I worked the whole thing our and then a "man" came to explain to me ...without listening at all. Walked away there. I end up buying in PG county because people are so much nicer. Also, any dealer in Clarksville is shady too.

Your description of the used car buying process explains why Carmax does so well. Of course there are people like you who do well at negotiating and are willing to put up with some sliminess from the other side of the deal.

Some of us are not so good at it and (after getting burned a few times) have decided that paying a bit extra for a transparent, simple buying process is just what we want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From a dealer. it was a year old, less than 7K miles and cheaper than Carmax. Fully loaded. Carmax is a rip off. I know a guy who does body work for them. He is expensive, carmax is expensive like heck. Email and negotiate ahead of time is what I did. In fact, almost every time I bought a car, carmax was a worse deal than that same car brand new after negotiating. But, I spend more time like this and yes, get ticked off by slimy dealer workers. Darcars Toyota Rockville is especially bad a mansplaining. Their female rep and I worked the whole thing our and then a "man" came to explain to me ...without listening at all. Walked away there. I end up buying in PG county because people are so much nicer. Also, any dealer in Clarksville is shady too.

Your description of the used car buying process explains why Carmax does so well. Of course there are people like you who do well at negotiating and are willing to put up with some sliminess from the other side of the deal.

Some of us are not so good at it and (after getting burned a few times) have decided that paying a bit extra for a transparent, simple buying process is just what we want.

Which is great for you! We don't have that extra money to be able to pay more for the service, so I research. Gotta do what you gotta do. I liked College Park Honda, I asked if they can do this price, they said yes or no, put it in text and e-mail, unlike the other shady dealers that drag you around forever and act like the price they gave you was not that price. Also, avoid Kia Gaithersburg by all means. That is the epitome of sliminess. Don't even know why DH wanted to go there, I am the negotiator and saw they were shady as heck the same second I walked in. So, yeah, I get why Carmax works for many, but often you are better off buying a new car for that same price. That, to me, is worth the hassle.