Is CarMax really no haggle? Prices seem pretty steep...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I tried to sell my car to Car max and they low balled -- really low. I posted it on Craig's list with asking price doubling their offer and it was sold in 1 hour.

Not sure how they make their money - they are not even close to reasonable.

I was offered $300 for my 10 year old car in March. It's pretty perfect with no known issues (obviously age and 100k miles, but still). I sold it on Craigslist for 4k. I'm still a little offended by the $300 offer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tried to sell my car to Car max and they low balled -- really low. I posted it on Craig's list with asking price doubling their offer and it was sold in 1 hour.

Not sure how they make their money - they are not even close to reasonable.

I was offered $300 for my 10 year old car in March. It's pretty perfect with no known issues (obviously age and 100k miles, but still). I sold it on Craigslist for 4k. I'm still a little offended by the $300 offer.

300$?? Lol. Maybe they meant 3000$

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tried to sell my car to Car max and they low balled -- really low. I posted it on Craig's list with asking price doubling their offer and it was sold in 1 hour.

Not sure how they make their money - they are not even close to reasonable.

I was offered $300 for my 10 year old car in March. It's pretty perfect with no known issues (obviously age and 100k miles, but still). I sold it on Craigslist for 4k. I'm still a little offended by the $300 offer.

300$?? Lol. Maybe they meant 3000$

Or maybe they meant $30k and the poster got far less at $4k.

[Anonymous]

I bought a vehicle at CarMax about 6 years ago, and had a good experience. I had done my research though, and I did get a good price. I mean, if I had searched and looked at private sales for months and haggled, maybe I could have got it for a bit less-but I needed a vehicle and it was exactly what I wanted. I was happy.

That being said, the car was totaled 4 years later (not my fault) and I bought another car from some random roadside dealer-I got a great deal so got lucky I guess!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Carmax owes its success to the awfulness of the rest of the car selling industry. Are the prices the lowest available? Almost certainly not. Look at the website: that's the inventory - that's the price.

I know many of you are expert negotiators and know all about cars: Carmax is not for you. One the other hand, some of us have wasted countless hours at car dealerships trying to buy a car for a good price and still ended up knowing we got taken. There are enough of us to keep Carmax in business.

This.

Plus, they had the used car I wanted with all the features I wanted and the entire thing went very swiftly with no surprises.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Carmax owes its success to the awfulness of the rest of the car selling industry. Are the prices the lowest available? Almost certainly not. Look at the website: that's the inventory - that's the price.

I know many of you are expert negotiators and know all about cars: Carmax is not for you. One the other hand, some of us have wasted countless hours at car dealerships trying to buy a car for a good price and still ended up knowing we got taken. There are enough of us to keep Carmax in business.

This.

Plus, they had the used car I wanted with all the features I wanted and the entire thing went very swiftly with no surprises.

We prefer carvana. They have better prices for both buyers and sellers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tried to sell my car to Car max and they low balled -- really low. I posted it on Craig's list with asking price doubling their offer and it was sold in 1 hour.

Not sure how they make their money - they are not even close to reasonable.

I was offered $300 for my 10 year old car in March. It's pretty perfect with no known issues (obviously age and 100k miles, but still). I sold it on Craigslist for 4k. I'm still a little offended by the $300 offer.

300$?? Lol. Maybe they meant 3000$

Or maybe they meant $30k and the poster got far less at $4k.

No it was $300. They print out the offer for you so I didn’t hear incorrectly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tried to sell my car to Car max and they low balled -- really low. I posted it on Craig's list with asking price doubling their offer and it was sold in 1 hour.

Not sure how they make their money - they are not even close to reasonable.

I was offered $300 for my 10 year old car in March. It's pretty perfect with no known issues (obviously age and 100k miles, but still). I sold it on Craigslist for 4k. I'm still a little offended by the $300 offer.

Carmax is going to send a 10-year old car straight to auction and that transaction is going to cost them some money. Basically, they don't really want cars that they can turn around and sell. In the end, they offer you even less than the auction price, which is about as low as it gets. Sorry.

The "good" thing about the Carmax business model is that they decouple the buying/selling steps. You can take their offer on your used car, or not. You can buy a car from them, or not. The transactions do not affect one another. That sort of transparency is the enemy of the typical car dealer, which employs the "4-square" method. https://youtu.be/HWuSTCj3Y4E

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, prices on CarMax are a bit steep. For better pricing do this:
- locate a CarMax store
- find car dealers in the immediate vicinity of the carmax store
- look at their inventory of used cars

See, if car dealers are too close to CarMax (as is the case with the Dulles Carmax store), CarMax gets all the love from used car buyers and in order to be competitive, very nearby car dealers have to price their used car well below in order to compete w/CarMax. We picked up a 2010 Honda from a Honda dealer (in Dulles), one previous owner, all service records, for approx $3000 less than almost exactly the same car (but with higher mileage) at the Dulles CarMax store.

We started our search at Carmax, but felt that the prices were definitely on the high side. It was a good place to sit in a bunch of different used models and get a baseline feel for them, I'd admit. In the end though, once realizing that we wanted a specific model of Lexus, we bought from Pohanka Lexus in Chantilly- and it was $4500 less than a nearly identical car at Carmax!

What we learned shopping around and talking to friends who have worked at car dealerships in the past is that when it comes to premium marques (Lexus, Audi, MB), dealerships tend to price their used inventory that is "on brand" in the 5-8 year old range way lower than Carmax because they see it as a way to get customers in the door for a future new car purchase. It's kinda like the grocery store rotisserie chicken of the auto industry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, prices on CarMax are a bit steep. For better pricing do this:
- locate a CarMax store
- find car dealers in the immediate vicinity of the carmax store
- look at their inventory of used cars

See, if car dealers are too close to CarMax (as is the case with the Dulles Carmax store), CarMax gets all the love from used car buyers and in order to be competitive, very nearby car dealers have to price their used car well below in order to compete w/CarMax. We picked up a 2010 Honda from a Honda dealer (in Dulles), one previous owner, all service records, for approx $3000 less than almost exactly the same car (but with higher mileage) at the Dulles CarMax store.

We started our search at Carmax, but felt that the prices were definitely on the high side. It was a good place to sit in a bunch of different used models and get a baseline feel for them, I'd admit. In the end though, once realizing that we wanted a specific model of Lexus, we bought from Pohanka Lexus in Chantilly- and it was $4500 less than a nearly identical car at Carmax!

What we learned shopping around and talking to friends who have worked at car dealerships in the past is that when it comes to premium marques (Lexus, Audi, MB), dealerships tend to price their used inventory that is "on brand" in the 5-8 year old range way lower than Carmax because they see it as a way to get customers in the door for a future new car purchase. It's kinda like the grocery store rotisserie chicken of the auto industry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tried to sell my car to Car max and they low balled -- really low. I posted it on Craig's list with asking price doubling their offer and it was sold in 1 hour.

Not sure how they make their money - they are not even close to reasonable.

I was offered $300 for my 10 year old car in March. It's pretty perfect with no known issues (obviously age and 100k miles, but still). I sold it on Craigslist for 4k. I'm still a little offended by the $300 offer.

300$?? Lol. Maybe they meant 3000$

Or maybe they meant $30k and the poster got far less at $4k.

No it was $300. They print out the offer for you so I didn’t hear incorrectly

I had a similar experience selling to Carmax...lowball offers on two vehicles so sold on CL for much more earlier in the spring timeframe. If selling expect Carmax to offer 22-25% lower than retail. However...we had a great experience purchasing a new Toyota from Carmax Laurel 10 years ago ....and yes the price was very competitive...we are savvy car buyers so did not get taken. From other comments looks like Carmax sells for higher prices now.

[Anonymous]

I was ok paying a premium for a no-haggle experience (and there weren’t that many used cars available of the make/model I wanted at other dealerships).

That said, I had a truly terrible experience with the paperwork- it took them months to send the title to my bank, and so my bank was calling me asking me to figure out where the title was... I basically got yelled at by strangers on the phone for 2 months straight. For someone who hates car buying and went into the transaction with a goal of being as seamless as possible, it was basically the worst outcome. I will never buy from them again.

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised so many people buy used cars from CarMax when buying from a private party can easily save you a couple grand. It does take some patience, but if you are looking for a popular car like a camry or Accord, it doesn't take long to find one locally that is already paid off. Just inspect it and meet them at the bank to do the transaction, not a big deal.

[Anonymous]

The CarMax model is built on "envy/regret minimization." You won't get a good price either selling or buying to them, but you know you didn't get ripped off any more than your neighbor. That's all there is to it.

[Anonymous]

I had a local dealer that I have known for years offer me 6k for my car and told me he would easily sell it for 11k.

It was a used toyota sequoia in mint condition with only 60k miles on it.

He explained that if he cannot make 5k per used car he loses money. Nice guy but I sold it to a private party for 8500.