Has anyone ever bought from Carmax?

[Unicorn.]

Dh and I have been looking for about a year for a new vehicle to replace our 1991 minivan. We found a 2007 Toyota Sienna with 8,000 miles. Before we even go look at it though, I was wondering if anyone had ever dealt w/ Carmax. Positive experience or Negative. What's your opinion?

[momofkhm]

It was several years ago, but I'd say it was positive. The truck ran well. The best part to me was that they had a "secure" room for the kids to play in. Our kids stayed in there once we were actually doing paperwork. I want to say there was a tv screen as well as a large (for inside) play structure. There was an adult in there as well. We didn't keep the truck very long, but that had nothing to do with Carmax.

[mommybee]

We had a great experience and would definitely go there again. I bought our SUV and it has been a great car. The fun part for me was test driving cars I would never have thought of buying and finding one I liked. It was also great for me to have the prices right on the car. I hate dealing with sales people and it was very low stress.

[Brigitte]

We have sold two cars to them and I think they dealt with us fairly and gave us a fair price. We have not bought from them, but based on our other experience, I would consider it as I think they will be better to deal with than a regular dealer.

[nancypants]

Yes and it was a very good experience. In 2001 we bought a 1997 Plymouth Voyager mini-van and it's still going strong (it's now "the man van" as we have another family car.) They were very nice and very low pressure which was much appreciated. The car was clean and in good condition. HTH

 

edited: Oh and we had a real junker that we wanted to trade in. They offered us a very generous $500 for it (ROFL) and because it was so relatively worthless they waived the normal trade-in fee because I think it would have almost cancelled out the trade in! LOL

[LizzyBee]

We just bought a Nissan Quest from Carmax in January. Very positive. They fixed the couple of things we wanted taken care of before we picked it up, plus we took it back within the 30 warranty period because one of the tires had a slow leak. We've also bought a Saturn in the past. Saturn and Carmax are both very low-pressure, low-stress dealers.

 

Nan, is a trade-in fee a Canadian thing or a Carmax thing? I've never been charged a trade-in fee, and I've never seen a trade-in fee on any invoices I've seen for clients in the 20 years I've been an accountant.

[Angela in TN]

We have bought from Carmax twice and both were great experiences. One great thing is within the first 30 days if you find anything wrong with the car they fix it no questions and no charge. We have never had anything major but we kept our eyes open for anything wrong. We will buy from them again next time we get a car too!

[KarenNC]

We've bought three cars from them and had positive experiences all around. In fact, with the last car, we had purchased a car only to find that after driving it for a couple of days the seat design exacerbated my sciatica (something I would never have expected). Carmax advertises a no-questions-asked return policy for, I believe, 5 days. We took it back, and they gave us absolutely no hassles about it, gave us service in looking for a replacement car that was just as good as before, even though we ended up buying a cheaper car.

 

We also used their service to locate a specific model we wanted (one that had certain safety features) and had a great experience as well. They helped us find the car, had staff at the other location physically look at the car to be sure it had the features we wanted, and we had it shipped to our location (there may be a shipping fee depending on the distance).

 

We have sold 3 cars to them, and did not get a lot out of them, but then, if they had not been run into the ground we would not have been getting rid of them. We have found that the price for late model cars is very competitive, often lower than Blue Book values, but have been told that for older cars, they don't really go by the Blue Book, so you might not get as good a deal on one that is several years old.

 

In terms of service, I have had them bring to my attention things that could be fixed within the warranty period even if they weren't things for which I was bringing in the car. Using the rental car option under the extended warranty was also no hassle.

[Ananda]

I bought a 2007 Toyota Corolla form car max in February. The price was VERY reasonable (less than other dealers were charging for 2003's). The dealers make a per car commission so they have no incentive to up sell. They have no haggle pricing as well. This is my first car buying experience so I made a lot of beginner's mistakes, they were very patient and helpful. They even gave me a full tank of gas and washed the car. (I don't know if that is typical . . .)

[dirty ethel rackham]

We have bought 2 cars from them. Both of them were positive, no-hassle experience. If we are ever in the market for another used car, we will go back.

[Unicorn.]

Thank you everyone for your replies. Dh and I will go take a look tomorrow. Hopefully the car is still available!

[Mamagistra]

Chiming in late to say that we've purchased two vehicles at CarMax and were pleased with both the cars and the service. :auto: If you happen to visit the I-45 location near Spring, ask for Brad Wolfe. :)