SOLD MY FRS TO CARMAX TODAY :(
 

As the title says, I sold my 2013 Firestorm automatic FRS (17,000 miles) to carmax because I could no longer afford it. I just wanted to make this thread to inform anyone out there who is considering selling their FRS to carmax.

Now I did try to sell it private party but after 4 tire kickers who promised me they would buy it and never called back, 2 low credit scammers and plenty of broke teenagers knocking on my door begging for test drives I HAD ENOUGH and made the trip to my local carmax.

Initially I was offered $16,300. I felt bummed because the car had no scratches or dings and the interior was flawless plus only 17k miles. I spoke to the general manager about the low offer, they refused to budge until i mentioned the car had a 100k mile warranty. The upped my offer to $16,700 and thoroughly explained why they could not go any higher. According to him, the FRS is no longer in high demand and they have had a wave of these cars sold to carmax all over the country in the last 2 months and they cannot sell them as fast as they anticipated, therefore it's driving the value down.

I owed $18,235 on the car, so I had to pay $1,535 out of pocket to complete the transaction. Sad to see it go but the insurance and payment were too much for me at this point. I do feel slightly relieved because I'm completely debt free and there won't be a car payment rolling around next month but I also feel terrible for taking such a huge loss on this car.

I did not install any aftermarket parts or accessories in case anyone is wondering.

Sorry to hear that, hope I never end up in this situation :\

I hope none of you end up like this. I really enjoyed the car while it lasted but sometimes responsibility calls. I sold it about 3 hours ago and I seriously can't stop thinking about this loss (financial and car).

I would have waited another month or so and see if you could at least get $17.5 private party. That's so low.

What are your plans for transportation now? A bicycle?

I find it hard to believe they couldn't at least pay it off.

Btw, I know its late now and I don't want to add salt to the wound, but often times dealerships will purchase vehicles outright as well, not just CarMax. Perhaps a local or nearby Toyota / Scion dealer could have bought it for more? Maybe. Water under the bridge.

Sad to see you go.

P.S: You say you couldn't afford it but you had at least 5-6 monthly payments worth in money laying around to pay your negative equity off?

that's crazy I sold my 2013 FRS Manual to the dealer with 40,000 miles on it for $17,000 they got a deal

No, I'll be sharing my wife's car. Both our jobs are fairly close so it's not like we'll be hurting much.

I did consider paying the negative equity but the insurance payments were high enough (rather not mention the price) for me to take said loss.

How long ago?

I heard plenty of stories about people getting good deals when selling to carmax but I guess i missed the chance to sell it while demand was high.

You could have sold it for more on Ebay. You got ripped off.

I just threw up in my mouth at that offer. I'm so underwater if that's really the trade in value right now wtf. I have a couple 1000 miles less but besides that very similar specs :( good thing I don't ever intend to sell but damn that's just unfair

Those ebay fees were enough to scare me and I don't have the patience to put up with all the hassle of setting up shipping. Like i said, I know i did take a major loss but I was extremely frustrated after all those failed attempts to sell the car.

Was your insurance really that high?

Hope all turns out for you and you can get back in it soon. Also, why not just sell the wifes car and keep the FR-S?

How old are you?

What income?

Why high insurance? What insurance cost?

What loan terms? Down payment? Purchase price?

Maybe the worst decision was buying the car in the first place?

I don't want to add insult to injury - I really don't - but it sounds to me like someone should've been more careful with their finances to begin with.

Now I don't know if there was an external factor or anything like that, but a car is a big purchase and should be regarded as such.

Sorry to hear about your situation. Best of luck going forward!

I prefer not to discuss insurance and stuff because I'm still feeling bad but let's just put this way, when I bought the car things were going good at work, unexpectedly our company took a big hit overnight I was given the choice of either losing my job for good or taking a significant pay cut. i chose to take the pay cut and still have income coming. I'll face it, buying a sports car for pleasure (even when financial times were good) was a bad idea. Life throws anything at you and you have to be prepared. Now that the car is gone I plan on saving that monthly payment and living below my means in case I have to deal with a similar situation in the future.

There's no insult when you're telling the truth. It was a bad financial choice. Now I plan to be more careful with my money.

I'm not going to jump into the reason why the OP sold the car. As for the price they gave you...that sounds worse than a trade-in. I somehow believe they're just lying to you about their price, extended warranty for an extra $500...even that's rubbish. They might've sensed desperation hence they were unyielding and believing you'll crack. The last Subaru dealer I visited that had a used BRZ for sale, its a Sport-tech/Limited manual that has 27,000 kms(pretty much 17,000 miles) for $25K. Even assuming a 4K difference for the FRS...buying at $16K and list it at $21-22K...what a fat profit they're going to make even if they sit on it for a while.

Carmax shows 30 FRS cars in the USA with the lowest price @ $21,000. Good Luck going forward. You gotta do what you gotta do....

I disagree.

He bought a car he could afford at the time.

Times changed.

He did what he had to do, which was to sell the car.

He's not looking for a government handout.

He's not going on welfare.

He's not letting his kids go hungry.

He's not blaming other people.

He's taking responsibility for his own finances.

To me, that says that although things didn't work out exactly like he hoped, he's taking responsibility for his own life and finances and doing what he has to do without a whole lot of whining or expecting Obama to come save him. Personal responsibility is not about never taking risks. It's about taking responsibility for those risks if they don't work out, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and doing what you gotta do.

Sounds like he's doing exactly what he should be doing, and I don't really see anything to criticize.

when your luck gets better.. the FR-S will come with a more HP -- think of it that way =)

@extrashaky Read the rest of my post, will ya? OP took it as it was intended. I don't see why you're invoking Obama's name and all. :iono:

OP, thanks for sharing your experience with CarMax. I've been curious about them and their process. Based on your experience, it seems they are nothing more than an online used car dealer using the internet to expand the typical used car business model. Good luck to you and I hope you find yourself back in an 86 soon!

This is interesting. I worked for Carmax for quite a while...

They don't care about any other warranties because they won't apply to the next customer after a dealer owns it.

I have never ever ever ever ever seen them change a purchase offer price. Like not for anything.

I dunno what Carmax you visited but sounds like some shady business going on.


Other than that, it's a crappy situation, hopefully things will change for the better in the future and you can have another twin again someday! You'll probably be set to go when they do a full refresh on it! Of yeah!!

Sad to see you sell your beloved. But in a few months your satisfaction will greatly outweigh your sense of loss. Good choice, and thanks for the trade-in info, very useful.

I sold it back in April now my new 2014 FRS has 10,000 Miles lol

They ARE a used car dealer using the internet to expand the typical used car business model.

What were you expecting?

Sometimes you take losses letting material shit go. Thats life and it goes on.
Better to get out than be broke.

Just try dealerships next time. Lesson(s) learned. You are handling it well. Sounds like you're a youngin'. Plenty of opportunities lie ahead for you.

Dealerships will screw you just as much. If there was a way to filter out the scammers/idiots/jokers selling privately would be best.

I was thinking of trading my automatic frs for a manual Trd one last weekend and the dealership was giving me $18000. I went to Carmax and they offered $20,000 for it. I changed my mind though cause my son wanted to buy the car from me next year so I got a trd intake and exhaust for it instead. I wonder if a different carmax would have given you a different offer.

There is a dealer on ebay with a new red '13 FR-S starting bid 20.9k and no takers.

I don't think 16.7k is that low an offer considering the convenience. I can see them being weary of paying more since they make a profit reselling.

think it is like $100 to list a car, only if it sells

Once they are in the system, the offer won't change at any other Carmax until the 7 days expire. But even then they will be able to pull it up and see what the previous offers were.

I'm surprised at how low it was as well actually. Carmax usually tries to do a pretty fair job in all the offers I saw come across my desk while I worked there.

KBB private party value for that car is 18.5k in my area. I don't think it was that low of an offer. Maybe a few thousand less than selling it himself. Which would have gone to auction fees. Or sell it on CL and pay no fees but it could take a few months, but meanwhile he's still making payments and paying insurance.

Did any of the people who looked at it give you an offer, or did they all just say they would buy it at your asking price then never called you back?


I just bought a car just like yours with 29K miles for $21.5K so I'm bummed too because I probably paid too much for it. It was a CPO car, but still...


But I have heard that dealerships actually make more profit on used cars than new ones and this probably explains why-- they get them so cheap because people are desperate to sell or just get tired of tire-kickers.


Sorry to hear about your situation but you had no way of knowing your company was going to hit a rough spot and you did the right thing in the end.

Sorry to say this...

You got taken...

I sold my BRZ back to the Subaru Dealership for $23,750 after I bought my Grandfather's Miata from him.

Sucks...not trying to rub salt in the wounds.

But never ever ever sell a car to CarMax again.

Hope you learned many lessons from this whole transaction (buying and selling car).

I know A LOT of us here on this forum have been spanked in the past, and have learned from that experience.

Also...unless you want to rage...do not check that Car Max's website...because they will put a 22k sticker on your car.

That's where the vast majority of their profits come from. They're lucky to make 7-10% of sale price on new cars. They can make 15-30% on newer used cars. That doesn't include the kickbacks for loans, the money from shady extended warranty companies, and the "transaction fees" that are outrageous. The worst lot is the "bad credit" dealers that get people into 7 year loans for 24% interest, those dudes are making some serious dough off the poorest people in this country.....

Dude. I just went to the one off Balboa Ave. I got the $16k offer as well. I still haven't bit the bullet and just parted out the car and taken it back to stock. I feel like if I did, then took it to Escondido, I'd be set. My car hasn't even hit 12,000mi. I don't own the TRD edition, though...

Sorry to hear your story. At least you learned the financial lesson with a minimal loss. These cars are just a luxury at the end of the day so don't be too broke up about it. Check out Mr.moneymustache (Google it) and get off this site for a while.