Quote:
Originally Posted by tennisfreak
I used to love CarMax.
Honestly, though, they have turned into a fuck you deal all the way around.
Low ball you on your vehicle
Charge waaaay to much for their vehicle.
Last couple of vehicles I've been in there to look at have been overpriced by $3-5K. Their excuse is the "meticulous" inspection and qualification process their vehicles go through and the money back guarantee.
They are full of shit too. The Porsche I looked at had some major gashes (down to metal) on the paint that they did not fix and refused to lower price on. The damn car was priced $3k over KBB "excellent" dealer price too.
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No - they just know their market. You're absolutely right some of their cars are over-priced. The "Valuemax" cars (ie sub-$12k)? Way over-priced. The other end of the spectrum is true though as well. You say they had a Porsche at 3 over KBB - the answer is, could you find the same Porsche w/ similar miles in your area for less? Let's say you do find that Porsche - can you return it no questions asked in five days for your money back? Can you take it to a Porsche dealer, have them inspect it and find everything wrong and bring it back within 30 days and have the dealer fix it? Because you can do both of those with CM.
It's easy to dismiss the "meticulous" inspection and money-back guarantee but it doesn't change the fact that it's there. It doesn't matter whether you take advantage of them, they offer it on every vehicle. If there really are scratches down to metal, all you have to do is ask them to refer to their published guidelines. Down to bare metal is NOT acceptable according to their requirements so someone is exaggerating. In fact, their book states anything deep enough to catch a fingernail will require touch-up at least.
They rely on people wanting the premium brand who cannot afford it. So they'll sell someone a five year old Bimmer or Porsche because they can't afford a newer one - and they will happily make money off of it. I've lost count of the number of people who buy a luxury brand, and the first thing they do is peel the sticker off the back because they don't want their middle-management buddies at the office park to know they bought their Merc from Carmax.
tl;dr: You can ABSOLUTELY find cars cheaper elsewhere and - when it comes to many makers - you'll get what you pay for.