swore I'd never buy a car at carmax. I've heard some bad buying experiences from others (mechanical issues, etc..) Then I found this car:
http://www.carmax.com/dyn/factsheet/...et.aspx?KNo=11

Opinions?

 

The link doesn't work. I think there's some data left out of the link.

 

Weird, when i click the link an acura comes up. lets try this again.

http://www.carmax.com/dyn/factsheet/...et.aspx?KNo=11

 

nope, same thing. ok, it's a 04 Mini with 49k looks like it's fully loaded. selling for $16,599

 

Thing that's great about carmax is that you've got 7 days to decide if you want to keep the car or not, getting a no questions asked full refund makes it a painless experience. What is not great about carmax is that the price is firm and you can't negotiate for a lower price.

 

one of the local Suby guys worked for the Dulles location and told me 'NEVER BUY A CAR AT CARMAX'. His reasoning was this - they don't do a thorough inspection as they say they do - they've found it's cheaper to fix the issues that come up within a warranty window than to inspect every car. That, and many actually do have crash damage, despite what they say.

I'm convinced you'll get a better deal on a car through a private seller or the local dealer. Nobody listens to me anyways

when you going by today? I'm going to try again to get this part swapped....hopefully, it takes less than 45 minutes this time.

 

huh? what did you say?

after 2. going to call fred here in a few to see if he's there. said he thought a couple coopers came in yesterday. I do agree also about carmax. my mom and a client of mine had bad issues with them. nice to know there are some coopers out there. just need some non dealers to offer them up for sale.

 

ok...I need to be on the road home by 3pm (no later). Maybe I'll meet you over there

 

Well, I happen to have purchased my '05 MCS from Carmax and I have not had any problems, but it had only 32K miles on it and I did get it into a Mini dealer as soon as the 40K (inspection 2) service was due. The Mini dealer replaced the clutch and a leaky motor mount and fixed the squeaky window mechanism. All of this was under factory warranty and I got a free loaner (convertible woo-hoo!) I have bought two vehicles from Carmax had have had few mechanical problems. You will have mechanical issues with pretty much any used car, the question is how many and how severe do you want them to be. Several of my co-workers have also purchased from Carmax and I have not heard any grumbling. I think they do a good job considering the amount of cars they turn over, but as with any used car, buyer beware... You might also consider purchasing the extended warranty that Carmax offers (which I did as well).

If you are going to buy a used Mini, try to get one with some warranty left on it and get a dealer to check it out ASAP.

 

the only thing they usually check during their '19999999 point inspection' is brakes... (according to a friend who worked at the crapmax @ laurel for a while..)

 

i also had a friend that worked at a car max out in okc, and he told me to never buy anything from carmax

 

I'm getting Audi TT convertible
I'd be hesitant to buy from Carmax too. The no haggle price is a turn off also and if this is MC then it's pretty steep too.

 

I hadn't even considered that it might be an MC. I was thinking this, although a tad high, was surprisingly reasonable for Carmax (since I'd found Carmax prices for MINIs and BMWs to be far too high) -- but I was thinking MCS . . . if it is an MC, this is extremely steep.

 

When I bought at carmax, and sold by the way, 2 vehicles bought and 2 sold. they told me that "no more than 2 panels" have had paint work on their vehicles. This was their rule of sorts so the cars do definitely have paint/body work to as many as 2 panels.

I did sell one car to them, a 2000 and something Jeep grand cherokee that had a TINY rear end collision that pushed in the spare tire well a very small amount, Because of this they used clamps on the lower side seams (which is where you look when buying a car for "pull" marks as they clamp to those to straighten a unit body car. They never mentioned them and bought the car for a very fair price.

I found they don't prepare the cars they sell very well as in, not detailed but the prices seemed good. I don't mind the no haggle, if the price is good I am happy, I hate leaving a normal dealer and feeling like I could have gotten more off.

Peter

 

Odd, when I click on the link I see a BMW 5 series for $29, 999.
I know quite a few people who have bought from CarMax and were happy with the deal. I have never bought there, and probably never will, because I'm willing to spend the time and effort to do my homework, look around, be patient, etc. and negotiate a far better deal than Carmax can give me.
If it is an MC instead of an MCS, that is a pretty high price.
Good Luck

 

BMW came up when I click it

 

Carmax......enough for me to walk away.

 

found another thats much better, and not at carmax:

http://tinyurl.com/6bpkuc

 

These prices seem really high to me for MCs with mileage around 50k.
MCS's are selling for just a bit more, if not the same.

But I guess that's just the asking price -- I'd want them to come off of that.

 

C-lo pm me if you would like to talk about a 05 S with 21,100 miles i have for sale.Q

 

I have purchased the last three vehicles we own including a 2004 MINI. I have had nothing but good experiences from Carmax myself.

 

Carmax is great when you want to sell your car---but its been my experience to never BUY from them

When i was 19, i went to buy my very first car (that was truely mine, and not my moms old car). it was a 2000 mazda miata, 15k miles on it.
we were told that i had a 2 year waranty on it still.

Very next day, it was raining--went to turn on the windsheild wipers. DEAD. the motor had died. so i spent 9 hours in their service shop. but i though, dead windshield wipers are the least of my worries- no reason to give it back.

On the 8th day of ownership- 1 day too late to return it- it died at the rite aid parking lot. had to get towed to a shop. no one knew what was wrong with it, and carmax said that i really DIDNT have a 2 year warranty, but for an extra $2800 i could have one. (even though it was guaranteed to be at purchase). Corporate would not help me.

i spent the next 8 months dealing with a motor that misfired, shook the whole car, or just didnt start--spent $6000 on work that wasnt really needed, b/c the mechanics "guessed" at what was wrong with it

ended up selling it after 1 year. mostly because i went broke

no thank you

 

c-lo

I'd probably check out all the Minis on this sites "for sale" forum. You should be able to find something you like and at a better price then Car Max.

Shameless plug:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=136257

Take care and good hunting,
--Miles

 

Except that, like at any dealer, you'll always do better if you're willing to sell it on your own.
I sold my Ford Ranger for more than twice what I was quoted at Carmax as a trade-in.

 

VERY true.

I've sold all of mine on my own. But my family has done well selling to carmax