carmax sucks... the end..

 

It may depend on the local Carmax, and the management. Like I said in an earlier post I have had all good experiences with Carmax. At the same time we purchased the '04 MINI, we purchased a 1999 Miata. There was an issue with the top on the Miata, and they replaced it with no questions asked. It was also missing some of the badging, and they replaced those no questions asked. So that said it may depend on the manager that runs that particular store, and how he sets the tone for the operation.

 

i almost went and buy from them.... good price

 

My friend bought her MCS at Carmax in Sterling. It was a 2005 with only 12,000 miles on it. It's been running great.

 

I would never sell to them. I have an 03 Chevy SSR that has a KBB value of 19.5K. They wanted to give me 14K and it is in perfect condition! The mini dealerhsip will only give me 15K and the retail sale price they will put on it is in the low 20's. Go figure. They all stand to make a bargain if I don't sell it outright!

 

I don't understand the reasoning here, $17,000 for a used car with 49K miles on it OR for $2500 more you can order or buy your own 2008 MINI with 0 miles, pick your colors and a full factory warranty and service for 3 years?

Why buy USED?

 

A couple of points:

-- Folks are getting different cars on that carmax web page because the page is being built dynamically by the web service. It's not a static page. It comes up the same for the original poster of this thread because it is in cache on that machine.

--You never know where the best buy is going to be. It might not be carmax, but it might be.

--I have found one very good use for carmax. When selling a car, they will give you a 7-day guarantee on their lowball offer for your car. I give myself a week to sell the car, and I'll want to advertise it in the local paper (Washington Post) for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday--it also goes into cars.com automatically. Spend the weekend cleaning and waxing the car, making sure you have a clear title (if possible), and other stuff like that. Also visit car dealers and web sites to compare your car to similar local cars for sale. Wednesday morning, take the car to carmax and get their offer. They WILL press you to take it right away, but you have an excuse not to take the offer right away (e.g., you can't make a decision like that without talking to your spouse first or whatever). Then pick a price that is more than carmaxe's offer but slightly less than the going asking price and insert the ad in the local paper. If you don't get an offer your like over the weekend, Monday or Tuesday you bring it back to carmax and take their offer.

--For the buyer (sorry about the somewhat OT digression), you MUST have a knowledgeable mechanic look over your car before a purchase. This will probably cost between $50 and $150 and is money well spent. A MINI dealer is a good choice because they can obtain the official service history of the car. If the car needs work, they may agree to discount it by the cost of the inspection if you do the work there. If at all possible, do a walk around with the technician who looks at the car to discuss body work, etc. Do NOT buy a car from anybody who won't you let an independent party inspect the car, just walk away.

One of the reasons carmax is popular is that many mainstream dealers who also sell new cars will no longer buy used cars except for trade ins. If you want a car, you can negotiate with the private seller that you will pay them X dollars over the carmax offer which is likely to be the only solid offer the seller will get anyway. Both buyer and seller get a demonstrably good deal this way.

Another consideration, at least in Virginia, is that license plates are associated with the owner of a car, not the car itself as in many states. This means the seller removes them at the time of sale and the buyer is stuck moving a car that has no tags. As a seller, most buyers will ask you to let them keep your old tags until they can register the car. Don't do it. Accommodate them by meeting them at the DMV or whatever. As a buyer, be ready by having a friend ready to transport you and by arranging to transact at a time the DMV is open. I strongly recommend that both buyer and seller arrange for payment to be made by cashier's check or cash (yes, a stack of $100 bills) and that the transaction (delivery of payment and car/title) be done at the bank itself and that you pick a bank location near the DMV.

Sorry this is so long winded! I've gone through this process many times as both buyer and seller and it has worked well for me.There are enough cars out there, especially in a major metropolitan area, that you can get a good deal as either seller or buyer if you are willing to spend 10 days (including two weekends) going through the the process.

Good luck!

 

the issue with cars in the Washington Post....the ads run three days....like Fri/Sat/Sun. The good cars are gone by Fri night. The ones left by Sunday are ones that are rarely worth looking at. That's one reason the web listings are key....I've scored a cherry deal by going on Thursday right after a car was listed.

 

Assuming that this is MC. If it's MCS which it may, then you're lookning at far more than $2500 to buy it new.
Even with MC, you will pay way more than $2500 over that used one once you're done customizing it. Not to mention the 6 month waiting time.

 

Maybe it has something to do with a particular area's Carmax locations...I've heard nothing but bad things about the ones in VA. Maybe TX has more meticulous Carmax dealers? Either way, before buying from a dealer, I try and check out from other folks how they were handled at that particular dealer. Good luck with the Mini hunt!

 

In case any of you were wondering, I compared Carmax vs. dealer trade-in on my 2005 MC w/ CVT w/ 48K miles. Carmax offered $15K, dealer offered $13K. Could not find a single private party willing to buy it over $13K.

 

I think with the US dependance on Benzine, Petrol, I mean Gas these cars are way too easy to sell, buy yourself. A good clean, EMPHASIZE CLEAN!!!!! MINI cooper will sell regardless if its an S or justacooper. I bought a second mini just because of the tremedous deal I got. I do recommend a pre purchase inspect by a MINI DEALER or MECHANIC, this should be the first thing you consider when you decide you want the car. Sometimes a car is really that cheap simply because they need out.
I never buy from anyone but private sellers, most of the time all others jack up the price simply cause the cut the .com takes

 

I've sold two cars at Carmax in Sterling Va, and purchased one.

On the first car sold we got a great deal, it was a beat up Subaru Outback Sport that we'd had some trouble with and had been in a minor accident (and repaired). Carmax gave us plenty for it considering we were going to have to put more money into an old car.

When I bought the MINI I sold my Audi A4 and got below person-to-person sale, but lack of hassle and certainty the the check would clear etc made it a no brainer.

We bought my wife's Ford Escape there as well. We've had some issues with it (idle air control valve failed), but I figure that it's because it's a Ford not because Carmax sold us a problem. You're going to have some issues with nearly any car as it closes in on 100K miles.

I think the general thought is that Carmax is good for generic cars. They have decent deals on cars that are just needed for transportation. And are a simple way to sell a car that you don't want the hassle of dealing with lots of call and the risk of tons of people coming and driving your car.

If I'd been burned I might feel differently.

 

The guy that bought your cars didn't inspect them. They do that later and sell any with clamp marks or more than 2 panels refinished in their own auctions. I used to buy their rejects.

I'm not saying they do stellar inspections, but clamp marks are easy to see with the car on a lift. And there is nothing wrong with a properly repaired car, frame damage or not.

You could always hire a third party to do an inspection (which I used to do at one point).

 

Never actually bought from C-max, but I went down there the other day to check out a few MINIs they had in stock and I was impressed. All three were basically like new, as was just about everything else on their lot. I just can't justify paying what they charge... You can do a lot better if you look around.