I’m trying to sell a used car and so I took it to Carmax, since they are pretty close and I thought I would get a better deal than I would at a dealer. They quoted me a price for my car that is about $1500 less than what the Kelly Blue Book value of the car is.
Can I negotiate with them to see if they will come up with their offer to a price that I would accept? This is the first time that I’ve sold a used car and thus, also the first time that I’ve ever interacted with Carmax, so I don’t know what the protocol is.
If the consensus is no, do Dopers think I could get a better deal elsewhere, other than a private sale? (I don’t really want to deal with the paperwork hassle) Will a dealership buy the car from me if I am not going to buy a car from them? I don’t need another car, which is why I went to Carmax, since they don’t require a seller to use the money for a new car.
(My car is a 2003 Honda Civic, in case that makes a difference)
No. That no-haggling thing is sort of their schtick.
Some of them will, but I doubt (since you’re not buying a car from them) that you’re going to get a significantly higher, if higher at all, price than from Carmax.
Basically if you’re not willing to go through the hassle of a private sale, then you have to “pay” for foregoing that inconvenience. Since Carmax sells their cars for less than the KBB, they will have to pay you significantly less in order to cut a profit.
The Blue Book has three different prices; the price for selling it to a dealer, the price for a trade-in, and the price for a sale to a private party. In both of the former two, the price is lower due to them needing a profit. You will always do better selling it to a private party.
What paperwork for a private sale, by the way? Here I would only need to provide an emissions report and sign the back of the title. The rest of the paperwork is on the buyer. Well worth a $1500 difference.
Just that I’m still financing the car and so I don’t have the title. So I’ll have to have the buyer be willing to give me a check and then wait for the check to clear with my financing company before the title gets sent out to them.
I just had to deal with this same situation when buying the car I now have to replace the Honda and it took like 3 weeks from the time I handed the check over to the seller to the time that her financing company set out the title so that I could register the car. The seller was a friend of mine, so I knew she wasn’t going to take my money and then bolt, but that’s my fear with a private sale with someone I don’t know
Ah, that’s the difference. I have never disposed of a car I did not own a clear title on. Yes, dealerships are much better at that sort of thing, and you may (to get it over with) just want to eat the difference. At least I don’t see where you have much of an option.
Not that you care, but I thought I would update you. I was able to sell the car to a dealership and they actually gave me a lot better price than Carmax ($2600 better!).
I calculated it based on what i paid for the car vs. what I sold it for, and it cost me $987 dollars per year (without gas, taxes & maintenance) to drive the car for 3.5 years. That’s why Hondas are great!
Something else to think about. I don’t know your location, but in Texas if you trade a car in, you only pay sales tax on the difference between your trade in value and the price you pay on the new car.
Fer instance, if you buy a $20000 car without a trade in, you’ll pay sales tax on $20000. But if you buy a $20000 car with a $8000 trade in, you only pay sales tax on $12000, which just saved you $500 (assuming a 6.25% tax rate).
I’ve bought and sold several cars through Carmax, and I’ve always been very happy with the deals I got and how I was treated. I did once get an offer from Carmax and then use that to negotiate a better trade in deal with a dealership.
Finally got around to checking this thread out and was surprised, but slightly disappointed, to discover that the OP was not trying to use lip balm as a bargaining chip. Oh well - I don’t use Carmex (more of a Blistex person) so I guess I’ll survive.