I bought my current car from CarMax. Awesome experience all around.
I think that a whole lot of people find the whole car buying experience to be rather distasteful- you have to go haggle with some guy obviously trying to sell you something, you come at it with incomplete information, and you have to jump through hoops to get a firm price, and not get the run-around or up-sell.
They’d much rather go into the dealership, point out what they saw on the website, and/or explain what they’re looking for, and then go choose, rather than have some guy say “I know you want a sedan with under 30k, but we have this great Escalade with 50k miles on it!” and then have to fend off that kind of bullshit.
It’s part the PITA factor, and part the suspicion that anyone trying to sell you something that hard has to be cheating you somehow that plays into the CarMax selling model, even if you do pay more for the privilege of not being hassled.
The last car I bought for my wife I called the dealer and told them I could be there in 2 hours with $x in cash (considerably lower than asking price) for a car they had listed online that I was willing to pay pending my inspection and test drive and so forth. Take it or leave it, final offer. They accepted and everything checked out.
My father had recommended the single offer, take it or leave it tactic and it worked perfectly. It’s not even really a negotiation and you don’t have to deal with any of their games. The problem, of course, is you have to be perfectly willing to not buy that car.
I loved buying from CarMax. No haggle, easy-peasy process with friendly people in a lovely environment.
The problem came when less than a year after we bought the car I was rear-ended and it totalled the car. The insurance payout wouldn’t cover what we had paid for the car, only what it was worth, which left us with a gap in the quality of what we were able to buy to replace our car. We ended up with the exact same make, model and year but with 100k more miles because that is what the car was valued at that time.
Buyer beware, even with CarMax. They do sell lemons even though their commercials have long claimed otherwise.
We had a Chevy Venture from them and returned it when we had enough of if it spending more time in their shop than with us. Then there was the Dodge they loaned us one time while they had the Venture. The Dodge had its own problems; I bet they didn’t bother fixing the U-joints before selling it.
One thing that’s great about CarMax is the broad range of vehicles that are typically available, if you don’t know exactly which make and model you’re looking for.
Count me in as the one having nothing but positive experiences with CarMax. I’ve bought at least 4 (maybe 5?) cars from them.
- I respect your right to charge a little more to make more of a profit. The price you charge isn’t unfair, in my humble opinion. Private dealers where you can haggle, also charge way too much initially.
- You have your choice of a lot more of their inventory than just your local store. I have frequently had cars transferred over from another one of their dealerships.
- Their warranty is good, and in my experience, hassle free. The last time I bought a CarMax car, it was 1 week vehicle return no questions asked, and 1 month fix almost anything. I’ve used both of those and have never experienced ANY problems getting them to honor it. The one drawback to their warranty (that lead to me returning the car) is that they didn’t let me leave the car with my mechanic before I purchased it. I bought the car, took it too a mechanic, didn’t like what the mechanic said and returned the car. I bought my second choice car and was very happy.
I test drove a few cars at CarMax, but they were asking way too much for them. Bought somewhere else.
But they DID get tricked into paying more than the real price. Maybe “tricked” isn’t the right word. I am guessing it’s more of, “well, I’m paying above-market, but at least the next guy who walks in isn’t getting a better deal than me.” Which is kind of a weird thing to want to pay a premium for, but whatever.
I can’t generalize because the only cars I know the market for really well are just the few I was looking at while I was shopping, but for those, Carmax consistently had higher prices than dealerships or private parties.
There was a Carmax employee who did a Reddit AMA a little while ago and IIRC, he said that their cars were overpriced.
That’s sort of true, but sort of not. Psychology is a funny thing.
Obviously, there are similar cars that can be had at lower prices. CarMax prices are not particularly low. But, when I walk into a CarMax, I know that I don’t have to spend any effort negotiating. I can just decide if the price is worth it and take it or leave it. That’s a huge cognitive load lifted.
I’m buying a car right now. And I hate it. I was going back and forth with a dealer, and we were getting close, then he sold the car to someone else. Now, I’m talking to a different dealer (who still has some). Yesterday, he refused to come down in price. I told him, thanks, but at that price I’ll just wait for there to be more at other dealers. Today he called back with $250 less. Now, it was totally worth my while to wait a day to get $250. But I just want to buy a car at a good price. I don’t want to have to play these games. I don’t want the games to even be an option. Because if I knew they wouldn’t haggle, I wouldn’t have to either.
This is a major factor for me. The car I’m looking for is fairly hard to find. But the local CarMax happens to have one in its inventory. There’s also a second one in the inventory of a CarMax dealer in Virginia. Looking around, I haven’t found any other dealers in my area that have what I’m looking for.
I like that they have a wide variety of models and makes to choose from. I got my Honda Civic from them a few years ago and found the entire process very smooth.
They are a bit higher in cost. We started in Carmax to narrow the range down, and then went shopping at various dealers. The Carmax price was a ceiling. I wound going to various dealers and haggling a bit. The best price I found ironically was at another no-haggle dealership.
But that’s what ReticulatingSplines is saying. You don’t have to negotiate with a dealer. Just like at CarMax, you can just go in and pay the asking price without any haggling whatsoever.
:dubious: The asking price at the usual haggling dealer is not the price they actually intend to sell at, but the stars they aim for knowing it’ll usually be negotiated down to Mars and the dealer was willing to negotiate it down to the Moon. By contrast, the price CarMax asks is the price they actually intend to sell at. The CarMax premium is the relative certainty of knowing you paid the Moon price and not the Mars price without the Apollo 13-like trip (negotiating) to get there. 
Some people in this thread have said the CarMax price was higher than the dealer before negotiating so, once again, what are you actually gaining by going to CarMax over the dealer? You can just go to the dealer and pay the listed price without negotiating. Easy peasy and saves both you and the dealer a headache. I’ve done it several times.
I should probably qualify my position by saying I’ve never been to CarMax as there aren’t any anywhere near me. The only information I have on them is from the posts in this thread.
Did you not read my post? I responded to exactly this point.
I got one car at CarMax and I’m planning on buying my next one there. One year old, low mileage, “practically new” for $5000 off the new car price, and I want a very specific car. I have a saved search I look at once a week while I save money.
I’m happy to look at the used car lots around here too, but I’d be saving at most $1500 and it’ll be a lot more hassle. Plus, used car lots around here are super shady. CarMax is many things, but it’s not shady.
Some of its sales staff are.
Yes I did read your post. The way it was worded made it sound like the only place you can just walk in and pay the asking price is at CarMax and you have to negotiate/haggle with the dealers. I was saying you can also just walk into the dealer and pay the asking price without any negotiation/haggle. Please clarify if I’m wrong.