Hi all. My wife is looking for a 2018+ Mazda6 w/ the 2.5T motor in Soul Red. A delightful combo, if I do say. There's exact zero copies of that specific car for sale around here (surprise!) so we're looking at CarMax and their nationwide reach. However, the idea of getting a car shipped here, sight unseen, is a little spooky to us. For those who have used CarMax, how was your experience? Were the photos online trustworthy enough? Would you do it again?
I have both bought from and sold to CarMax. Experience was fast and pleasant both times. I actually had a rare 6-speed Accord Coupe shipped in from another state (ended up selling the car not too long after because it was less of a good fit than I thought, but CarMax was great), so feel free to ask any specific questions you have about that process. The only thing really wrong with them is that their stuff used to be priced relatively high, though that may be less true now with the crazy market.
I think they have their stuff way, way more together than the Carvana/Vroom type places, which are now losing their licenses to do business in some states after getting caught doing bad things with titles and registration. Also, unlike the "at your door" services, you don't have some delivery truck driver hurrying you up to take or leave the car, it's super low pressure, if you had it shipped in and don't want it they just put it back on the lot and then ship it somewhere else.
tl,dr: I like CarMax.
In reply to pointofdeparture :
Their prices are right in line with the crazy market right now. At least from what we're seeing. As far as shipping goes, it looks like you can just do it all from the website right? Pick the nearest location, find a car, click "ship."
I bought my last car through CarMax and have no complaints. The price was a bit higher than some other places, but the selection of used cars was impressive. I was able to find the exact car with the paint and options that I wanted. The car was in good shape and was very clean. That was pretty amazing for a used car experience. Of course, that was pre pandemic so your mileage may vary.
I think they're easier to work with compared to the other sites but the prices have always felt high.
Price out the Civic Type R........
They're usually priced high, but with what you're looking for, if they have it, bring it in. If you don't like it in person, just pass.
it will cost less than a fly and drive, and you won't feel the pressure to take it home vs a fly and drive.
I seem to recall from when we had a car shipped from out of state with CarMax, the shipping fee would be forfeited if we didn't buy it. Kinda made sense to prevent people from shipping cars to them just to test and walk away from. Apparently, they know the markets really well and will move cars to different stores based on what's being bought. We ended up buying the car and, save for a minor mechanical issue they paid the dealer to fix but loaned us a similar car while being repaired, it was exactly as the pictures and description said. 10/10 would do again. Yeah, the prices are a bit higher than others, but it's as low pressure as buying a washing machine from a big box store and the selection (pre-pandemic) was excellent.
-Rob
Positive experience for me. I bought my F150 from Carmax about 3 years ago.
I actually had one transferred in and didn't buy it - it was as described but I missed that it was 2wd, not 4wd (totally my fault, glossed over the 2wd in the description since virtually every truck I found was 4wd). Cost me $99 for the transfer but no issue not taking the vehicle.
One thing to note: They may not be able to transfer a vehicle to another state if they are waiting to get the title. That happened to me with the truck I did buy. It was in Orlando and I'm in Charlotte, and they could not transfer out of state until they got the title. But, they could still sell the vehicle in Florida without having the title. They could only hold the truck like 3 days, and they thought the title would take 1-2 weeks.
I chose to do a fly and drive to get it. Talked with a salesguy beforehand about the details to make sure I wouldn't get there and the truck was sold or some other issue. Everything went really smooth, I took a 6am flight, the truck was there with a full (36 gallon) tank of gas and I was on the road headed home by 10:30, home for dinner.
There were a couple of things that the Charlotte location had to take care of once I got it home. One of the tires had been curbed and the sidewall was scuffed pretty bad, probably fine, but it was the sidewall, so I told them about it, and they replaced both front tires since they could not just replace one. They also had the super deep Florida tint removed so I could pass NC inspection.
Overall, very good experience. It seemed kind of dumb to do a fly and drive for a Carmax vehicle, but I was time constrained, and had been struggling to find a truck with the options I wanted at a decent price, so I went ahead with it.
thatsnowinnebago said:In reply to pointofdeparture :
Their prices are right in line with the crazy market right now. At least from what we're seeing. As far as shipping goes, it looks like you can just do it all from the website right? Pick the nearest location, find a car, click "ship."
That's correct. When I actually paid the transfer fee online for a car someone just called me to confirm and set up an appointment but that was it. At no point was I badgered with phone calls or anything else. The whole experience was so much less slimy than a typical dealer.
pointofdeparture said:thatsnowinnebago said:In reply to pointofdeparture :
Their prices are right in line with the crazy market right now. At least from what we're seeing. As far as shipping goes, it looks like you can just do it all from the website right? Pick the nearest location, find a car, click "ship."
That's correct. When I actually paid the transfer fee online for a car someone just called me to confirm and set up an appointment but that was it. At no point was I badgered with phone calls or anything else. The whole experience was so much less slimy than a typical dealer.
You'd think dealers would try to make it that easy to spend money too, right? We tried to look at a Hyundai Sonata too, but the people at the dealership actively avoided eye contact and ignored us until we left.
I bought my most recent car, the BMW i3, at CarMax. I had a couple great and a couple not-so-great experiences
Great:
Not so Great:
I might know a guy that worked there for a decade. Carmax prices avg $400-500 higher than anywhere else, but you're paying for the convenience/lack of hassle. A lot of other companies are copying the model now though. When a transfer request comes in, they put it out on a transport wire, quote you the "worst case" and then up the money they offer until a transporter bites. Typically this results in the car arriving quicker than expected, but I've also seen cars sit for 40+ days if it's an unusual route.
Just make sure you look at it before you buy.
Only bad thing I've heard about carmax was my coworker bought a Suburban that was in another part of the country. When she got it, it was in way worse shape but she had bought it already. She tried to get them to fix the cosmetic issues and they was like nah we have our money lol.
I got my 4runner at carmax. the price was fair, the 4runner was ans is still in great shape. the only thing is they tried to sell me an extended warrantee. I declined. then they tried to tell me a story about how my mom would buy an extended warrantee, I declined again. then just before I took delivery of the 4runner I was told it wasn't to late to get that extended warrantee I have been thinking about. I declined a third time.
other than the attempts of selling me an extended warrantee the process took about 45 minutes, and that included my trade in. i would buy there again, even knowing I will have to politely decline the extended warrantee three times. and to be fair, they were not overly pushy about it, it just cam up three time.
Extended warrantee, there, I said it again.
In reply to EricM :
But did you buy the tru-coat?
I bought a car at CarMax a few months ago, but not sure this helps: CARVANA has a slightly better quality of car, or so I am told. They will buy cars that are in better condition than those bought by CarMax but they will of course pass on the higher price.
My 2013 Ford had ridiculously low miles and was a low priced model, 2 things that were attractive to me, but the previous owner report indicated it had contacted a roadside sign. Whoever did the repair left overspray on the headlight and the pre-purchase inspection/prep missed it. I took care of the overspray myself. When I finished the paperwork and was about to drive away the sales associate noticed a very thin scratch on the windshield. Incredibly they offered to replace at no charge. Then, a few weeks later, I realized the CD player was not working correctly. They fixed that, too, no charge. However, it appears that whoever fixed the CD player messed up the radio.
Bottom line? CarMax has that 30 day return/no questions asked policy, and I believe CARVANA does too. CARVANA delivers to your door, and you thoroughly inspect your car before you sign for it. CARVANA has a more limited inventory and higher prices, but slightly better cars.
While CarMax is (apparently) quite accommodating on repairs within the first 90 days...probably CARVANA is too.
In reply to Carsandbikes :
OTOH there's a ton of buzz about Carvana messing up the paperwork and people not being able to register their cars and having to park them, getting pulled over for out of state, potentially expired temp tags and similar issues. To the extend that their dealerships are getting into trouble with some states.
I would never do business with Carvana knowing the fact that they have been banned from selling cars in some states in the past due to playing fast and loose with title paperwork. It also doesn't sound like the cars are that great.
https://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/carvana.html?#sort=recent&filter=none
In reply to BoxheadTim :
I wouldn't buy a car from them because their inventory is limited compared to CarMax and the prices are higher. It helped that CarMax was 35-40 minutes away versus nearly 2 hours for CARVANA.
Oddly, the car that I bought was my first or second choice. It has however been a reasonably good car in the 6 months I have had it.
Erich said:
- I had trouble paying the down payment -they don't take credit cards and my debit card has a max transaction of some amount under $2000. I ended up paying with a paper check, which they had to call my Bank to verify.
To be fair you'll probably find the "don't take credit cards for purchase" policy at most dealerships. If you're only making a grand on the sale (profit margins on car sales are generally not all that high), then giving $125 of it to visa (2.5% of a $5K down payment) is a big deal.
Now I can add to the stack of people who had a positive CarMax experience. We picked up a 2018 Mazda6 (with just 10k miles!) from one last night. The whole experience was fairly quick, and very easy from start to finish.
Oops. read Carmax as carvana (which was horrible)
Went to buy a supposedly perfect Focus ST fall of 19. Free transfer from Albany NY. Transfer took 3 weeks.
Go to drive the car, with clean carfax and vincheck and whatever other things they use.
Upon inspection the entire front was replaced, as evidenced by overspray everywhere, and the hood had huge drips/runs in it. I returned the keys and said the car was hit, and they said no way, it had clean internet thingies and it was inspected by their professioneal appraiser people. I pointed everything out to the guy and he still stood behind worthless internet papers.
no way I would pay to transfer a car
I have purchased a vehicle and helped a young lady to purchase a vehicle from Carmax. Both times have been close enough to a real out the door price with a dealer lot with 100% less stress and an even better improvement on the time spent there. Both cars were totally fine.
cfvwtuner said:Oops. read Carmax as carvana (which was horrible)
Went to buy a supposedly perfect Focus ST fall of 19. Free transfer from Albany NY. Transfer took 3 weeks.
Go to drive the car, with clean carfax and vincheck and whatever other things they use.
Upon inspection the entire front was replaced, as evidenced by overspray everywhere, and the hood had huge drips/runs in it. I returned the keys and said the car was hit, and they said no way, it had clean internet thingies and it was inspected by their professioneal appraiser people. I pointed everything out to the guy and he still stood behind worthless internet papers.
no way I would pay to transfer a car
My Carvana experience was amazing, even better than Carmax.
I have sold to both Carmax and Carvana at different times over the last two years and both experiences were really good. With selling, having Carvana come to the house to pick it up and drop off a check was really convenient but on the last one Carmax was $1k higher so they won!
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