Carmax Sell Car Advice

Does Carmax follow any offer guidelines when purchasing cars from the public?

Do they give you KBB "trade-in" value? Or better? Or worst?

Is there a better time of the month to sell?

They give you their own value. Kind of an average between kbb, nada, Edmunds and any history of cars like yours that they've recently sold.

Last summer, I sold our 10yo van, through CL, for twice what Carmax offered me.

They offered me $4500 for my WRX. I sold it straight up to another dealer for $7500 the next day.

They don't like manuals, and they don't like mods. Also over a certain age or miles and they will only give you wholesale at best because it's just going to the auction.

It really depends on the car. Chances are that they'll offer you less than wholesale. Unless you need money in a hurry, or can't seem to sell the car, look elsewhere.

Here we go again.

Carmax is the #2 wholesaler of vehicles in the nation behind Manhiem. They have an extensive database that is literally to the minute of what cars are going for. When Carmax makes an offer they look at 4 things in the market.

Current retail inventory
Average on lot time
Local wholesale price.
Average reconditioning costs (this is where what car you purchased comes into play. Land Rover, Jag, turbo Volvo, your hosed)

Carmax calls the price to the buyers office. No one person (unless you come in right at close on a traditionally non-busy night) decides the price on your car, but it is their final decision. Once the price is decided on, they enter it to the system. The system automatically deducts a fee from the offer for the purchase, (this varies by store but my store was $500.) They are always conservative on their offer usually, after the fee, it comes in at least 1 grade below Black Book (not going into it but dealers that stay around very long do not use KBB, that is a nice little dealers ploy to sucker you, NADA is banks and old school dealers, Edmunds is a good consumer guide that is closer to reality than KBB IME) Black Book is primarily dealers but a few credit unions have given access to a lite version.

With the fees, recon (if you car needs tires, that gets taken off the price) and the conservative nature, that is why Carmax comes in so low.

Now aftermarket equipment,or the appearance of aftermarket being present before, other than little apperance bolt ons, gets your car kicked to wholesale and they will give you what ever the auction value is for one grade lower than your car actually is. Then the fees etc.

If you had an aftermarket hood and put the stock back on, they will check the bolts on the hood to see if it has been replaced. They are that meticulous. They miss sometimes but a majority they catch.

So let's look at the WRX above. $7500, I am lazy, we will asume that is book average condition. WRX issues from Carmax's database (they keep information on every make and model that has ever been in their possession. If the car was bought from Carmax 10 years ago, they know.) Axles, clutch, turbo weep (even a little weep gets hit), right rear wheel bearings, rear main seal, and tires.

When the vehicle was inspected it was assumed that these issues were present. He had to find information that they weren't (guilty until proven innocent.) If there was aftermarket equipment, they assume on a car like that it has had a hard life. Autocrossed and the such.

So their cost to refurb half of that will be in the $2K range, I am again making the assumption that it is being sold and not going "to the show" (autction, if you modded it, have over 100K miles, etc it goes anyway). So now we are down to $5500. Take a $500 fee off of it and we are at $5k. See how quickly the price of your car goes away?

The local dealer you sold your car too, at best, has about half of this data. He doesn't care if it is over 100K he just wants something cool he can flip quick and make a good buck. At $15K he can get a $300 payment on a kid in high school/college, and at that price parents won't baulk too much.

Now if it is a really desirable car, that is clean, they will give more. If they can move it, I have seen them beat everyone in an area. Gas hits $5 a gallon, They will give almost retail for a popular compact car. When gas first hit $4 a gallon they were buying compacts like crazy, and selling them at MSRP new. They were selling as fast as they bought them.

Carmax automatic kick to auction rules are:
Frame Damage
Over 100K (with certain exceptions)
Over 10 years old
Aftermarket engine or suspension (Exhaust included)
Over the top wheels.

Carmax doesn't negotiate on prices, buying or selling. Once it is in writing it's done.

Any more questions just ask.

Sincerely your local neighborhood former Carmax President's Club Member and Above and Beyond Award winner.

I have sold to CarMax. I wasn't really happy, but knowing what I had, I wasn't too disappointed. As mentioned above, if you have a manual trans, or a modded vehicle, you'd probably be better off selling it privately.

Oh yeah about the manual. It isn't a hit from Carmax but the industry. If a car other than a sports car has a manual, you will get hit. Because that is what the wholesale is.

Not a Carmax thing, but just the left leg lazy mouth breathing driver-less world we live in now.

Dealers offered my wife $11,000 - 13,500 for her F150. Carmax offered $7,500 and wouldn't budge. We drove 4 hours there after they guranteed us the same tradein as the dealer and they had an Armada we liked. Drove 4 hours back with a PISSED off wife. Next day drove 2 hours to Austin and got an Armada, and $13,500 tradein for the F150. If you ever want to go WORK for Carmax, be prepared for an 8-10 hr interview.

Yeah Carmax never negotiates. On anything.

Never, ever,EVER, EVER!!!!!!

My interview process was about 4 hours.

In reply to Flight Service:

Excellent assessment of my WRX. Here are the rest of the details:

The car was mechanically and cosmetically perfect, completely unmodified, brakes and tires (Goodyear Eagles) were about a month old, but the car also had 125k miles on it, so I knew it would go to the auction and they told me so. I never really expected to sell it to Car Max in the first place, but I wanted to get a solid number to work from. It would also represent a quick and easy transaction if I chose to go that way.

The dealer that I sold it to had a tiny lot across the street from the projects in a city that's really not all that nice. He has about twenty five cars in his inventory and at least four of them are usually WRXs. So...it was a perfect match.

If I wanted to put more time and effort into it, I probably cold have gotten another $500-800 by selling it privately. I had one buyer who flaked out on me on the way to the bank and I had already run it through eBay for a week with a high reserve and it was bid up to $7200.

I found a good deal on a car that I knew wouldn't last very long and I needed to move quickly, so I decided the tradeoff was worth it for a quick transaction.

In reply to Woody:

Thanks!

In reply to Flight Service:

You have an annoying avatar.

Woody wrote: In reply to Flight Service: You have an annoying avatar.

Indeed he does......What I've gathered here is that most carmax's must be better than the one in Indianapolis.

Flight Service -

That overview was a huge help, thanks!

Wow my experience with carmax was much better. They offered me more than what any dealer would by $1000-2000. Dealers would say they were all in at $22-23 on the WRX after lots of negotiating. I went to CARMAX first and got an offer of $24k.

Craigslist offenders were possibly the worst offering $20k because their bro told em that's what it's worth.

The first car I took there they offered me a fair price for the car so I sold them the car, second truck they gave me $3K over KBB ! Sold them the truck. The last car I tried to sell them was like getting kicked in the junk! I asked the agent if he had the correct car, they were $8K bellow bad book.

Good luck , hope you catch them on a good day.