CARMAX Did not conceal many problems with car; excessive time in shop; still not fixed- warranty expired White Marsh Maryland
I purchased a 99 Volvo on 14 Feb and returned it the morning of 15 Feb after a total transmission failure. Car was returned to me four weeks later! CARMAX would not provide OEM certified transmission to replace the defective one. The transmission was rebuilt by a local shop. I had no say in the quality of the repair. Afterwards had to take back in again for a defective motor shock mount. The transmission still clunks hard when put into reverse. Still complaining about it.
With a few phone calls to local Volvo dealers, with the VIN in hand, I found out that previous owners took car in two weeks prior to their trade in for same failed transmission problem which they opted to not pay for (out of warranty). The error code was documented in the service computer and with Volvo.
I believe CARMAX concealed the maintenance history for this reason. Yes they fixed it, probably taking a gamble that it would not break down in the 30 days; now I will worry about how long the repair will last.
Bill Kidd Volvo, who serviced the car prior to CARMAX's possession, would not provide any maintenance history after repeated requests through CARMAX. No idea when any maintenance was performed because they won't tell me. However a previous car purchase there was not a problem getting the full history. I definitely won't take it there for service.
Also might add that none of the safety recalls were done. I had to take it in again to Village Volvo to get those done. CARMAX should have reviewed the recall notices during the point inspection and done all safety recalls prior to selling it.
Then I had to take it in again to get the battery replaced. Dead after bringing it home the second time. Yes, they did pay for the replacement, but I had to go find it and install it.
I guess my biggest complaint, besides buying a lemon, is the amount of time I missed from work- calling, waiting, and being distracted. I would not recommend anyone buying from CARMAX unless they're allowed to get the car inspected offsite first.
Two other things, now that I am on a roll. The salesman was dishonest, flat out lied to me about his splitting the commission with another salesman I worked with before. He didn't tell the other guy, so I reported him to his manager. Whatever.
Second, the finance office tried very hard to pressure me into taking their "3 for free" even though I had financing already approved from my credit union. I had to basically beg them to hold the car overnight, and the only reason they did it is because I got a fax for the loan approval. What a scam. Why can't people just be honest?
On the bright side, they did pay for the transmission repair, the battery, threw in new floor mats (after complaining twice) and I did get the car well below KBB avg. retail. Just be aware of what you might have to go through when buying USED. I'm out of the car-buying business for a very long, long time.
Alan
Bel AIr, Maryland
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Nick
Plant City,Florida,
U.S.A.
I can understand your frustration but...
#2UPDATE Employee
Wed, April 09, 2003
I am an employee of carmax not the one that you had your experience with. I would like to start off by saying that i am sorry about your bad experience but.. With all of our cars they do go through the 125 point inspection, the people who do the inspection are human beings and we all know that no one is perfect we all make mistakes.
Your situation sounds alittle familiar as to customers that come into our store after purchasing a vehicle from us but not taking the option of the extended service policy. Most of our most satisfied customers take the warranty. The ones who do not take it and then something happens want to get on these sites and then complain about the company i work for saying they are dis-honest our the lied to you.
On another note we do warranty our cars for 30 days but that is a 30 day limited warranty. The people that sold us your(99 volvo) car probably did not disclose that there was a problem with the transmission when the sold it to us. You said that you went to volvo and they told you that 2 weeks prior to the vehicle being traded in, it was in there shop for the same problem. So it sounds like that individual that had the vehicle fixed it, so that when we appraised the vehicle we would not notice the problem and to not ding the trade in value of the vehicle. So i guess you could say we were miss led when we purchased the car. As far as the maitanence history. We clearly state that we will gladly provide a carfax on any vehicle on our lot(most dealers will not even do that).
And to add to your comments about the sales comsultant. My employers are very strict as to there policies of split commisions. So when you reported the sales consultant in question to his manager, then the issue was most likely addressed. The results or consiquences of that i do not know. if you go to a traditional dealership after you bought a car they would not have even recognized you or your vehicle and there would not have been any type of warranty. It would have been as the saying goes AS IN no warranty.
To comment on your statement towards our finance office. One we do not have finance managers in any of our locations. The reason that they were triying to get you to take advantage of our 3 for free is because we at carmax have a policy we do not hold car for any reason. So it sounds like you did your only other option in this matter if you wanted to get the car. We have credit union fax us approval letters every day. it is almost a common practice. Iunderstand financing with your credit union i do so myself i get a lower intrest rate.
But as far as you buying your car on the 14 of feb. and bringing it in on the 15 of feb. If you Were un happy with the service we provided when your purchased your car or the way we sold you your car you had 5 days to return the car in question no questions asked. SO once again i will say that i am sorry for your experience with us.
sincerly,
carmax sales consultant