Complaint Review: CarMax

CARMAX does have a list of auctioned cars in the office. It uses many different programs to find the price of cars, even if the are wholesale. You didn't have to sell it. You could have posted an ad on facebook, craigslist, or autotrader. You accepted it, they don't force you to sale a car when they appraise it. So get off your high horse. You can't sue if you knew EXACTLY what they were giving you and that it was less than you wanted. It's your fault. You did it to yourself.

no one forced you to sell your car to them. they offered you a price and you took it. its not their fault you cant make ends meet. you always get less for a car if you sell it to a place like carmax that if you seel it your self. you should have looked at the trade in value and known it would have been less. car dealers make their money off of used cars anyways. no where you go would have given you much more. plus just because kbb says it worth so much doesnt mean someone will pay that much. no one wants hyundai cars. they are crappy. get a life and get a better job so you dont have to go and sell you stuff for pennys.

So you sought a convenience, an easy out of the old car as you were eager to get the new one real fast. Being reasonable, you sought a price even below the fair market value. So far, so good.
Car Max, a seller at retail counter-offered to you a wholesale offer, very low, $500.
Now being hot for that new car, and needing cash for a down payment, you accepted that low offer, sold your old car for $500 and bought the new one.
Now you are experiencing "seller's remorse" because you think Car Max is "taking advantage of people".
Let me say this. The auto marketplace is full of thieves, liars and crooks. But not in this case. Everything was above board and honest. Impatient seller meets a tough buyer who offers lowball price. Both agree, deal is done.
I think you acted immaturely in this case. You were hot to get that new car and didn't want to put that off until you sold your car privately at a much higher price. You wanted it NOW!!
You have no case. Car Max is not required morally or legally " to start offering a fair market value for the cars they buy from individuals."
And yes you are "stuck" with an auction price because you knowingly agreed to it! I hope you can understand this. I don't represent Car Max.
I am looking for a new car, but I don't think there is a single honest new car dealer in the entire country. I may very well go to Car Max and buy a late model used car. At least they post one price for everyone. I hope they don't hide defects, that would turn me off. Your experience has not turned me off to Car Max. Sounds like they dealt with you in an honest straightforward way.

The Hyundai Accent is a car that does not hold up their resale value well and their is not a high market demand for them. ALso, they are not reliable so Carmax would have to a risk buying your car. YOu had the choice to sell it to them. Its was your decision and you shouldnt complain because you had the right to say no.

The Hyundai Accent is a car that does not hold up their resale value well and their is not a high market demand for them. ALso, they are not reliable so Carmax would have to a risk buying your car. YOu had the choice to sell it to them. Its was your decision and you shouldnt complain because you had the right to say no.

The Hyundai Accent is a car that does not hold up their resale value well and their is not a high market demand for them. ALso, they are not reliable so Carmax would have to a risk buying your car. YOu had the choice to sell it to them. Its was your decision and you shouldnt complain because you had the right to say no.

I WOULD HAVE GIVEN YOU $1,000 FOR IT!


You should have advertised it in your daily newspaper or your college newspaper that college kids read. Somebody would have bought it FAST.

"PRICED TO SELL ASAP --" is how you would start it off and go from there. Be sure to put AS IS or OBO and specify if any work is needed on the ad so they can't come back on you later.

These days with the gas prices( whether that is real or contrived in time for the elections is anybody's guess) THE CAR SELLER IS AT A DISADVANTAGE!

So they aren't going to pay you any more than what they think it is worth.

that's ANY business but ESPECIALLY THE CAR BUSINESS which isn't doing well in my town. They have some choice merchandise stacking up on the lot now but with the employment insecurity now, who can afford to see if your job can outlast the vehicle paryments?

That's just the way it goes.

Remember that when you go to the polls, incidentally!

What this means is that your car did not meet Carmax's standards to be resold to the public. As a result, they are offering you what they expect to receive from auctioning the car off. They research this information very carefully and the offers they give are quite reasonable.

This is not necessarily a rip-off. Know and understand that it depends on the vehicle you bring in. I happen to know that the offers really do vary. They're all over the place. Plus you can find this information. I had a customer recently who told me exactly what he was going to get for his truck because he said he researched it online, and we gave him exactly what he said we would.

So do your research. KBB has not bought cars in over 70 YEARS. plus their value is based on what the other dealers give which is inflated because they will generally give you more and they mark up their vehicles for sale to recoup. Whereas Carmax fixes all their pricing as to avoid this type of game

I actually think that CARMAX was being truthful when they told him that they were giving him wholesale price for his car. He should imagine himself in the car business. If he could buy an identical car at a local auction for $xx, Why would he offer a customer more than that for HIS car? There might be some reason for it. Carmax has an immediate buyer for a car like that or the car is 8 years old and has 20 miles on it, or President Reagan owned it or something like that. In the real world -whether you go to a Cadillac dealer or Carmax, you will generally get for your trade what it costs the dealer to purchase an identical one for at a dealer auction.

The many Price Guides which show you a "wholesale" price for your trade, then a "Private Party" selling price and a "Retail" price are to blame for giving you a false idea of what your car is worth to a dealer. Actually, at a GM Auction (for instance) many of the cars have already been checked out and are Certifiable. Yours may not be. In many cases the dealer may send your car directly to auction himself. No new car dealer will mess with an 8 year old Hyundai. He may get less than he paid you but you can be sure he won't lose money. He will lowball trades he knows he won't keep and those he will keep he will give you an auction price.

The whole deal is the "difference" when you trade for a new or different car. He could sell you a new car for $50,000 and give you $20,000 or sell you the car for $500,000 and give you $470,000 for your trade. The deal is exactly the same. He will play around with figures but the bottom line is that you will owe him $20,000. When he buys your car outright you will normally get the auction price for it and that is exactly what happened regardless of "book" value. Ask the people who wrote the book if they will pay you $3600.

CarMax gives fair wholesale values for cars they buy. In fact, their buyers are evaluated on how close the price they paid the individual for the car is to the actual action price. The buyers are penalized just as much for paying too little for a car as they are for paying too much. The goal is to pay the individual as close to the actual wholesale value as possible. Granted, the WHOLESALE value IS usually greatly less than the RETAIL value. This is true of every item sold anywhere. CarMax clearly states that you are being paid the wholesale value. They are not making any money in the deal. They are paying you exactly (or as close as they can predict) what they will get for your car at auction. They are simply giving you the option of having your car sold for the wholesale value. If you want the retail value, you can put your car up for sale on your own.

CarMax gives fair wholesale values for cars they buy. In fact, their buyers are evaluated on how close the price they paid the individual for the car is to the actual action price. The buyers are penalized just as much for paying too little for a car as they are for paying too much. The goal is to pay the individual as close to the actual wholesale value as possible. Granted, the WHOLESALE value IS usually greatly less than the RETAIL value. This is true of every item sold anywhere. CarMax clearly states that you are being paid the wholesale value. They are not making any money in the deal. They are paying you exactly (or as close as they can predict) what they will get for your car at auction. They are simply giving you the option of having your car sold for the wholesale value. If you want the retail value, you can put your car up for sale on your own.

CarMax gives fair wholesale values for cars they buy. In fact, their buyers are evaluated on how close the price they paid the individual for the car is to the actual action price. The buyers are penalized just as much for paying too little for a car as they are for paying too much. The goal is to pay the individual as close to the actual wholesale value as possible. Granted, the WHOLESALE value IS usually greatly less than the RETAIL value. This is true of every item sold anywhere. CarMax clearly states that you are being paid the wholesale value. They are not making any money in the deal. They are paying you exactly (or as close as they can predict) what they will get for your car at auction. They are simply giving you the option of having your car sold for the wholesale value. If you want the retail value, you can put your car up for sale on your own.

That is carmax's policy, they buy low... real low... and sell high, real high!

Its already all over... the new corporate slogans - You pay the max at carmax!

or - "dont pay the max for your next car".

very few great deals at carmax, I'd rather go to a dealer and get a decent deal then know I had been to carmax and had my head ripped off!

there service is obviousy piss poor and I can also see most locations do not even offer full serivce or parts operations. SO really what kind of dealership is this???

He's down "to his last $40". "I had just bought a newer vehicle". Even though it's valued at $3,600 he had a vehicle with "no mechanical problems, that he dumps for $500. "He had no choice but to accept the offer". This fool had plenty of choices. He didn't have to buy a "newer" vehicle. He didn't have to accept their offer. He didn't have to walk into carmax. I really like the part about "I am now researching to see if anyone has filed a class action lawsuit...". I wonder if anyone has filed a class action lawsuit for being stupid? And the dumbest part of all..."I'm not an auctioneer I shouldn't be stuck receiving an auction price". Kind of like me walking into the store and saying..."I shouldn't have to pay the store price of $4 for a gallon of milk, I want the rancher's price of $2 for a gallon of milk. I know, I'll buy a ranch and a bunch of cows and get the $2 price and he can buy a car lot and get the retail price for his POS 2000 hyundai accent with only 68,500 miles with no mechanical problems. Truly frickkin' amazing.

He's down "to his last $40". "I had just bought a newer vehicle". Even though it's valued at $3,600 he had a vehicle with "no mechanical problems, that he dumps for $500. "He had no choice but to accept the offer". This fool had plenty of choices. He didn't have to buy a "newer" vehicle. He didn't have to accept their offer. He didn't have to walk into carmax. I really like the part about "I am now researching to see if anyone has filed a class action lawsuit...". I wonder if anyone has filed a class action lawsuit for being stupid? And the dumbest part of all..."I'm not an auctioneer I shouldn't be stuck receiving an auction price". Kind of like me walking into the store and saying..."I shouldn't have to pay the store price of $4 for a gallon of milk, I want the rancher's price of $2 for a gallon of milk. I know, I'll buy a ranch and a bunch of cows and get the $2 price and he can buy a car lot and get the retail price for his POS 2000 hyundai accent with only 68,500 miles with no mechanical problems. Truly frickkin' amazing.

YOU clearly stated you took the offer even if it was down to your last savings...you could have to just went somewhere else.

You have seller's remorse...they won't negotiate? Doesn't sound like you tried.

I had a similar situation back then when I was selling my old electronics in working order but when the outlet gave me real low ball prices...I DECLINED.

I'm afraid you're only calling this rip off because you didn't go look for a better offer.

If your life savings is only $40, what are you doing buying a "newer car," especially when you already have one that is mechically reliable?

This really makes no sense at all. You DID have a choice -- you could have kept your old car! CarMax did NOT in any way force you to turn over your crap-car at an "unfair" price. As I stated before, you are lucky that you even got as much as you dd for your car, considering it has virtually no value at all anyway.

If your life savings is only $40, what are you doing buying a "newer car," especially when you already have one that is mechically reliable?

This really makes no sense at all. You DID have a choice -- you could have kept your old car! CarMax did NOT in any way force you to turn over your crap-car at an "unfair" price. As I stated before, you are lucky that you even got as much as you dd for your car, considering it has virtually no value at all anyway.

If your life savings is only $40, what are you doing buying a "newer car," especially when you already have one that is mechically reliable?

This really makes no sense at all. You DID have a choice -- you could have kept your old car! CarMax did NOT in any way force you to turn over your crap-car at an "unfair" price. As I stated before, you are lucky that you even got as much as you dd for your car, considering it has virtually no value at all anyway.

If your life savings is only $40, what are you doing buying a "newer car," especially when you already have one that is mechically reliable?

This really makes no sense at all. You DID have a choice -- you could have kept your old car! CarMax did NOT in any way force you to turn over your crap-car at an "unfair" price. As I stated before, you are lucky that you even got as much as you dd for your car, considering it has virtually no value at all anyway.

"I just purchased a newer vehicle. The car had no mechanical problems. Being down to my last $40..."

Why did you buy a newer car at all if the one you had was just wonderful? I've never understood that idea.

KIA's and Hyundai's are worthless the second they manage to be driven off the lot. Their own dealerships will not accept them as trades. That's your sign.

If you have no money($40), how are you planning to pay for the car you just bought? Is that company going to rip you off also, when they repo it?

Unless they held a gun to your head and forced you to agree to the offer, there is no rip off here. Furthermore, it sounds like you had unreasonable expectations regarding the true value of your vehicle. It sounds like the price you were offered for your almost-8-year-old HYUNDAI with nearly 70,000 miles was indeed fair, especially considering that CarMax really has no market for such a vehicle anyway. Taking into consideration the cost for CarMax to haul your old vehicle off to the junk yard, they did not make any money either.

CarMax made you an offer for your car, and YOU accepted it. Unless they held a gun to your head and forced you to agree to the offer, there is no rip off here. Furthermore, it sounds like you had unreasonable expectations regarding the true value of your vehicle. It sounds like the price you were offered for your almost-8-year-old HYUNDAI with nearly 70,000 miles was indeed fair, especially considering that CarMax really has no market for such a vehicle anyway. Taking into consideration the cost for CarMax to haul your old vehicle off to the junk yard, they did not make any money either.

I understand being frustrated you did not receive as much as you hoped. But at no time did you say that they lied to you. You made a completely legal sale, you now you have remorse because you feel you could have received more. There are no grounds here for a lawsuite. If I offer someone on Craigslist half what they are asking for a car, thats not dishonest, thats just business.