Complaint Review: Carmax

My parents took me to Carmax after my 1999 Mazda 626 died on me in the middle of traffic because they had such a good experience buying my sister's 2005 Nissan Sentra several months before. We went in and requested the salesperson, Asa, that had helped them before. He took us out on the lot and had me look at several cars within my price range and I ended up choosing a 2005 Saturn Ion with 25K miles. Like many others have said, the sales process was amazingly simple and within 3 hours, I had myself a new car.

This was on July 4, 2008.

Within 2 weeks, a message saying "coolant" popped up on my dash. I figured that someone had just forgotten to fill up the coolant tank, which, while irritating, was not a big deal. I went and bought the coolant as described in the manual and filled the coolant tank up. Well, a week later, the message came up again. I called Carmax and brought it in on the 25th of July, I believe. They ran some tests while I waited (thank goodness I have an evening job) in the waiting room for nearly 8 hours and determined that I needed to have the coolant tank, sensor and cap replaced. They put me in a rental car from Enterprise and sent me on my way.

I got the car back the next week, around that Tuesday or so, and drove off, happy that the experience hadn't been too painful. Less than two weeks later, my coolant message came back on again, after which I immediately called Carmax and scheduled an appointment. However, the message stopped coming on, so I assumed that everything was alright (I regret that assumption). Then, in the middle of October, around the 15th or 16th, the coolant message comes on again. I call Carmax and bring it in. Again, I am in the waiting room for close to 6 hours, when a technician finally comes in. He says that they can't find a leak in the car. I tell them that my coolant is going somewhere and that I don't feel comfortable driving the car if they can't figure out where it's going. So the service manager puts me in another Enterprise car and tells me that he will drive it over the weekend to see if the problem still exists. That Monday, I get a call from the service manager who says that the car did lose coolant, but they're not sure where the leak is, since they've already run a pressure test on the car. The next day, he calls me to tell me that they THINK the problem is coming from the water pump, which they are going to replace, but they need me to return the Enterprise vehicle. When I get there, they put me in a PT Cruiser, which (excuse my language) smells like a*s. That's the only way I can describe it. I drive that around for about four days and come to pick up my car when they say the repairs are done. I check the coolant tank, which is full, and drive away happy.

Or so I thought.

A week and a half later, my coolant message comes on AGAIN. At this point, I am fed up. I wait for the car to cool down and pop open the hood and the tank is bone dry. What the heck happened to my full tank of coolant? This is on a Friday evening, so well after their service department is closed for the weekend, but I call and leave them a message to give me a call on Monday to schedule another appointment. Stefanie, the service person I have been dealing with the whole time, calls me up on Monday and I schedule to bring it in on Tuesday.

So exactly four months to the day that I had bought my car, I brought it in for the third time for the same problem that started within the first 30 days I had the vehicle. The first thing Stefanie says to me is that they are going to send the car to Saturn, which thankfully is in Smyrna, less than 30 minutes away, because they just can't figure out what is wrong. She immediately puts me into a rental vehicle and tells me that she will be in contact with me as soon as they know what's wrong.

Before I leave, I bring Stefanie over to the side and as her if there's any way I can just trade this in for a new vehicle. It has just been giving me too much trouble and it's not worth the hassle. She tells me that, if it were her, she would have already asked that question and that I had been one of the most patient people she had ever dealt with. She told me that, since the sales room didn't open until 11 a.m., I should just call her at that time and she would get me in contact with the sales manager, which I did. I told him my problem and he expressed concern with my plight. He also said that he would have to talk with his superiors since the car was past the exchange date, which was fine.

The next day, I get a call from Carmax, telling me that Saturn couldn't figure out what was wrong with my car. I ask to speak with the general manager and I'm sent to his voicemail. (By the way, I still have yet to speak with the general manager in any capacity.) The next day, I get a call from the service manager, Tony, who triumphantly says that they have found the answer to all my problems. There is something wrong with the head gasket.

Um. Okay.

I listened to what he had to say and then I told him that I wanted a new car. I explained to him the situation, which he was familiar with, and he told me that he couldn't make that decision and that it was up to the sales department. His words of comfort were that out of the thousands of cars Saturn makes a day, I just happened to get the one with a warped head gasket. Thanks.

They brought in an extended warrantee agent to assess the situation, and three days ago, I received the verdict from another service manager. It would be more cost effective to install a new engine in the car. I asked if this would be a brand new engine, straight out of the crate, but was told that it would be a used engine with 22K miles on it. I calmly stated that this would not be acceptable and was immediately rebuffed by "we stand behind this engine." I said, and I chose my words carefully here, "I understand that, but you also stood behind the original engine when you sold it to me."

The service manager said she understood and that she would speak with the sales manager to see what options I had. He ultimately said that the only option I had was to have the used engine installed, to which I responded that that particular option was not acceptable. I did not have faith in the used engine that I had now nor a used engine that I would receive. The management then again decided that they would need to discuss the matter further and would contact me as soon as they reached a decision.

The next day, I received another call with them saying that they would install the used engine and bring me in to discuss getting another vehicle. So now I am waiting for them to put in the used engine, and can only hope that they do the right thing and just transfer my loan onto another car. That way, they can fix the car they have right now and sell it at a higher price, since the engine is 3000 miles less than it was originally.

At this point, based solely upon the fact that my car was not inspected properly, I will never buy another car from Carmax. If they had actually done that, this 2005 Saturn Ion wouldn't have been on the lot in the way it was the day I bought it. I will update this report as soon as this thing is resolved.

JaneH
Nashville, Tennessee
U.S.A.

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