Complaint Review: CarMax Richmond Virginia - Richmond Virginia

I am also a victum of carmax's innocent vendication through the" buy at your own risk" and "used" mask that they use to cover up thier poor buisnes practices. If a customer has a question about the vehicles history, why isn't it aswered ecept with open answers. I had a CarFax report and some other report that the salesman pulled that had shown my vehicle was never in an accident, fender bender or the more obvious "totaled" discription. I had also taken my vehicle into a pro body shop and they had spotted the damage right off the bat. I would of never seen what he had poited out. The sales person probably felt well assured with his statement that alll vehicles go through inspection and they do not sell vehicles like the one in the showroom. (Normally one that looks perfect, but , has photos of being smashed in an accident. (Much like the popular Carfax Report commercial of the totaled vehicle being draged onto the back of a flatbed.) Then you see a new paintjob being typed on the screen. I think that is a good reflection of Carmaxe's purchacing policies. I am sound in my conclution that CarMax passes more totaled vehicles than fenderbenders. I wish my vehicle was just a shopping cart damaged vehicle. My wheels wear on the inside and the tires bow out (Frame Damage) and there are signs of drivetrain damage do to impact. Carmax does not always support the 30 day guerentee, or the 5 day return policy. I had asked for all of the above and my vehicle was in the shop for three months, for repairs that had never fixed any of my issues. They had told me that since I had passed the 30 day mark that they would not cover my alingment issue, even though I hadnt put more than a few hundred miles on it. You can believe the employees that back up this corruption and people will unwhittingly buy salvage vehicles, or people like me that feel people should know their practices before they sign the contract. Your choice!! I tell everyone I see with a dealership tag and carmax lable that they shouldnt buy it or take it to a reputable bodyshop before you sign...

i worked for carmax for over five years. i have been shocked to see some of the cars they wanted to repair. here's the thing, most of these cars are bought at auction. if they get the car back to the shop and discover that there is flood damage, frame damage, or anything they say they wont sell the buyers debate over it for a while and usually decide that its good to go. They dont want to take that kind of a loss and sell it at a wholesale auction. I have seen techs scraping sand out of door panels, pulling out flooded carpet and spray painting the rusted floor.spray painting black carpet, filling open holes in body panels with fiberglass, and touching up the majority of a panel. the kids who work in the detail shop and the inventory dept. are fresh out of highschool and unsupervised for the most part. they throw things around the cars and drive them on the lot after hours. i once saw a corvette z06 doing donuts in the back lot at around 5 in the morning. if that had been me i would have been paid to repair it if i damaged it. the good reviews of this company are from brainwashed salesmen. you have to believe the b.s. to effectively lay it out.

The best thing to do BEFORE buying any car is to get a carfax report that will tell you of any reportable damages to any insurance company that have been repaired by any body shop, on any paticular car, this is a free service that any reputable dealer will give you upon request or for a very small fee you can get the VIN number of the car and have one run by yourself. I have worked for car dealers in the past and most don't care about anything except pushing the car out the door so they can get thier commission for the sale, I personally was told by my boss one time to "fix it, don't spend any money", all we had to do was buy a 9 dollar intake manifold gasket and we had to make one out of cardboard so he could charge the customer when he brought it back a week later....

you said you found a car that you loved. how did you miss the lime green paint tape all over it that was so easily found by your bodyshop guy. carmax guarantees no "frame damage, flood damage or other title brands" no where does it say, "this car was never in a fender bender." a great thing about carmax is the 5 day return policy. buy the car, take it to an independent inspector and if they find signs of repairs...RETURN it. what i really found the most idiotic is your comment about "looking back i can see why the sales person was so anxious to sell us this car" i sell cars at carmax. i've worked at 2 different locations. we have hundreds of cars. we get paid the same no matter what car we sell you. everyday there are new cars to replace the cars that were sold the day before. as a sales person there is no place in my system that i can check to see what kind of repairs have been done to vehicles on my lot. even if there were i wouldn't have the time or the desire to do so. i personally don't care what car i sell someone as long as they seem to like it and it fits their needs. the cheapest car i've sold was about $7,000. it was a hyundai accent. the most expensive, a $55,000 infinity QX56. i got paid the same for both of them. i also got excited when i sold them because i was making money and putting someone in a car they needed/wanted/whatever. in all honesty i enjoyed the accent people more. they were young, nice and thrilled they could finance something. the infinity people were older, snobs and acted indiferent to getting one of the nicest cars made. they also made a big deal out of being able to pay cash for it, so they were show offs as well. no one at carmax cares what car you buy, just so long as your happy.

Ok, First things first. CarMax states that we will not sell FRAME OR FLOOD DAMAGED cars. No where IN PRINT do they say no accidents, cause that is not a true statement. That does not mean that your car has not been in a fender bender. A fender bender is not frame damage! Sorry that your salesman misinformed you but buyer beware. Do your own research. Also, how do you know that your car was not hit by a grocery cart? You cant tell the difference, as stated by the other employee, we paint and have body work done on many cars due to everyday mis-haps. Also, i can assure you that Loss Prevention would be all over people who are crashing more than a car a year trying to get more "work". Think about it. A 6 billion dollar company watches things like that. Yeah, I will agree that CarMax is not even close to perfect, but they try. And when purchasing a used car thats all you can ask for. Better than most!

Actually, being a mechanic and a paint prepper at CarMax are a lot alike. Both are production paid associates, and get paid for the work they do, not by the hour - just like any other mechanic or body shop out there. If in fact the salesman did tell you the car had never been in a "fender bender" or flood like you say he did, caveat emptor still applies (buyer beware) in all aspects of life. CarFax is a great resource to use, and there is no way that you wouldn't have notice paint tape or overspray on your vehicle until the "Blessed Body Shop Estimator" from the competitive shop pointed it out to you. Overspray is extremely noticeable. It creates a haze and feels like sandpaper on the panel. Paint tape is lime green in color. These two alone are pretty obvious. I've been an completely satisfied employee of CarMax for 2 1/2 years now, and have purchased four vehicles in total from CarMax. I manage the cosmetic repair side of the reconditioning process, and I can assure you that you will never find, in any piece of literature that CarMax publishes, something stating that CarMax is 100% accurate all the time. You did have 5 days to return the vehicle, no questions asked. You also had 30 days to get ANYTHING done to the car that didn't stack up to the definition of quality to you. Like the guy above said, these ARE used cars - USED.

I am glad you work for carmax, but in the body shop, the techs get paid for repairs, obviously the more repairs that need to be done the more money they will make. Being a mechanic at carmax and being a bodyman is 2 different things! Are you implying I am lying? Why would I?

I have worked for Carmax for a long time, and I have never gotten paid for damaging a vehicle. If you take your vehicle to a mechanic and you tell them that you think something is wrong with your car, of course he is going to agree with you! That is how he makes money, open your eyes people.

I have said this before...My Husband worked for Carmax in the Body Shop and they do not fix on "minor Repairs". Cars have had to have major body work done to them! Even new cars! Employees play around on the lot and damage vehicles themselves! then get paid to fix their own damage! Of course if the employees damage the vehicles it is never reported as an accident! So who would know!

Every single dent, ding and scratchis repaired. SOmetimes that involves replacing panels and other parts. That does not mean that it was in a major accident. Nothing comes in the shop with anything more than normal wear and tear. One side hanging lower was most likely just a plastic clip worn or broken. Once again, normal wear and tear. The pull is easily resolved by taking it to a competant shop. A pull even though everything is within spec on a thrust angle alignment indicates a tire conicity problem. Swap the front tires (left to right) and I bet the pull will go the other direction. That means you need new front tires, not that the car is a POS. You had 30 days to report anyproblems after buying the car. I'm sure that you would have noticed a pull. So it wasn't pulling when you left the lot. Any ways, it's a used car. I challenge you to find another used car dealer that will let you bring a car back for free to exchange in the first 5 days or that will fix ANY problems in the first 30 days for free.