Complaint Review: CARMAX - Maryland

I am on my second vehicle purchased from CARMAX within two years. I must admit that we had some serious issues with our first vehicle purchased there. We purchased a 1998 Chevrolet Venture. Within two weeks, there were serious issues with the electrical system and with the power sliding doors. I was given the run around by the service manager and from the General Manager. I finally, at my wits end took the vehicle to another CARMAX store where I talked to the service manager and from there was directed to a regional manager. The problem was quickly resolved. I think that you are failing to go high enough on the food chain. I will admit that CARMAX service advisors and sales staff leave a lot to be desired at all of the locations I have had to do business with. My second CARMAX purchase had its issues at first but I think that CARMAX is going to avoid fighting with me all together this time. My suggestion to you, climb the ladder! Dont think that the people that you deal with at that store are the last ones that you can deal with. They will take care of the problem. CARMAX does care about the reputation that they carry. I threatened to park my Venture across the street from the CARMAX service department with the windows painted to inform other consumers about the way I was treated. Good luck to you!

If there are known problems at the time of sale the customer can opt to leave the car with Carmax until the issues are fixed. At the time they pick the vehicle up after the repairs are completed their 5 days will start. I think the problem here is that a 94 Jetta was purchased and expected to run like a 99 Honda or Toyota.

If you're suddenly without a car because it got totaled, stolen, etc, renting a car for a week or so while you shop for another one is money well spent. You will be ripped off for much more if you rush into a deal. Car dealers' mouths water when they know you're desperate. Always have YOUR mechanic inspect any used car BEFORE signing any agreement to buy it. The "NNN-point inspections" claimed by dealers are just sales ploys. If any real inspection were done, it would be totally biased in the dealer's favor. If your inspection or test drive discovers a problem with the car, do not buy it based on the dealer's promise to repair it. Tell the dealer to repair the car first, then you will return to buy it. If he doesn't want to do that, realize that if you buy the car, you're going to have to pay for repairs yourself or live with the problems. The price you pay should reflect that. Any honest dealer (if there are any) would have repaired such obvious defects that this particular car had before offering it for sale. As for Mary shilling so proudly about the 5 day return period, November 2, 2003 was a Sunday. Carmax promised to make repairs if he returned "the following Saturday" (6 days later), which was obviously a ploy to convince the buyer to keep the car (and not take it to his mechanic) until after the 5 days had expired.

Sir, you test drove a 9 year old car, noticed that it had problems during the test drive and BOUGHT IT ANYWAY, because you "loved the way the car looked." After you got it home you had 5 days to return it, no questions asked, so why didn't you use that time to let your mechanic check it out? It is no-ones fault that you bought a clunker but your own. As far as the service department goes, you are recieving your warrenty work, and November 26th is still 6 days short of your warrenty expiration date, so that doesn't leave you without time to have it checked out again by your mechanic, especially if the repairs are warrented for a period of time, as is usually the case. The key to CARMAX is that they are selling USED vehicles, in large volume, the law of averages dictates that a few lemons will get through their screening. You wouldn't buy a used car from "Joe's Auto Sales" without checking it out first, why would you do it at CARMAX. My advice to people considering a CARMAX vehicle is this: run a Vehicle History check BEFORE you even look at the car, use Edmunds.com to find out if the price they want is fair BEFORE you go and pay too high a markup, pay attention during your test drive and take it to your mechanic during your 5 day return period. I did these things when I bought from CARMAX and got a great deal on a great vehicle.