Complaint Review: CarMax - Schaumburg Illinois

I just want to say that Four years ago my nephew went in to carmax to buy a work van. He put 10,000 down and was told that he had no problem with the loan and they let him take the van home. He never mislead them in anyway on his credit report. He owns a small flooring business and at that time had two full time employes working for him. He already has two other trucks that he paid cash. He also had good credit with four different credit companys and of course nicor. This new truck was the first car he ever went to buy with fiancing. His business that he owns is incorperated and insuared and bonded. Anyways after seven days he received a call from carmax that told him he needed a co-signer and or 8,000 more down or bring the truck back. He asked why and they told him they could not find a loan company to secure the loan with what he already put down because he was self-employed and that his business was to new to be considered. Even though the day he bought the truck he had his taxes and bank statements that showed everthing was good, anyways I would call this spot fianancing . They let him take a vechile off the lot for a week then said bring it back. At this point he already had the inside of the truck fitted with custom tool boxs and it was being fitted for company logos. So he asked me if I would co-sign and of course I did. Since this day he has now paid the the loan in full and never missed one payment. I have a friend who happen to tell me a similiar story about his daughter, who left with a car and a week later was told to bring it back. It was the same store I dealt with.

It is not spot delivery you are sadly mistaken. Yes they see the application immediatley, yes they see all the numbers that are put in, someone from the lienholder, looks at all the numbers, submitted to the finance companies by your salesperson and uses that information to base a decision. If you lie it will catch up with you (just likeeverything else in life), because they do verify afterall. You SIGN A PURCHASE AGREEMENT/BUYER'S ORDER. In the contract, that you sign along with the credit application which you also sign there is some langauge about the loan being denied if the information is misrepresented, and you sign saying that to your knowledge it is correct (the information) and if its found not to be you understand you have to give the car back. So if the information in the credit application is wrong, then the contract is not valid. If everything is correct than, it is a valid, working, contract. I bought my car from a traditional dealership before I had even heard of CarMax, I experienced "spot delivery" I didn't find out who my lienholder was or where I was to send my payments, I got my first statement from Wells Fargo about a week before the payment was due. That was an unsecured loan. People leaving CarMax know the date of their first payment, who their lienholder is, what their interest rate is, and that its a simple interest loan, I knew none of that until I called up my lienholder (once I found out who it was) and asked. It sounds like a piece of information you included on your application was wrong--but the company trusts that people don't LIE on their applications and that there won't be huge discrepencies. I worked in the business office for over a year, I only saw two occasions where we had to call people and tell them the finance company will not fund their deal and that we needed the car back. When asked why, the reason was because the income was inaccurate (one person just lied outright and said she had a job when she really didn't [when the "employer' was called, the company had never even heard of her], and one person was on maturnity leave at the time).

""Understand 'Spot Delivery' Please!"" I wish YOU would. Spot delivery is when the dealer lets a consumer take the car when the financing is NOT SECURED! This is what happened with the OP of this report. What part of "NOT SECURED" don't you understand? In order for the financing to be SECURED, there must be a SIGNED LOAN CONTRACT between the LENDER and the CONSUMER PURCHASER. This was not done-the purchaser was allowed to take the car WITHOUT a signed loan AGREEMENT (do NOT confuse this with a loan application or some faxed document that states that the loan is PENDING approval.) ""CarMax Does NOT 'Spot Delivery' cars!"" If this and the other ROR are true, then CARMAX certainly DOES perform "spot delivery" with cars. ""CarMax does send ALL the application electronically to the lender when you are in their stores! So the lender is seeing the application immediately!"" Seeing a application and giving the dealer a PENDING approval is NOT a binding loan aggreement. It doesn't matter if the application is faxed or sent regular mail. The FACT of the matter is that a LOAN AGREEMENT, signed by the LENDER and the PURCHASER WAS NOT IN PLACE, hence, it was a "spot delivery"-the loan was not secured. ""If you made false statements, or weren't honest with your application... that's your problem and it will come back to bite you."" The lender offered a PENDING APPROVAL, dependant on running a credit check, verifying income, and other creditworthiness criteria - THIS IS NOT A LOAN AGREEMENT. A loan agreement is SIGNED by the lender and the purchaser and clearly states the amount of the loan, the APR, and the repayment arrangements. Carmax let the purchaser take the car based on the TENTATIVE approval of the lender-THIS IS SPOT DELIVERY!!! ""Please people... get 'spot delivery' right! Hopefully now you understand!"" YOU need to get it right Sarah! Hopefully, NOW you do understad what "spot delivery" means. It MEANS that the loan has not been secured (signed loan contract between lender and purchaser.)

CarMax Does NOT "Spot Delivery" cars! Spot Delivery is exactly what is happening with my sister right now from Phillips Chevrolet in Frankfort, IL. She bought a brand new '08 Impalla, signed a contract with GMAC as the lien holder. She asked multiple times in the office, "I am approved with GMAC right?" That was on July 25, 2008. It's August 16, 2008 and GMAC just NOW got her application in their office for review and guess what? She's NOT approved... they need more money down and the dealership also make a mistake on the contract! That's "SPOT DELIVERY" CarMax does send ALL the application electronically to the lender when you are in their stores! So the lender is seeing the application immediately! If you made false statements, or weren't honest with your application... that's your problem and it will come back to bite you. Please people... get "spot delivery" right! Hopefully now you understand!

CarMax Does NOT "Spot Delivery" cars! Spot Delivery is exactly what is happening with my sister right now from Phillips Chevrolet in Frankfort, IL. She bought a brand new '08 Impalla, signed a contract with GMAC as the lien holder. She asked multiple times in the office, "I am approved with GMAC right?" That was on July 25, 2008. It's August 16, 2008 and GMAC just NOW got her application in their office for review and guess what? She's NOT approved... they need more money down and the dealership also make a mistake on the contract! That's "SPOT DELIVERY" CarMax does send ALL the application electronically to the lender when you are in their stores! So the lender is seeing the application immediately! If you made false statements, or weren't honest with your application... that's your problem and it will come back to bite you. Please people... get "spot delivery" right! Hopefully now you understand!

CarMax Does NOT "Spot Delivery" cars! Spot Delivery is exactly what is happening with my sister right now from Phillips Chevrolet in Frankfort, IL. She bought a brand new '08 Impalla, signed a contract with GMAC as the lien holder. She asked multiple times in the office, "I am approved with GMAC right?" That was on July 25, 2008. It's August 16, 2008 and GMAC just NOW got her application in their office for review and guess what? She's NOT approved... they need more money down and the dealership also make a mistake on the contract! That's "SPOT DELIVERY" CarMax does send ALL the application electronically to the lender when you are in their stores! So the lender is seeing the application immediately! If you made false statements, or weren't honest with your application... that's your problem and it will come back to bite you. Please people... get "spot delivery" right! Hopefully now you understand!

CarMax Does NOT "Spot Delivery" cars! Spot Delivery is exactly what is happening with my sister right now from Phillips Chevrolet in Frankfort, IL. She bought a brand new '08 Impalla, signed a contract with GMAC as the lien holder. She asked multiple times in the office, "I am approved with GMAC right?" That was on July 25, 2008. It's August 16, 2008 and GMAC just NOW got her application in their office for review and guess what? She's NOT approved... they need more money down and the dealership also make a mistake on the contract! That's "SPOT DELIVERY" CarMax does send ALL the application electronically to the lender when you are in their stores! So the lender is seeing the application immediately! If you made false statements, or weren't honest with your application... that's your problem and it will come back to bite you. Please people... get "spot delivery" right! Hopefully now you understand!

Go to your credit union and arrange financing -get them to tell you how much they will finance you for - and then go shopping for a car. When you find the car you want then you arrange for the check from the credit union and give it to the dealer. The deal is done. I don't ever apply for financing through a dealer.

Anyone considering spot delivery should also read this article from Consumer Affairs: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/spot_delivery.html

I"" do know CarMax does not 'Spot' deliver cars"" Then what do YOU call it when they let a customer drive off with a car when the financing isn't secure? Here's an interesting article about "spot delivery." http://www.lemonlaw.com/spotdelivery.html

It sounds like something you stated on your credit application did not verify when the lenders call for verification of employment, income, residence, etc... I do know CarMax does not "Spot" deliver cars. Besides... lesson learned, good credit doesn't put you in these situations.

So, is the employee rebuttal telling us that Carmax does NOT engage in what the industry calls "spot delivery?" Seems to me they do. You let someone drive off when the financing has not been secured and then when the financing fails, you naturally want the car back (don't blame you) -looks like spot delivery to me. Now please explain to all of us WHY a dealer would engage in such a practice!!! WHY would a dealer part with a car when the financing is not secured??? Why not wait a few days to get a definitive answer to the financing application???? I know why, but let's see the employee's explanation.

When somebody is approved for a loan, they often verify information. They verify you work where you say you work, you make as much money as you say you do, you live where they say you live. If they find out any of this is falsified, they will typically not fund the loan. I'm not accusing you of lying, but if information is slightly incorrect, they give you the opportunity to fix it. If it's completely untrue, then you are usually out of luck. So, it sounds to me like some important information is not being mentioned.