[vr4Legacy]

Just what the title says. Has anyone sold their car to Carmax? How do they compare to KBB or other offers?

The closest CarMax to me is ~70 miles so I was hoping to get some first hand experiences before I just take a trip for the heck of it.

I am looking to trade my '06 Hyundai Elantra for a Forester. I just found one for sale privately for a good price, but I need to unload my Hyundai so I can afford the Forester.... Of course this would be easy with a dealer.

Also has anyone bought from them? Their prices are better than anything else I see and the cars tend to be lower mileage. They don't have a 5spd Forester with a Sunroof or I'd just try to use them all around.

I'm going to check with my local dealer and see if they'll buy it outright, but I doubt they'll play ball or offer me much.

 

[upflying]

Carmax will give you low book for your Elantra, same price as if you were trading it in.
I am guessing you are looking at around $5,000 for the Elantra. IIWY, borrow the $5,000 from yourself, buy the Forester and then sell the Elantra privately.
People who drive in off the street and ask the dealer to "buy my car" are vulnerable for being fleeced. Sorry for being frank.

 

[vr4Legacy]

I appreciate the straightforward advice. I agree the dealer is going to fleece me if I just walk in trying to sell, so I doubt I'll go that route. But it won't hurt to ask.

I've looked online through google and on a few forums I've read where people were getting close to KBB if their car was <100k and in good shape. The Elantra has 55k and is in good shape. KBB shows trade in ~$6500, which is what my dealer was offering for trade in. I seriously doubt he'll give me that straight up.

CarMax advertises that they will buy the car or let you use towards trade in for the same price. I'm trying to figure out a way to bridge the gap and try to sell the Elantra outright, but if CarMax can give me a reasonable price I'd rather go that route.

Honestly I'm not expecting much, just curious if anyone has any first hand experience with CarMax.

 

[bigsteve83]

I just got my 2013 2.5i Limited OB. Its a company car and I had no use for my 2003 GMC Envoy. I had no desire to waste my time trying to sell it myself. I bought my wife's car there and also traded in her old car. I researched the trade-in value on my Envoy and determined 4 grand was what I expected. That's what they offered, so I took it.

They are pros and cons. You could possibly get a better deal through another dealer. However, margins are thin on used vehicles right now, so you may not.

The main thing I like abouy CarMax is how they do financing. They'll show you all of the offers that come back and then you choose. That eliminates a lot of thr finagling finance managers do to get you the loan that's best for you, not them. Of course, this could all be eliminated if you secured your financing prior to buying.

 

[tdelker]

I would borrow from the bank and sell the car privately. I got NADA for my truck, but I was patient. Took me 2 months to sell. But I also make 1.5k more by waiting, which is good money for me. Craigslist is amazing.

Tom

 

[subaruman49]

Got to agree with Tom..............I sold several cars through craigslist..its more timeconsuming...but woth it in the long run if you have the time...

 

[Bags]

I went to Carmax to get an "offer" on a vehicle, which turned out to be $500 more than where I purchased my OB. The OB dealer matched the Carmax offer so it worked out well. Make sure to take into account the sales tax difference when you trade a car in versus selling it and using the cash toward the purchase. Had I sold the car and used the cash toward the purchase I would have actually paid a bit more because of taxes!

 

[bigsteve83]

I went to Carmax to get an "offer" on a vehicle, which turned out to be $500 more than where I purchased my OB. The OB dealer matched the Carmax offer so it worked out well. Make sure to take into account the sales tax difference when you trade a car in versus selling it and using the cash toward the purchase. Had I sold the car and used the cash toward the purchase I would have actually paid a bit more because of taxes!

And the appraisal you get from CarMax will tell you exactly how much you'll save on taxes if you purchase as well.

 

[bheinen74]

My general rule is never sell/trade to a dealer, and never buy from a dealer.
Buy or sell as individual, use Craigslist, these forums, or place a for sale sign and park in a good shopping area near car dealerships.
For buying, buy from owners posting in newspapers, from friends, or from forums/craigslist.
I also buy the auction route as well, you can pick up good titled cars there that have mechanical issues, or slight slight slight body damage that did not total them out, even repos or theft recovered ones.

 

[vr4Legacy]

I went to Carmax to get an "offer" on a vehicle, which turned out to be $500 more than where I purchased my OB. The OB dealer matched the Carmax offer so it worked out well. Make sure to take into account the sales tax difference when you trade a car in versus selling it and using the cash toward the purchase. Had I sold the car and used the cash toward the purchase I would have actually paid a bit more because of taxes!

Thanks Bags, this is what I am looking for.

In WV you only pay taxes on the difference if you trade, BUT my local dealer has his cars priced at least $2k above anything I can find privately and even through CarMax.

My max price is $12k, I hope to get $6k MIN out of my Hyundai.

$6 @ 5% tax = $300
$12k @ 5% tax = $600

My dealer is nowhere close to a $300 difference, so for my situation it's not worth considering. That's assuming I pay the MAX and get the MIN. I hope to do better on both sides. Even if I haggle and swindle, I doubt I'll get that close. Plus he doesn't have anything lower mileage in my price range. But thank you everyone for the advice.

As for selling it outright, that's still on the back burner. But if I can get a resonable price from Carmax outright, it's not worth the hassle for me.

KBB has it at ~$6k trade in and ~$7.5k retail. Carmax has them selling with similar mileage and options at $9k min. So I'm hoping to get closer to the retail price. Just curious if anyone has any first hand experience and where Carmax has priced them before I drive 140 mi roundtrip.

I found a 2006 Forester with 73k miles 5spd Premium with Sunroof, EXACTLY what I am looking for at a good price.

I'm still debating getting a loan and selling outright too. Then just paying off the loan when I sell the Hyundai.

I have a feeling I might be taking a trip to Carmax lol. Maybe I can take the wife and get some shopping done too.

Thanks again everyone for the pointers and tips :29:

 

[mrlenjr]

The appraisal from carmax is FREE and good for 7 days. I sold my mother-in-laws car to them and it was well worth it. I got more than I thought it was worth, and more than I was selling it for. Selling any car yourself is a PITA. Too many stupid low-ballers calling you at any hour of the day.

 

[bheinen74]

Thanks Bags, this is what I am looking for.

In WV you only pay taxes on the difference if you trade, BUT my local dealer has his cars priced at least $2k above anything I can find privately and even through CarMax.

My max price is $12k, I hope to get $6k MIN out of my Hyundai.

$6 @ 5% tax = $300
$12k @ 5% tax = $600

My dealer is nowhere close to a $300 difference, so for my situation it's not worth considering. That's assuming I pay the MAX and get the MIN. I hope to do better on both sides. Even if I haggle and swindle, I doubt I'll get that close. Plus he doesn't have anything lower mileage in my price range. But thank you everyone for the advice.

As for selling it outright, that's still on the back burner. But if I can get a resonable price from Carmax outright, it's not worth the hassle for me.

KBB has it at ~$6k trade in and ~$7.5k retail. Carmax has them selling with similar mileage and options at $9k min. So I'm hoping to get closer to the retail price. Just curious if anyone has any first hand experience and where Carmax has priced them before I drive 140 mi roundtrip.

I found a 2006 Forester with 73k miles 5spd Premium with Sunroof, EXACTLY what I am looking for at a good price.

I'm still debating getting a loan and selling outright too. Then just paying off the loan when I sell the Hyundai.

I have a feeling I might be taking a trip to Carmax lol. Maybe I can take the wife and get some shopping done too.

Thanks again everyone for the pointers and tips :29:

If you have a older Hyundai (1986-2004) yes.
, expect to get KBB or NADA "trade in value" of a poor condition car, no matter if you have mint or salvage. Hyundai has NO retail value, and i am serious on that NO= NONE. Sorry to break the news. Newer Hyundai's, are good and no related issues of the early ones.

 

[vr4Legacy]

Thanks everyone for the input. I bought the Forester this weekend. I was able to scrounge up the cash. My MIL offered to lend me the difference until the Hyundai sells. I let her know how much safer the Subaru would be for her grandson in the back seat :29:

Now I just need to sell the Hyundai lol. If I don't sell it outright before my 30 day tags expire on my Subaru, I'm taking it to Carmax.

If you have a older Hyundai (1986-2004) yes.
, expect to get KBB or NADA "trade in value" of a poor condition car, no matter if you have mint or salvage. Hyundai has NO retail value, and i am serious on that NO= NONE. Sorry to break the news. Newer Hyundai's, are good and no related issues of the early ones.

I have an '06, which is when they started getting reliable. It's been a good car for my wife, just not what I need or want now. Carmax has plenty listed above $9k, so it has some retail value.

Thanks again for all the input and feedback.

 

[agosul]

I just took my 2009 Forester to carmax and they offered me 12000 for it. It is a base model with no extra features except for an auto dim mirror. It has just over 70000 miles on it. It had some paint damage in a few small places. The 12,000 they offered is 500 over kbb excellent price. I was pleasantly shocked at the great price! The dealer only wanted to offer 9500 for trade in.

 

[iainb]

Selling a car to CarMax is a complete rip-off. How else can they claim to sell their cars "below Kelley Blue book" if they don't pay bottom dollar for them in the first place?

7 years ago CarMax wanted to give me $1200 for my Saturn on trade-in.

This past summer, 7 years later, I got $2000 for it when we bought our Outback. The Saturn now had a dent in the hood, a sagging headliner, broken map lights and about 30k more miles...

 

[fatabbot]

Blanket statements about selling a car to Carmax are silly. It all depends on the car you're selling. If it's something they're going to put on the lot and eventually sell for their inflated price, they'll give you a pretty fair amount for the car. If it's a car that they know they're just going to end up wholesaling, then expect to be low balled.

I've gotten bids from Carmax on dozens of cars. Most have been fair, a few have been laughable.

 

[vr4Legacy]

I keep reading conflicting results with Carmax. As can be seen in the two posts above. It seems though, that the negative all come from cars that are no longer manufactured or possibly not in "excellent" condition.

As I understand it, Carmax is picky on what they will resell, and if your car is "excellent" their objective is to keep it on the lot and sell it, so they can offer a little higher price, because they know what they can get retail.

With anything they don't consider "excellent" it's off to wholesale, so you get wholesale trade in prices.

Case in point, I just bought my '06 for $10,500, a little below NADA and it's in great mechanical shape. However it has a small nick in the dashboard and a mark on one of the armrests. The paint has the usual 7 year old scuffs, but nothing through the paint. The guy I bought it off of said he was offered $8500 at CarMax. But I could see how they don't consider the car "excellent". IMO it's in great shape for a 7 year old car and excellent mechanical shape with low mileage. I can deal with a few blemishes given I have full detailed maintenence history from the original owner.

IMO, my Hyundai would meet their "excellent" criteria, so hopefully I could get a decent offer.

Nonetheless, I have someone interested, hopefully I seel it outright. If not I'll report back how my Carmax experience goes.

 

[2013OB]

Anytime you use a middleman, you will not get the $$$ you are looking for on the vehicle--trade in, Carmax. On the flipside, if you want to wash your hands of a vehicle quickly, its not a bad route.

You could spend days, weeks, or even months trying to sell the vehicle private party. It took me 3 months to sell an SUV several years ago and probably wasnt worth the $1,500.00 in hassles that I had to deal with---flakes, people wanting to put it on payments, trading for this, and most importantly my time.

 

[subiesailor]

Sell to carmax sure they tend to over pay for clean cars - mechanically they can be crap but if the car is clean they'll pay top dollar for em.

NEVER buy from CARMAX! ^ see comment above - they over pay for cars they buy - and they jack the prices up far far too high. When looking for a G35X for my dad this summer - Carmax had three 08's locally for just shy of $30,000 all of them with over 60K on the clocks all three had spotty dealer maint history. We bought a crazy clean 09 G35X with 40K from a small high end car dealer for $23,000 very good dealer maint history the car looked as if it could have rolled off the assembly line the day before.

 

[iainb]

I keep reading conflicting results with Carmax. As can be seen in the two posts above. It seems though, that the negative all come from cars that are no longer manufactured or possibly not in "excellent" condition.

FWIW - My Saturn was in excellent condition, Saturn (the company) was still very much in business and the mileage of the car was stupid low- less than 30k for a 4 year old car.