CARMAX is the biggest crap in the nation! First they try to give you peanuts for your trade in and then they rape you with their high prices. "The high prices are justified because our cars are guaranteed to not have body damage" no body damage maybe, but i can assure you the whole right side of my cl was hit by an 18 wheeler. The inside window trims are all warped, the window leaks air, the door wouldnt close right, and the whole right side was repainted.

I worked and saved 5 years for what was supposed to be my dream car and these bastards took away that "new car" feeling that i paid so dearly for. Since the 1st week my car has been in the shop and now 6 months later only 1 of the 5 problems have been fixed which was a rattle that i couldve fixed myself!?


I can ASSURE you that CARMAX does in fact sell crashed cars. Im an idiot that fell for their sales pitch and now i paid $2000 for an extended warranty that does me no good.

It does me no good because their "technicians" are a bunch of idiots!! They are not technicians and they are not what we think of when we say "mechanics", they are simply "PARTS REPLACERS". I have an exhaust leak and a windnoise in my passenger window and i have taken my car to them 6 times for a total of 25 days with no rental car (i dont have full coverage so they wont give me one).

Monday morning i will contact the better business bureau because their corporate office cant even help me, they too are retards that are only there to take my yells.

BOTTOM LINE is every car dealership has its flaws, but this one has MAJOR flaws which do not JUSTIFY their "NO VASELINE" prices!!!!

I hope someone from carmax is reading this so they can tell their store!

PS i bought the car in the Miami, Fl store and my last name is garcia, theyll know who i am!

 

damn.posting this everywhere?

 

no matter what..ive bought 2 cars from there and had nothing but great expereinces.......and if you bought a Valumax car..that might be why you are having problems
those are not gaurenteed to the same standard as the Carmax cars

 

Around here CARMAX offers trade in prices way beyond what other dealers can even come close to. If you even mention that you got a quote from CARMAX to another dealer he will tell you to just take it to them and get a check and come back and use the check you got from CARMAX as a down payment.

I'm sorry to hear you are having such a bad experience. My parents have bought 2 cars from CARMAX '98 Explorer XLT and '99 Altima GLE and neither have had any major problems.

 

carmax has always been good...did you work for them and get fired? and now your mad?

 

The real people who get ripped by CARMAX are their sales people. They make no salary whatsoever and only make $100 per car they sell. 100% commission job. If it is a rainy slow day and you didn't sell a car, you worked all day and didn't even get paid. Now that SUCKS.

 

I know lots of people that bought cars from carmax and have nothing but good things to say. Just because you bought a busted up car doesn't mean its a bad dealership.

 

And if you exploded on the people at CARMAX yelling and screaming I wouldn't deal with you very well either. I'm sure everything will work out for you in the end.

Having the door not close like it is supposed to, having warped window trim and a window that leaks air all seem like problems you easily could have identifed before purchasing the vehicle.

 

Well, it looks as if though CARMAX/circuit city corp. predicted that i would talk garbage about their company and sent you guys here to cleanup after them .

I do have to agree however that the car salesmen/women are indeed the ones that get ripped off. My salesmen Henry was of the greatest help and he gave me no BS. I am 100% satisfied with the BUYING experience but i am 100% DISSATISFIED with the followup/service experience. I paid extra for the stupid warranty which is supposed to take care of any problems that i have with my car, sounds good? Yeah but due to the fact that they probably hire kids from the local ricer shops to work on cars i basically threw away my money.

Like i said i had a couple of problems with my car that were supposed to have been taken care of the next day i purchased it but maybe what they did instead was elongate the process so my 5 day "money back" guarantee expires, so here i am 6 months later with the same problems that they cant take care of. How am i supposed to trust these guys with my Engine if they cant even fix an exhaust leak or rattle?????

Its not the gravity of the problems that has me so hot, its the service, the run around, the waste of my time and money that has me so aggravated.

As for the previous post; I do alot of inspecting when i buy a car and yes there were some problems which i could have identified and INFACT I DID. I did notice them but i was assured by carmax that they would attend to these problems ASAP, and they did not and have not to this moment. Even upon rigorous inspections it is easy to overlook somethings when youre buying a used car. I UNDERSTAND VERY WELL THAT I SHOULD EXPECT CERTAIN THINGS WHEN YOU BUY A USED CAR AND THAT IS NOT MY ISSUE. THE PROBLEM IS WHEN YOU PAY FOR A SERVICE AND THAT SERVICE IS UNACCEPTABLE such as their "worry free" warranty service from their "highly qualified technicians".

As i mentioned before i had taken my car to carmax for repairs 6 times and when you get the car back they give you a sheet record of what was done to the car and even though i gave the manager 2 copies of the list of things that were wrong with it only 1 OF THE 3 ISSUES WERE LOOKED UPON! I know this because when they cant find a problem they put "unable to duplicate consern". I had to take the car home because all the service agents left for the day so i couldnt afford to leave it another day, in other words i had no one to complain to

Im just warning people about where they put their hard earned money and that no car dealer is worthy of you complete trust regardless of what they promise you .....thank you for your time and i hope you guys never have to go through this...

 

so your just complaining about the service/mechanics?

 

dang dondos2..that really sucks..i had flaws in my car too..but not that bad..feel sorry for you man..

 

So you "fell for their sales pitch" but you were "100% satisfied with the BUYING experience"??? You're contradicting yourself in just 2 posts

BTW- I don't work for CARMAX (Apparently if I did, I wouldn't be able to afford my car). But you can believe all you want that we're all CARMAX PR people.

Seriously though, CARMAX at least in this area, like mrsteve said is very good. They definitely give you the most for your trade-in, even if you aren't buying from them! I got double the amount of money from CARMAX for my '92 Eclipse versus what Acura was willing to sell it to me for.

I have no experience with their service department so I don't know how good they are, but you should probably be complaining to their service manager and not to us ... If they can't replicate a problem then you need to take a test drive with a technician and show him what it is you're talking about. Otherwise if they can't replicate the problem, then they probably can't fix it.

Just my 2 cents.

 

That sucks dude. I guess you didn't get a carfax report on the vin # of the car you bought, that should have found whether or not is was in an accident. Used car dealers to me are on the same level as lawyers and politicians. Sounds like you kind of made an impulse buy before you did your research, and I wouldn't have purchased it till they fixed the stuff. There are plenty of used Automatic CL's for sale I am sure. Best of luck to you.

 

I got an 02 CLS 41000 miles from carmax in december 03, and got a great deal. $23000, with about $2000 carmax warranty. My car actually came from chicago and they shipped it to nc for me (with a $300 shipping fee of course). I also got the carmax extended warranty, which actually isn't that bad. You have an option of getting it repaired by carmax people, or you can pay either $50 or $100 and take it to acura and they pick up the cost. There warranty covers everything but oil, brakes, gas shit that needs regular maintence. Overall I was pleased with carmax, I did have a tranny go after having it for about 2 months, but that is not unusual for our cars, and it was under warranty so i paid zip.

 

CarMax is a well regarded company. Sorry to hear about your problems, but I thought they have either a 3 or 7 day unconditional, no questions asked return policy.

 

dondos2......sorry to hear of your bad experience. It's the thing we all dread when buying a vehicle. What I don't understand from reading your post is why you would either miss these obvious flaws, or else be talked into buying the car knowing they existed. You must have been a little too anxious after saving $$ so long. Let this be a lesson for you.........remember that once you buy, you are stuck with it. Salesmen will promise you ANYTHING to get the sale. Don't rush into anything. There's plenty of nice cars out there--next time be picky and walk away from one with problems

 

DonDos2 sorry to hear about your troubles. To let you folks know i am a salesman at the Carmax in Dulles VA. I have been working there for 2 years and sold over 170 cars. I recently purchased my own vehichle (01 Acura CL-S) 3 months ago from carmax. We are a very reputable company (ps we are no longer affiliated with Circuit City). I am 20 years old and working here during college. Yea i know the pay kinda sucks but it works out in the end for me making roughly $20 an hour when my commission is divided by my hours. And i can tell you right now that we WILL NOT sell any cars with structure damage or frame damage. We auction all those cars off when we buy them from customers. As for your car, the items you are mentioning are not covered under any of our warranties. If you read your extended warranty contract, trim pieces strippings and things of those nature are not covered under our warranty as they are wear and tear items. That also goes for the exhuast. As for the trades we will give you exactly what your car is worth (Market Value) no less and even sometimes more. After working here for two years I promise you i will never buy any used car from anywhere else. If you have any questions for me im pretty sure i can answer them for ya.. Good luck with the situation.

 

Ok I guess since i am getting an overall good assessment of Carmax i should rephrase my previous statements........


The MIAMI CARMAX is no good. I understand that you have to be EXTREMELY careful when buying a used car but i guess since im not being clear here these are the problems my car has .... Most of These problems were IMPOSSIBLE for me to detect on the test drive...

1. Something is rattling and making a bogging noise in the engine when im driving as if the car is sucking in air from where its not supposed to. (today when i turned on the car the exhaust piping clamps fell off because EVERYTHING is RUSTED down in the carriage so now my car sounds like an air boat .)....this problem was supposed to have been taken care of the next day and thats why i let it slide because i knew it was no big deal and my engine was not in danger. The 5 day money back guarantee passed and to this day 6months later they still havent fixed it.

2.Windnoise is coming from the passenger window. Weather strip was replaced but it still made noise, they didnt even bother to check if their work fixed the problem. (i didnt hear this noise from the passenger side when i was test driving the car)

3. Certain NIGHTS my A/C doesnt cool properly (only fan works) as if the climate sensors arent working properly. Again there was no way of me knowing this before buying.

4. Every other CD i put in the radio gives me the P.E.O error code. Unfortunately i did not have a CD with me when i was testing the car out.

5.Front left speaker shorted out on me. (replaced at no charge, thank you)

6.Occasionally RPMs seem to go unusually low up to the point that i think the vehicle is going to shut off...When and if this happens it usually happens when i come to a stop sign or when i turn the wheel. (Car did not do this when i bought it)

7. Passenger door rattled when you close it. (Fixed after 6 attempts, thank you)


Ok so obviously you can see that none of my problems are an imminent danger to the engine or transmission but regardless i paid MY MONEY for these people to fix it and they still havent. The reason they havent fixed it is manifold. First, they dont check their work to see if the problem were corrected if not they would not call me to tell me my car was ready when it really wasnt. Second, when i gave them the list of concerns i had, the only problem corrected was number 7, then number 3 and number 1 were labeled unable to duplicate" ok so what about the other problems?????? they forgot?!!! Not once not twice but SIX times i have taken my car there with the same cute little list i gave them and NEVER have they looked at all the problems, they always miss at least 2 because they are in such a hurry to get the car out. They always forget , and IF and only IF they look at a problem theyll do whatever it is they think will fix it and then theyll just throw the car back at me.

Ill give you a good example;

problem number 7 which was the rattling of the door was handled as follows....

I took my car and told them that i had some problems with the car, amongst these problems one of them is that my door rattles when it closes, i suggested to the tech that i think some brackets might be loose inside, OK? So they call me to tell me my car is ready but since i work really late i arrived when all the techs were gone so i go and test the door and when i open it i see that the outer hinge (by the door handle) was FULL of some white grease (the grease i guess was supposed quiet the sound a little), but guess what the rattle sound was still there, and loud too!!! SO WHY THE HELL DID YOU CALL ME TO COME PICK UP MY CAR IF THE DAMN DOOR IS STILL MAKING NOISE?!?!?!?!? The door needed no grease, there is no play on the door and grease was unneccesary. So, after 2 more times of taking it i told them to PLEASE open the door panel and check for broken pieces and well WHAT DO YOU KNOW there were some broken brackets!! They were replaced and now my door doesnt rattle:0)

The main problem here is that there is no supervision of these cars once they leave the techs. They simply just call you to come pick up your car. SOMEONE should actually be able to check if infact the problems were addressed instead of making me waste my time by driving over there, and this despite the fact that i told them "i have no rush to get the car back as long as its done correctly".

I have worked retail all my life and i know that companies are generally good but a main factor is that you should treat the customer the same way you did before they bought your product/services.

 

While I never bought a car from carmax, & have sold 2 to them. The Ft lauderdale one is the best out of the S. FL ones. The gave fair prices, not great, not really bad either.

 

Carmax has great prices on new cars. The used cars are hit and miss, depends are what you are looking for and the market. They can have some hard to find used vehicles.

Any hints on getting the best trade in value? What their appraisers look for, common mistakes?

 

Anything you're promised should be put in writing, otherwise you're screwed. Especially in Miami, business practices down here tend to be different from the rest of the country. It's like a third-world country down here.

 

that myth about carmax giving you more than a dealer is the biggest load... a friend of mine got a new a4 and the dealer was going to give him $2k for his trade when kbb said he could get $3.2k so the dealer said to go and get a check from carmax and come back... carmax said they would give him $700 yes $1300 less then the stuck up audi dealer would some much for good experiences

 

Good God man, did you test drive this mousetrap before you bought it???? That is a lot of stuff wrong, you didn't notice any of this?? Always take a used car to a mechanic you trust to have him inspect it and look it over, it is worth the 75-100 dollars. Most places will let you, even if the sales-guy or someone goes with you, and if they won't then run away because they are trying to hide something. Stuff is always easier to get fixed before you purchase also. Once you purchase they got you already. Sounds like you got a shady dealership, that sucks. Good luck man.

 

Again what did you expect, S Florida is the worst place to buy a car. I dont like Carmax for the simple reason you can't haggle prices, and most of there cars are got from up north. If you bought a second hand CL, you should of went to Rick Case Acura in Ft.lauderdale. You probably could of saved yourself a couple of $$$$ and by the looks of it alot hassle, with a car your not happy with.

The best think i would do at this point, is bring the car to Rick Case, ask there guys to do full check up on the car ( yes more $$$ spend but aleast you will have guys who know what there doing) get a report and bring it back to CM, and if they don't fix the items hire a lawyer and bring them to court

Its the only way you will get results and don't take no for an answer.

 

Well just a few things to clear up about Carmax operations. We are probably the ONLY dealership that gives every single car sold a 5-Day money back garuantee no questions asked. We are VERY strict about cars that have been in accidents. (We consider a replaced rear quater panel stucture damage and wont even sell those cars.) With some extreme service issues we have refunded customers money for a vehicle even after a month.

As for the
3210ccdriver comment "that myth about carmax giving you more than a dealer is the biggest load... a friend of mine got a new a4 and the dealer was going to give him $2k for his trade when kbb said he could get $3.2k so the dealer said to go and get a check from carmax and come back... carmax said they would give him $700 yes $1300 less then the stuck up audi dealer would some much for good experiences"

Well what happens at most dealerships is they will play with numbers especially since you have a trade. They can make you feel good about giving you more for your trade then slap on unforeseen BIG fees (processing), inflate your finance rate and they usually wont come off the price of the car you are buying and blah blah blah. At least at carmax they will give a straight written cash offer regardless if you are buying a car from them or not. Tell me how many others dealers will do that and honor it without you buying a car from them. The trade-in values that you see from Carmax is just a little bit over what that particular car in similiar condition goes for in auctions. No reason why Carmax should offer you thousands more then what they can buy that car at the auction for. As for people who swear by KBB, if you like their prices so much then ask them to buy your car.

As for Bluto's comment:

Carmax has great prices on new cars. The used cars are hit and miss, depends are what you are looking for and the market. They can have some hard to find used vehicles.

Any hints on getting the best trade in value? What their appraisers look for, common mistakes?

His above statement i do agree with about hit and miss. There are some cars i see that i feel are way over priced but for the most part most cars are a great deal.

As for the appraisal process all i can say is if you have any after-market products----Replace it back to stock BEFORE you get your car appraised. Have it cleaned up...the cleaner your car looks when they look at it, the more they think you took care of it.

Im not trying to say the CARMAX is the Best dealership in the world but I can say we break the traditional set-up of a sleezy dealer. We have 40 stores nationwide and have sold over 1 million cars nationwide, we are the larget Used-Car Retailers in the nation. As many cars as we sell you got to expect a few bad apples here and there but i think the bad apple percent is very very low compared to other used car lots.

 

I take it you work for them? I guess you all are trained to say the same thing, Cause when I brought my CL in to get appraised I was shocked at how low of a price I got. Told them I got much more for a trade in, & was given this same line, almost word for word! I then told them that we settled on a price of the new car & intrest rate before I even brought up my trade. They suggested I take the dealer offer then.

Not saying Carmax is bad, I had some ok experieneces with them, But as with any used car, & dealer is a dealer no matter what their policies. Their out out to make money & scam evey cent out of suckers.

Buyer beware.

 

fuzzy02CLS, approximately how much lower was CarMax' offer if you don't mind sharing? Of course the dealer where you were buying the new car had an incentive to give you a bit higher of an offer so that you would buy the new car from them, but I guess you still ended up better off.

 

Dealer offered $20,500. Carmax offered $18,500. Both were really bad offeres so I still have my CLS. My point was that the dealer had no knowlage I had a trade in. I added that AFTER. Book on my 6 speed is above $21K.

 

How many CLs did they have in inventory?

If they aready have it in inventory, or it retails less than $5000, or a POS, Carmax will give you wholesale.


They are just like any other dealer, if they can't sell it for a profit, they won't pay for it.

 

*************UPDATE***************

Ok so i took my car in to carmax again for the 7th time and this time i was authorized a rental. They promised that this would be the last time and that all would be fixed and the work will be supervised by the manager. As soon as i get it back i will post a fair review of their work. I really hope this time they fix it because this is costing me too much time and effort (not to mention the headaches, my sick hours and my days missed of school b/c my car was in the shop).

PS does any one with an extended carmax warranty have problems taking their car to outside shops? it seems that not many people want to work with them because carmax take forever to pay and are really stingy with the repair process......?

 

Dont have carmax fix it again then, take it to your acura dealership. Carmax will reimburst you for the cost. You will have to pay like $50 or $100 and they pick up the rest. I know I would rather have someone work on my car that works on the same make everyday. Carmax is cheap though and will try anyway they can to not spend money. My car had a big huge piece of paint chip off like about 6 or 7 inch circle from snow last winter. I think it was from previous damage or from a shitty parking lot spray job at carmax to cover up rock damage and shit. I got an estimate for it and the guy said it had been painted on at least 2 times, and he wouldn't touch it because then he couldn't garantee his work. So he quoted me for a whole new bumper piece (around $400), so i argued with carmax unsucessfully and it is still like that. I'm trying to wait till rondog makes his kit so I dont waste money, but he need to hurry, cause it looks like shit.

 

I doubt rondog's kit will be available until next spring. He's still busy getting his wheels ready and the fabrication of a new kit will take a few months. He still doesn't have designs for the sides or rear. I'd go ahead and paint it man. I got my rear bumper repainted for around $300 and that included buffing out a few scratches from the previous owner.

 

The Miami CarMax is great. In february I bought a 2001 cls with 30000 miles for $19995. My trade in was valued at 7100 and blue book was 5300. They hooked it up and I got great financing all within 3 hours I was on my way home with my banging cl-s. I would go there anytime.