anyone sold a car to carmax?

[nostatic]

Since I was thinking of moving to a different vehicle anyway, and I'm not able to drive a stick for the forseable future, I''m going to sell the Subie wagon. The dealer I bought it from gave me a ballpark tradein figure, and it is right at my payoff which is fine by me. Not sure that they want to do a straight up buy though. Carmax claims they buy cars, and according to kbb, my tradein value in "good" condition is exactly what my payout is.

Anyone sold to Carmax? Any issues? Basically I just want to sign it away and be free and clear of the car payment and insurance. No sense paying that while I rent a slushbox.

[kaisen]

I have not, but know those who have, and it is a straight-up deal with no hassles. IIRC in California, you have no sales tax advantage so you might as well.

E

[serge944]

My friend tried to and they would only give him like 8 or 9k, for a car with a private party value of 13k. Thats a huge difference. They factor in demand and how many of a particular model they have. I guess its possible to get an "ok" deal, but most likely not.

I'd advise against it unless you have zero people skills/patience to sell it on your own.

The buyer pays sales tax - not the seller.

[nostatic]

The carmax site points you to kbb with explicit instructions (trade in value, good or fair condition). I can't see them doing that then offering you thousands less...that would piss everyone off. Depending on the car, I wouldn't be surprised to see a 13K private party value and a 9K wholesale value...that's the way things work.

There is a note on the car so selling privately is much more of a hassle. Plus being on the couch on crutches, I'm in no condition to try and sell a car. Either trading on a new one (if I knew what I needed) or selling to a dealer are my only options at this point.

[VaSteve]

I have sold one and appriased a couple (including the one I sold). Your car is no better than "good" on the KBB site for a trade in. Find the amount that you'd get from a private party. Carmax will essentially split the differnce. In your example, figure $11K (or just under).

[nostatic]

"good" tradein on kbb is $12,800

"good" private party is $14,650

If carmax or a dealer gave me $12,800 I think I'd do it. No debt and no hassle. Trying to sell a car when you're on crutches (with a lien) is no fun...

[David in VA]

I have. If I recall correctly I got a bit over trade in value from kbb.com. It was a very easy and painless process, I think took around an hour. You get less than selling to a private party but there is something to be said for not dealing with the hassle, risk and time of advertising and selling yourself.

[skipdup]

I've sold two at CarMax and walked away from selling two. I think their offer might depend on the car, their stock levels, history of sales, etc.

Got a great deal when selling a Jeep Cherokee 5 (or so) years ago. Also, I actually sold my Saabaru (9-2x) for more than I bought it for (a year earlier) about 4 months ago. But, I did buy under supplier discount.

About 3 months ago they offered well less than market for my perfect Denali.

- Skip

[kaisen]

Originally posted by skipdup
About 3 months ago they offered well less than market for my perfect Denali.

- Skip

....And still may have lost money on it when/if they sold it.

Gas prices drive the market faster than kbb can respond with a change in posted values. If you drive a big SUV or pickup, be prepared to see 'real' values to be less than 'book' values.

When a dealer takes a risk and buys a 'volatile' vehicle and can't sell it fast, they assume the risk that the market falls away from it. AND they paid interest (or opportunity cost) to hold it.

Todd's Subaru is a desirable piece and one that is not easy to find or buy at auction. So a dealer will pay good money for it.

Good luck

[cashflyer]

I have sold a few with carmax, and have walked away from a few carmax offers. What Skip said is right on the mark: their price is determined to a high degree by their stock levels and their current sales trends.

Currently, trucks and SUVs are not selling well. Consequently, the dealers are resisting adding more to their overfilled lots.

On a positive note, gas prices are starting to fall - which may motivate a few buyers.

3 weeks ago, my pickup received an offer of 45% of KBB. I declined them and took it to a local auto auction and did better.


All I can say is go spend 45 minutes having them "appriase" it for you.

[tc-sacto]

I've sold two cars through them. a Passat and an Accord. Was treated very fair. I could have received an extra $1,500est. through private party, but for that amount, it wasn't worth the hassel.

[Dixie]

Before seliing my last car, I took it to CarMax to find out what it was really worth. I sold it the next weekend for twice what CarMax offered. And I sold it in one weekend.


Enough said.

[jhc]

I listed my wife's Honda CRV for 3 weeks in the paper with no response. I took it to Carmax and and they gave me slightly more than I was asking. On the other hand they offered very little on a new Silverado I didn't need.

[Nathans_Dad]

I'm going to sell one tomorrow to them, I got it appraised about 4 days ago. The appraisal was painless, took about 30 minutes and they have a nice showroom and waiting area. There was no pressure to buy one of their cars, the salesman just brought me my appraisal and told me it was good for 7 days or 300 miles. They offered me $4k on a 99 Accord with about $1k worth of body damage to it, it works out to exactly KBB on a "good" car which I thought was a good deal. You probably can squeeze another couple hundred bucks out selling it privately, but to me it isn't worth the hassle. Guess that depends on the offer you get though.

My brother in law sold them a 10 year old Grand Cherokee with 125k miles on it about 2 years ago. He got it appraised, kept their offer, starting having engine trouble with it about 3 days later (it had been having issues before as well, that's why he was thinking of selling it). He drove it to the Carmax, the engine literally died when he parked it and wouldn't start again. They STILL gave him their full offer.

I have nothing but good things to say about Carmax.