# Update: Anyone here sold their car to CARMAX?



## jrm (Jan 12, 2004)

been reading the yelp reviews and it seems to be a mixed bag of people being offered less then what they thought their car was worth and those that were happy with the transaction. Thanks

Thanks for the feedback. As i figured CARMAX doesnt seem like much of an option. Since starting this thread ive spammed CL in SF, LA and Sac and bought ads on cars direct and autotrader. i guess time will tell. 

Oh also, i think ive found the truck i want once i sell the car. Has anyone been successful asking the seller to consider a deposit to hold a vehicle?


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## jlang002 (Jan 10, 2005)

jrm said:


> been reading the yelp reviews and it seems to be a mixed bag of people being offered less then what they thought their car was worth and those that were happy with the transaction. Thanks


They go by bluebook. I had an '05 WRX wagon with 72k miles on it, cracked windshield, dented hoot and passenger side door pillar. Ran well. They offered me 8500 which was about 300 dollars over fair condition trade in value. I decided I could get more privately, and sold it 2 weeks later for $10,500 (300 dollars over fair condition private sale value). If you don't need the cash immediately, sell it privately. It's a no hassle experience though, they don't use pressure sales tactics.


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## oldskoolbiker (Jun 2, 2005)

Get the car detailed, pull the carfax, get your maintenance records in order, and then post it up on Craigslist.

You should have no problem getting a couple of thousand more than Carmax is offering.

Last car I sold on Craigslist, literally sold within hours of me posting it, and it sold for my full asking price (in hindsight I could have charged more), but I sold it for $2500 more than the dealership offered for trade.

Dealer offered $6000 sold on Craigslist for $8500.

Also here in the Washington DC area, we have this service now, maybe there is something similar in your area: http://www.driveway2driveway.net/


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## jlang002 (Jan 10, 2005)

oldskoolbiker said:


> Get the car detailed, pull the carfax, get your maintenance records in order, and then post it up on Craigslist.
> 
> You should have no problem getting a couple of thousand more than Carmax is offering.
> 
> ...


Yikes, $350 when it sells? I just posted mine on cars.com for $55 and they'll refund that if it doesn't sell in 90 days. Dude drove down from Jersey to pick it up.


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## oldskoolbiker (Jun 2, 2005)

jlang002 said:


> Yikes, $350 when it sells? I just posted mine on cars.com for $55 and they'll refund that if it doesn't sell in 90 days. Dude drove down from Jersey to pick it up.


Personally I'd never use the service, but might be OK for someone who doesn't want to deal with selling on their own.


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## MindlessDeviant (Jul 26, 2009)

I hated carmax when I went to them with my 98 sonoma in perfect condition and 40k on the clock in 02 they offered me $3k for it blue book in fair condition was $7500 and they had a 97 on the lot with more miles on it in worse condition they were asking $9k for which I was standing by when they handed me their offer. I ended up keeping the truck until 2006 and sold it for $4500 with almost 100k on the clock. Their offer was a joke and that seems to be what you hear around here. It may have be different in each region though.


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## SpartaSpartan (May 22, 2008)

When my sister moved to Europe, she called CarMax and they gave her a verbal range of what they would give her for her 3 year old Grand Am (in perfect shape). She drove all the way from Detroit to outside Chicago, and they offered her a couple thousand less than that. She ended up posting it at the school she taught at and sold it for over blue book.


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## A1an (Jun 3, 2007)

I've sold three cars through Carmax. 

#1: 2000 Ford Focus ZX3. Approx 65k miles and about 4 years old at the time. Leaking oil at the crank. Broken passenger seat lever. Bald tires. Blown shocks/struts. They gave me $3500 for it. I had it on the market for about $500 more and had no offers. 

#2: 2004 Scion xB. Just over a year old in perfect shape with low miles. They gave me just over $10k. It was a crap market for that car. Dealers were listing used cars for just as much or more than a new xB. I had to get rid of it to buy my first house. I had so many lowball offers that I gave up and sold it to Carmax.

#3: 2003 Mazda 3 wagon. 4 years old in good shape. Flaking front bumper (crappy repaint after a minor accident). Alternator issues. I think they gave us just under $10k. We would have had to repaint the bumper to get it on the market in hopes to get $11-12k for the car at the time. It made better financial sense to sell it to Carmax. 


Overall the experience was good. Could I have sold the cars private party for more money? Probably. I had sold quite a few other vehicles through Auto Trader but these three were just not getting any serious offers. My advice is to put the car on the market first to see how you do (AutoTrader, Ebay, etc). Carmax is a good backup plan.


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## Badkharma (Sep 18, 2006)

I literally started laughing when I heard the Carmax rep read the offer number. It was over 40% less than what I got at dealer trade-in. They said "there's no market for this car".

BS. It was a TSX auto with nav.

I enjoyed the no-pressure sales tactics and brute honesty, but the offer was a joke.

I tried them again just to see if the result would be the same (different carmax location, different car) and I again burst out loud laughing.

I will never use them to sell / appraise my car. Buying maybe, if the price is right.


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