Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Anybody here sell a car to CARMAX?

Just curious. We're looking at buying some new to us used cars and instead of putting them on CL, I thought that I'd see what sort of offers CARMAX would give me.

Anybody with actual CARMAX experience who is willing to share would be most appreciated.

Have gotten two offers from them. One we walked on, the other my son accepted just to get rid of a problem vehicle.
If at all possible, sell it yourself.

Tried it once and did not expect a reasonable deal . Told them to GFy

They're in business to make a profit. The only way to do that is to buy low and sell high. They make their money by saving you the effort of selling high yourself. You can sell low to them and let them make the money by selling high.

They sell very high and I still am trying to figure out the allure of a Carmax. 30 day warrranty or their extended warranty GTFOH not to mention a high non negotiable selling price. If you want a clean used car with a warranty get a certified pre owned. If their prices are too high then buy new.

I've yet to figure out why buys cars from Carmax. Their prices are sky high.

Just to clarify, I'm looking to sell to CARMAX if their offer is fair, not to buy from them. I would agree that their sale prices are on the high side.

I'm looking at selling four of our 2004 and 2005 vintage vehicles; Buick Rainier, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Lincoln Aviator, and Mercury Mountaineer. I will miss the Aviator, but it now has 190,000 miles on the clock and it needs to find a new home.

I have never dealt with them, but know a few who have tried and the general consensus is they're going to try to bend you over. Obviously they need to make money on the deal but they're usually on the very low end. Also have heard they may not even make you an offer depending on the vehicle type, age, mileage, condition, etc.

They won't buy a car if they can't make money. Some cars just won't sell because they're worn out. They won't buy junk.

Unless it is a beater worth around $2000 or less I've always done better just trading. The way taxes work here I'd have to get at least 15%-20% more than the trade offer just to break even. We pay tax (7%) on the one we purchase regardless if it is from a dealer or from an individual when you transfer the tag. But if you trade, you pay tax on the difference to the dealer; and there are ways a dealer can over value your trade on paper greatly reducing the amount of taxes paid. The tag office decides how much your car is worth if you buy from an individual. It makes it a lot harder to sell to an individual the way taxes are done here.

If I buy with no trade I not only get hit harder on taxes, but pay more to purchase a separate tag. If I trade I can simply take the tag off the old vehicle, put it on the new one and pay a $5 fee. I also have to maintain insurance on the old vehicle until it is sold. That is an additional $50-$75 or so per month.

On an older car not worth much they typically give scrap value, or they'll put the info on their wire service to smaller dealers and wait to see the bids they get. They won't put one that old on their lot. On a beater it might be better to sell. I've found lots more buyers for vehicles under $2000 than over $10,000.

Although I dislike Craigslist because the ratio of tire kickers to serious buyers is about 8:1, I'm just go ahead and put them in for $2,999 and see what sort of response I get.

On Craigslist, I've found that for every 5 people who get your address and promise to come look, only 1 will show up. I don't get too excited about a potential buyer until they hand me the cash.

Yes, that has been my experience too.

My one experience at Carmax was awful. I was selling a Honda Accord with 75,000ish miles that was in great shape. I had a standing offer of $9,200 trade from the local Honda dealer in my pocket and I knew that KBB said the car was worth $11,000-$12,000.

I went to Carmax just see what they would say. I made an appointment to go on my lunch break and they told me it would only take 30 mins. After waiting over an hour, they came back with an offer to buy my car for $5,200! I asked very bluntly if they were serious and they started making all these excuses why the car wasn't worth any more than that. I didn't even let the girl finish before I asked for my keys and headed for the door.

I posted it on Craigslist and sold it for $11,500 in less than 2 days. Also, during this waiting time, the local dealer called back and offered me $10,500 on trade.

My Craigslist transaction went as smooth as silk. I met the guy at the local grocery store where he worked, let him test drive, we negotiated the next day over the phone and I met him at his bank and made the transaction in the banker's office. I got a bank check which I promptly cashed at the same bank.

People with bad credit. They will get anyone financed. A lot of people just care about getting a car and how much the monthly payment is.

They won't buy a car more than 5 years old and like you've heard already, they will not offer very much. They have to pay the employees and light bill. Lol. Good luck to you. Hope everything works out

Unless you get a lot more selling on your own, trading in the car on the new one may save you more in sales tax than you make on the private sale. Depends on the vehicle for sure but 7-8% on a $30k car is around $2200 or so

Not every state charges sales tax when selling a used vehicle.

In Nebraska, The State charges sales tax when you request a new title and register your newly purchased used car.

Sold a couple to em and bought about a half a dozen of so from em. My expierence has aslways a fair deal on a GOOD used vechicle.