CarMax

Do not shop at this place. We purchased a car from them and went through the whole shebang of car buying. They won’t budge on a car price which is ridiculous because despite saying they are reasonable priced they are just over priced. We came across a car though that was below market value and it was the one we wanted. We were ecstatic. We test drove the car and loved it. We noticed the windshield had a lot of scratches on it. Like a lot of scratches on it. They were all very tiny and caused by someone used bad windshield wipers on the car. So when you were driving at night, any light would be reflected through these channels and make it near impossible to see. We mentioned that we would buy the car ONLY if these things were taken car off. The salesperson we were working with guaranteed us that they would be fixed. He gave us his word. First mistake. We had to wait for our title to come in from our other care as we were trading that in as well in the mean time we were told this would be taken care off. Finally we made the purchase only to find out that windshield has not been fixed. We were told we had 30 days to bring anything back that we thought was wrong. We brought the car back 6 days after purchase and they told us we were SOL they said we only had 2 days. I spoke to the manager. I spoke to cooperate and no one cared. I went to 12 dealerships in the region and told us that this windshield was a clear hazard and would not pass any of there safety inspections. 12. We were constantly blown off by their managers. The sales guy we worked with basically told us that he never said he would fix it. Carmax finally said they talked to their «glass guy» and said they would pay 50% of the cost to have the windshield replace. 400 bucks. I asked if it was the Ford windshield that was on the car now and they said it would be an aftermarket piece. This was a no go for me. I went to the Ford dealership to get a quote on a official Ford windshield. They said they would do the whole job for 350 that included labor. I went and told CarMax and they said Ford was lying. Basically they tried to scam us again. We ended up paying for the windshield to be replaced. Please do not shop here. Go to some other reputable dealers and if you shop here PLEASE use Kelly Blue Book and do not over pay. Also check their warranties they will tell you they cover a lot more than they actually do.

THE GOOD:
1.They will give you proper value for your car if you want to sell it to them, or you can use their quote as leverage for other places you may (and should) take your business.
2. Their auto finance has some good perks, such as 30 day grace period for credit reporting (not to be confused with 30 day grace for late fees, because it’s not).
3, The process that occurred from the time of claim to gap insurance payment went really well and the finance department does a lot to make it easier on you.
THE BAD:
1.In general. Overpriced cars. Their «haggle free» pricing is just a way for them to sell overpriced vehicles to desperate people without having to work with them.
My experience:
2. — Big issue, THEY DO NOT HONOR WHAT THEY TELL YOU THEY WILL DO. Time and time again they tell you one thing and then don’t do it.
3.. The representatives you talk with seem like good people and genuinely concerned with your issue… but the supervisors don’t care about anything and you can hear it in their condescending tone of voice.
4. The service department sends your car all over the place, or so they did with mine anyway.
5. 2 days after it was returned to me, it freaking CAUGHT ON FIRE WHILE DRIVING to church. We had to pull over at the Leroy Fox restaurant. The fire department was called and in putting it out, the car was deemed a total loss by my insurance company.
a. I was told by the service dept. that I would get a service refund since i had the car only two days before it caught on fire. The fire was an electrical fire and originated in an area that was DIRECTLY worked on by Carmax and friends. My insurance did not go after them because they transferred my car to three different shops and figured it would cost more in court costs than would be worth it (claim adjusted stated that the three service shops would just point the finger at each other until the case dragged out past the point of value). I never got the refund.
b.I was told by a representative, after asking, that my final loan total that gap didn’t cover can be split in half and allowed over two months. There was no talk of my payment being considered negative, and considering that they worked with me so much during the gap claim with extensions and whatnot, I didn’t think it would be an issue, especially since they had honored what they had told me at every other instance except for the service refund.
This ended up biting me as I received a call on the 31^st day (after Oct. due date) stating that my payment was late. I explained the agreement, with confidence, and was transferred to the supervisor.
The supervisor didn’t care about my agreement made and said it was late and I needed to pay the remaining monthly payment. I set up the rest of the payment that would cover my usual car payment to be scheduled that very minute. I was told that despite it being 1 day over the 30 day grace (for negative reporting) it shouldn’t be reported late and will be posted that day. Him and I then verified the final payment of loan and the dates it was due.
I checked credit report and there it was, a negative mark anyway. I called and explained my last call and was transferred to another apathetic supervisor. She said she would listen to my last call. She called me back saying they did nothing wrong despite all that I was told and that my payments and dates previously discussed were pertaining to the final payment to be made instead of the partial payment that would have finished my last payment. I told her she misinterpreted the call as we discussed both of those things at that time. Instead of saying it was a misunderstanding on both our parts, she sided with the company instead. I was infuriated. I told her I wouldn’t had even set up the final partial payment that day if I knew it would go on the report as negative anyway. I would have just paid it all and not bothered asking to have it split. She said that maybe next time, I only ask ONE question and not TWO questions (as in questions about two different payments) next time I talk to someone so that everyone can have clarity. WHAT! I’m only allowed to ask one question? I gave my permission for the final payment to set up. She then asked if I had other questions, but why bother if I’m only allowed one!!!
I probably messed up by assuming these people were on my side. Nothing was clear. My payment history was nearly perfect, but these FINAL TWO payments bit me. Bit me hard. Carmax is just a corporate chain that does not care about their customers and won’t help them based on circumstances. It’s their fault it caught on fire anyway.
6. Also at one point, there was a posting error showing I owed way more than I did. They fixed this.
7.LATER: Business owner responds to this message stating they take this matter seriously. I sent two emails before getting a response. I responded to that, asking what they wanted, really, and never got another response. Moving on.

Went in person to buy a car that was advertised thru their website on their lot. Come to find out that the brake pads are bad, the steering column isn’t fully operational and the rims are rusted. Basically going to Carmax in Pineville was a waste of time.

Our purchase process actually started at a different CarMax location (the one on Independence Blvd.). When we could not find one we loved there, we decided to go to the location on South Blvd. The sales rep at the Independence Blvd location called ahead to a fellow rep on South Blvd and told us to ask for him there.
Frankly, this was the most painless car purchase process I’ve ever experienced! No hassle or anything. It took a bit to get the financing through. But once that was done, we were done with paperwork in under 30 minutes. Blew my mind!
If you’re one for haggling and negotiating, this isn’t your place. But if you want to avoid that, CarMax is the place to go.

This is the first time after over a dozen car deals in 18 years had a very poor experience with Carmax! I arrived to the South Blvd location ready to purchase the vehicle I transferred when I found that it was not as advertised and needed some work that Carmax and the MOD Chris were not willing to make happen. I have been a loyal customer over nearly two decades and now find myself wondering if Carmax has changed how they now treat their customers and are now more concerned with the bottom line instead of the Good Customer Experience that your advertising promotes! After today, it will be hard for me to ever set foot back on a Carmax lot to ever do business again!

we were going to sell our car our self but we though we would give CarMax a shot the gave us a respectful offer so we took the offer we are happy happy thank you CarMax and the people were nice nice

We bought our first Carmax from this location five years ago and it was a very pleasant shopping experience. Starting with the website inventory, we knew that there were cars here in our price range and with the features we wanted.
When we arrived, sure, a salesperson introduced himself but it was very little of that «What do I need to do to get you into a car today?» thing that I’ve gotten from other dealers. Bob was warm, engaging and pleasant. Maybe he knew already that we were serious buyers, but he still helped us with looking at the cars on the lot and narrowing down the choices from what they had available.
At no point was there any of that «Let me go ask my sales manager» nonsense. The price is the price and it’s very clear that the price they are offering is a fair one. Sure, you can take your chance with a dealer or with a private party sale, but Carmax stands behind their sales. Financing with Carmax was also very easy — the finance manager was efficient and polite. We had the keys in hand about two hours from the time we arrived.
Five years later, the car we purchased has needed almost nothing outside of the regular service. My daughter has put quite a few miles on this car and it’s only had one «major» repair — a $ 700 doodad in the engine a few weeks ago. Otherwise, not a thing except tires and oil.
We were so pleased with this purchase that we’ve bought a second car from Carmax (though it was from the location in Tulsa). And when the time comes for a third, we’ll absolutely put Carmax at the top of our list.

Wanted to give a shoutout to Enrique, the Service Manager in Pineville, NC.
I had a problem with the company that actually provides the funding for the Carmax extended service warranty. My car was over at Mercedes Benz being repaired under extended warranty, and the warranty issuer was not being cooperative in authorizing the needed repairs. Not sure what Enrique did, but he pulled some Carmax magic and muscle, and suddenly all repairs were authorized and my stress went away. Great job, and thank you! p. s. and the extended warranty is a must have, very good value !
update: still having issues with the ext. warranty from TWG (Maxcare) so I have to remove a star…

Purchased my 3^rd vehicle from there today. The service is always exceptional. I was working with my salesman J. Crimaudo (has now sold me 2 of the 3 cars) and I was in and out of there in 1 hour. Had me come in last week to test drive same model cars as mine was not on the lot, notified me the morning it arrived, did most of the paperwork over the phone and again I was in and out in a hour. Great service. I would never go to a dealership again. Compare their finance rates to one at a traditional dealership and you’ll see the difference. The no haggle prices are usually the best out there. Hopefully I don’t have to return again for a few years for my next purchase but I will for sure be giving my business again to Carmax in the future. If going to South Blvd, check out J. Crimuado. He’ll take good care of you.

Recently deciding that my Ford, Dora the Explorer, had seen better days and it was time to trade her in before she gave up on me, I started my search for what I wanted online — a Toyota 4runner. A used 4runner that was lowish on miles, had a sunroof and lots of cup holders (I am a girl… I just want a sunroof and cup holders…). Lo and behold, Winston Salem Carmax had exactly what I wanted and was a free transfer to the South Blvd/​Pineville location, which is convenient to both work and home for me, right off of 485. I prefer doing anything online that I can — I don’t know why I avoid people, it’s just how I like doing business.
I filled out all of the necessary stuff online, even did the financing through Carmax online as well (days later I found a much better rate through Capital One and switched to them — so do your financing homework!). A few days later the 4runner arrived at Pineville and I went to test drive. The gentleman that assisted me there was helpful, although the stereotypical car salesman (eye roll) — he seemed a little taken aback that a chip in the windshield and a tear in the vinyl on the door was a deal breaker, but whatevs. The floor manager agreed to repair the issues and we did the deal, the paperwork process took an eternity, but the young lady who assisted with that was very friendly and we got through it as quickly as possible. While working on signing the next 5 years of my life away, they did the 19-​year old hourly worker version of detailing the vehicle.
On to the service shop…
An appointment was made for me to drop Taye Diggs, my new (to me) 4runner, off to have the windshield and vinyl repaired (so I thought…). I dropped my SUV off for the appointment and the interior guy didn’t show that day. The car sat there for 5 hours and no one bothered to call and let me know that nothing was going to be done. (I also found out that day that my 15 year old cat was going to have to be put to sleep so I was in NO MOOD to deal with car repair BS). The gentleman that is the manager for the service department called at 4:45, but I was at a loss as to why the vehicle sat there for 5 hours with nothing being done to it. He told me that I need to call and make an appointment with the windshield people myself (why didn’t you tell me that before) and I would have to come back to have the vinyl done (%$#&!). I had a friend from work bring me back to Carmax and was prepared to show my ass, as I have a tendency to do on occasion when people don’t do the bare minimum that was expected. The mgr was busy, so Debra helped me — LOVE HER! She kept me calm and collected (and understood why I was all puffy, teared up and ready to rumble). She said the glass folks would come to my office and the interior guy could too — that she would do whatever needed to be done to not inconvenience me. Awesome! I made the windshield appointment for the next day, that was taken care of early, and ended up taking the car again during lunch time, they took me first and I waited for the repair to the vinyl and he did such a good job, you can’t even tell where the tear was.
The online portion of the car-​buying experience was great, the salesman was fine (as expected), the paperwork chick was friendly and expedient, but Debra in the service department is the star. She is the best!

Tommy helped me out. It was an emergency buy, so I had to shop quickly. He understood my tastes and my budget, and did not try to push me into buying something I couldn’t afford. We went through the website together, looking at my options (the cars that were in their lot, b/​c I couldn’t wait for a transfer). I drove away in the very first car he suggested I sit in, a black Ford Focus 2010. In AMAZING shape. The engine and everything else under the hood looked brand spankin’ new. My boyfriend who knows much more about cars than I do agreed. He was extremely impressed with the price for such a recently made car that had only had 1 owner. They did a spectacular job cleaning up the inside and giving it an exterior car wash as well, so I truly felt like I was getting my first brand-​new car. What an amazing feeling! I’m sure my car will last me a long time, but next time I do need a car, Carmax will be my first stop.

Why in the heck would you shop for a car anywhere else? I’m from the school where it is just plain dumb to buy new cars… they depreciate about 30% before you even drive them off the lot after purchase. The only reason I was recently shopping for a new car is because my company, in an effort at a Green Initiative, is giving money towards the purchase of a new auto for associates who go with a hybrid… but it has to be new.
After dealing with several pushy, sleezy, scheming car dealerships, I’m convinced that this place is the last place on earth to buy a decent car and not have an anxiety attack. The salesmen here don’t care what kind of car you get, what price it is, etc. They work on flat commissions… number of cars sold, not value of the car. They are helpful and knowledgeable, but not pushy and overbearing. They will leave you the heck alone and let you walk around the lot… unHEARD of in this industry! And the best part… if you DO walk off the lot without a purchase, they don’t hound you for days/​weeks/​months afterwards, wondering why you didn’t buy a car from them! They do a thorough job of inspecting used cars; I’ve driven 4 vehicles purchased from Carmax, and have never had any problems, outside routine maintenance/​normal wear and tear.
My only gripe with CarMax is I feel they lowball the hell out of you when you sell them a vehicle most of the time, sometimes way below Kelly Blue Book value. I’ve taken 3 cars in to get appraised to sell, and only once did I take their deal. I did far better in private placement with the other two cars. I guess that is the price you pay for convenience of being able to walk out with a check in hand, without the hassle of putting ads in papers, time and effort to sell the car on your own, etc. Do your homework before you blindly accept their offer.
Oh yeah… and don’t even waste your breath trying to haggle, either for a better asking price for a car you are trying to sell, or one you are trying to buy. When they say «No Haggle» price, they mean it. No… seriously…don’t even try. They aren’t allowed to haggle.
Although CarMax deals mostly in used vehicles, they do stock new cars on occasion. Check them out!

Across town — over in the ghetto, as some would probably say, we had both good and bad experiences with Carmax. But we happened to be on the South side of Charlotte and decided to see what the Pineville Carmax had to offer. Strangely, the selection on our side was a heck of a lot better. The models in Pineville were a lot older and just not nearly as nice overall.
Couple that with salesman Ryan, who insisted that he go through the entire spiel of how Carmax worked (despite our insistence that we had heard it all before), and didn’t really listen to what we wanted to look at, and pointed us at what he wanted us to see, it meant that overall, we were longing to head back to our side of the world again.