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3.0

Went to Carmax to sell my 09 Enclave. They were pleasant enough although I had to wait about 20min for the rep I had made an appointment with.

It took approx 30min to appraise my car and then they brought me through the "process" of how they came to my offer. The offer was SIGNIFICANTLY lower than any of the suggested values I had seen online.

I then went back online while still sitting in their parking lot and plugged in my vehicle info into AutoTrader.com. 2 hours later I had driven to the AutoTrader dealer (about 30min away) and had a check in hand for $2,000K more than what CarMax had offered.

Location: New Haven, Connecticut

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Guest

After reading a few of the replies to CarMax, I just HAD to throw in my 2 cents. In 2003 I bought a BRAND NEW Ford Focus.

I bought it in June 2003 off the dealer lot. I paid $12,400 OUT THE DOOR. It was a great car, and I still have it to this day. Saved it for my son, if your wondering.

Anyways, in the summer of 2006 I considered trading it in at Carmax on an SUV. As I was looking around the lot I happened to see an exact replica of my 2003 ZX3 Focus. It had 60K on the ODO. What struck me as ridiculous was the price tag.

You guessed it, they wanted $12,400 for a three year old Focus. Dollar for dollar what I paid BRAND NEW for the exact same car three years ago. Only with 60K now on the ODO. Just for fun I tried to see where they might go with that car.

Of course, they would not budge. I high tailed it out of that Carmax as fast as possible, and have NEVER darkened a Carmax doorstep since. Run while you have they chance! They are thief's and crooks.

Find a reputable used car dealer who is willing to bargain, and avoid Carmax like the plague. Again, this is just my experience, but I would NEVER buy a car from these crooks, not now, not ever!

Guest

Also, the "value" of your car quoted to you is not the true value of your car in the marketplace, but the "value of your car to Carmax". With that said, if they just bought a bunch of cars just like yours and don't need anymore in their inventory for a few months, you get lowballed to take it off your hands.

They still make money by selling it wholesale to other dealers or, if it is a good car to put on their retail lot, they will refurbish it and send it to another Carmax location that is low on inventory on that yr/make/model and still make a boatload of money for the company (not for you!).

The people getting real good offers have vehicles fairly new, low mileage for the years, and still under warrranty. For these vehicles, Carmax assumes almost no risk and turns it around and makes its $2k profit easily with little or no effort.

Frankie S Ync

It's called appraisal cost recovery. In other words, carmax is ripping you off because they are offering you wholesale worth.

On top of that, carmax does not pay the sales person that is on commission for entering the appraisal! Totally wasted time for the sales person and "free labor" (slave) for carmax.

At least the slaves years ago got food and housing! This company is thee worst I have ever worked for!

Guest

The reason that you were offered $2000 less at CarMax was due to a program called "ACR" or "Appraisal Cost Recovery".

When an appraiser arrives at a value for your car and enters it into their Software (called AutoMation), a "back of the house" program reduces the offer by anywhere from $500 to $3000.

Even the appraisers are VERY against the program but you DARE NOT speak of "ACR" or you will suffer the wrath downstream of Folliard and his fraternity's regime.

Hey, he has to pay for the multi million $$$ home that he bought somehow.

Frankie S Ync
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-865462

I think the best thing to do is start telling customers about the ACR. Explaining to them will make them understand why and how carmax came up with their appraisal number. I will find a way to inform the public so things are clear everyone.

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