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Smart Shopper Carmax - What's Your Experience?
762 messages, Last post on Nov 14, 2009 at 11:37 AM
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Replying to: mackabee (Jul 08, 2008 2:48 pm) Glad to see you write that... british rover does't think dealerships do the above. Tack on another $399 dealers fee, that is pre-printed onto the contract, and you're lookig at even less of a commission for the salesperson. If I had money to burn Carmax would be a great place to buy a car. But then again, if I had money to burn I wouldn't be buying "pre-owned".
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Replying to: jipster (Jul 09, 2008 5:20 am) I had five credit cards with lots of debt about 4k worth. Three of them are paid off; two of have total $600.00. My lovely big sissy helped me out cause she got very worried almost to a point she couldn't sleep. I let her help out. I've never felt like a different person for the good in a VERY long time. ----------------------- Anyway, its funny how people here were talking about Carmax and Circuit City. My Circuit City is next door to Best Buy. So if Best Buy doesn't have what I'm looking for...I'll go to Circuit City. If you go to Circuit City then a Carmax. You'll see they both wear the required brown shoes and belt. Even if you're not buying anything; they both say "Have nice day" as you walk out. For those who didn't know...back in '02, Carmax separated from Circuit City. Carmax stock is 13.58 while Circuit City's is 2.34. I read somewhere about few weeks ago stating Circuit City is going under? Another thing, when I was looking up stock quotes. There was Car-Mart popping up in Carmax news. I went onto their site just wondering. Are they owned by Wal-Mart? One thing that made me laugh out loud is you can trade in anything including farm animals. LOL Or they associates wear jeans. You think they allow them to wear cowboy hats with cowboy boots with spurs too? LOL What's next? Car-Store? A urban, "ghetto" based company that sells cars that "fell off the truck"? LOL I think I'm going little too far. I think I'll shut up now. |
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I've done my research about Toyota engines and Engine Sludge. For the past three oil changes I've used K&N filters. Last change I found two tiny oil clumps coming out from the drain plug. I guess Toyota has produced better oil filters since the whole famous "Camry & Engine Sluge" problem. I noticed how better quality Toyota filters are that I decided on going back with them. So I went back to Carmax wanting to buy few...one of the sales consultants stops me and asked "You hit 100k yet?" I looked around seeing the whole sales department standing around waiting for customers. "Yeah I did. Now I'm at 102k." I never felt so embarrassed and proud at the same time specially since my tC's consultant happened to be there too but I didn't know. I knew it would give her opportunity to give me crap about it. I'm shocked she didn't take me out back and yelled at me. lol He was saying "I bet its still worth alot." Then another consultant said "I would like to see that offer?" Now they are making me wonder LOL |
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As a CarMax "sales consultant" for almost 4 years, I can tell you plainly that CarMax has an insidious side to it that differs substancially from the "wonderful alternative to the lying bastards that work across the street schlocking used cars." There are many salespeople at CarMax that are very sucessful at being lying bastards as well and they get promoted quickly because they help make budget (quota) for their managers. Managers get the majority of their pay from pushing the salespeople to make budget, and sometimes this gets dicey for the customer. I know of many instances of salespeople straight lying on credit applications for customers in the hopes of getting CarMax Auto Finance acceptance (CAF) because there is no verification of income needed if approved. What this does is get a customer into a car that they really cannot afford and probably will result in a repo on their record that will screw them up when they try to get another car note. In the nearly 4 years that I spent at CarMax in South Texas, I have noticed a huge difference in quality of car reconditioning. When I first started, the cars as a whole, looked great and ran great and generally had no issues with a sale. This quality deteriorated noticably as the standards began to be lowered. Scratches and nicks were now "to CarMax standard." Toward the end of my job there, I rarely sold a car that did not have to have me quickly drive it back to the service area and find a mechanic to fix one or more problems. The service manager, under pressure constraints to keep costs down, did the absolute minimum amount of work needed to get the car out the door. We, as salespeople, just hoped that the quick fix would hold up for at least 5 days, as that was the length of time the customer could return the car for a complete refund. I had so many customers complaining about major problems within the first month, that it became a ususal part of doing business. If it occurred after 5 days, we breathed a sigh of relief that the 150 dollars would not be taken away from our paychecks! We just had to refer them to the service area and throw them the problems. We would get so many complaints about our service operation! From downright abuse to customers with an attitude of "I'll get to it when I feel like it" to lying about both the problem with the car and the solution. The service writers would be trying to find a way of making the car problem one that would either void the warranty or be something that wasn't covered so they could get paid at a higher rate than the warranty company would pay. Sales consultants that were new "on the floor" would be easy cannon fodder for the experienced salespeople who would regularly "snake their deals" because they knew the system and its shortcomings. That is one reason why CarMax is always hiring new sales consultants. The drop out rate is astonishing. They would hire 20 people in a month and within the next quarter, maybe 3 or 4 people would still be there. It was usually the ones that could not find employment elsewhere! The standards for employment were lowered as well and it was noticable to anyone who had been there for a while. I was lucky to have made it to the top level, the President's Club where I would make an extra 25 dollars on a deal 25 dollars on a warranty. Not a lot of extra considering the amount of time and effort it took to get there. It required a consistance sales of 15 cars per month. Normally a salesperson was expected to sell 10 cars per month. The only way I really made any money was pushing that warranty! It would double my money on a deal. In may ways, that warranty was pure profit as was so easily voided if the customer didn't read the fine print! By the way the reason I don't work at CarMax anymore is that I was caught by the "CarMax Internet Police," a group within CarMax headquarters that scours the Internet for any mention of CarMax by current employees. I had a blog of my adventures in Texas for my relatives on the west coast and was boasting of how I was doing at my job. Well the CarMax Internet Police contacted my dealership and, even with being the top in sales consistantly, was fired on the spot. It is very interesting that a company as large as CarMax, ranked 367 on Forture 500, is so totally paranoid about its image. That is a little insight about my adventures with CarMax. In summary, let me point out some Ture Facts about CarMax: 1. the cars are overpriced as a rule of thumb - (when trying to get independant financing, customers get that fact from their banks, "the car doesn't book out!" 2. CarMax has the lowest sales commission in the auto business yet has revenues of over 100 million annually. 3. Reconditioning of cars is all about the shine and not the mechanicals. The standards for cosmetics is much more stringent than the mechanical aspects. 4. 80 per cent of my work was preping for appraisals. People would come in for the free appraisal and have a number in their heads and our job was to "downgrade that idea with some reality" and "be realistic with their car" by going out to the parking lot and pointing out scratches and dings and obvious shortcomings with the car to degrade their idea of the value of their car. IF CarMax bought the car, we as salespeople would make 50 bucks so it was in our best interest to push down the value as much as we possibly could. I remember having a customer bringing in a almost new Honda s2000 with only 3000 miles, beautiful and perfect. He was going through a divorce and needed to sell it that week before the lawyers had a chance at making it an asset of the marriage. Low book was $22000 and we offered him $18000 and, with a lot of regret, agreed to sell it. He losk about $8000 on that deal. The car didn't even go through reconditioning and was for sale on our lot for $29998 the next day! 5.The more cars you sell, the more evil you can get away with (at the dealer level). We had a top seller that has sexual harrassment claims against him time and time again and those problems just "went away" because he was helping to make budget (quota). 6. Never go to CarMax to get your car serviced if you can possibly avoid it. They promise the world and find new and creative ways of making you wait and wait for the service to be completed and/or done correctly. My dealership went through so many service writers that it made your head spin! 7.If your in the market for a late model Honda or Toyota, know the retail blue book and the price of competitors that are selling them new with all the discounts that other dealers offer. I lost many deals when a customer bought a almost new Toyota or Honda for more money than they could have bought new. One example is a 1 year old Corolla S model (normally with alloy wheels) but we took alloys off and put 5 dollar hubcaps on it. I sold it for 1500 more than they were selling for new across the street (with alloy wheels). Custome |
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Replying to: MarkClyde (Dec 11, 2008 8:34 am) Last time the dealer offered my about $3500 less on a trade in. I said no thanks, I have a car max appraisal here for more. They agreed to match. Which was better for me, as with the trade in, I do save the sales tax in my State. As for the divorced guy, anytime you are placed in a position of a "fire sale" your value will be depressed. Sure he lost out, but he was not in any position to hold out for the best deal. But then again, he was able to shelter $18000 from his wife - so didn't he just make $9,000? thanks for the story... |
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Replying to: MarkClyde (Dec 11, 2008 8:34 am) Yes, the cars are way overpriced, but I've always heard though that Carmax will give you more for a trade than a dealership. |
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In light of Carmax's weak financials, are they still non-negotiable?
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Replying to: dhogue1 (Dec 12, 2008 1:55 pm)
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Replying to: MarkClyde (Dec 11, 2008 8:34 am) I have noticed that many low mileage used cars at Carmax go for close to what a new one goes for. Just for fun I looked up Nissan Sentras on Carmax's site and found a 2008 6 speed manual with 9K miles for 14,998. I went to edmonds and found that the TMV with incentives and rebates came to 15,020. Spend and extra $22 and get new not hard to guess what people will do. (Caviet, I tried to get the same options but may have missed on one or two). |
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Replying to: dhogue1 (Dec 12, 2008 1:55 pm) Yes, they are still charging $20K for a car you could go to any dealer in town and buy for $17K. |
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