OrangeJacket.com: CarMax is a club of con artists.

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May 31, 2008

CarMax is a club of con artists.

Here's what I posted on a website for consumer complaints. I'm adding my experience to a previous commenter's very similar experience:

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/carmax-c65956.html

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I absolutely agree with your complaint and share your disgust
and shock at CarMax's brazenly deceitful "appraisals." Almost
exactly the same thing just happened to me! Even the
next-door part!

I was the first and only owner of a 2005 Subaru WRX with
roughly 40k miles, and I never had any accidents in that car.
Except for minor door dings, it was in excellent shape, with
almost-new tires, plenty of brake-pad left, well-maintained
fluids, etc. Trade-in blue-book value for excellent condition
was $14,200, and private party value was $16,790. Blue-book
certified-pre-owned retail price was $19,480.

I first took it to CarMax of Plano, TX, where they said that
there was frame damage that clearly indicated an accident, so
they appraised the car at $10,000. Anticipating my shock
(understandably), the CarMax salesman said, "Now, I'm not
trying to scam you or anything, so let me get the mechanic to
show you what he showed me. Are you sure you've never been in
an accident?" I told him absolutely not. He asked me again,
more sternly, as if willing me to say, "uh, wait, sorry, I was
wrong, I must've forgotten or lied about a frame-bending
accident": "Let me ask you again -- have you ever been in an
accident?" Sheesh! I'm not a little kid who needs to be
taught not to fib. That's certainly no way to treat a
customer, let alone the irony of essentially accusing the
customer of lying to the salesman, who is himself a lying con
artist.

The CarMax mechanic pointed to a golf-ball sized dent/dimple
in the middle of the passenger-side sheet-metal rail that runs
the length of the underbody. It's clearly a dent from either
running over debris or possibly from when I tried jacking the
car up to change a flat. In any case, it's hardly a defect
significant enough to knock $4,000 off the value of the car.
The small dent in that side rail had no impact whatsoever on
the structural rigidity and/or crash-worthiness of the car
(IMO, obviously), and at any rate, it certainly wasn't
noticeable from the interior of the car.

So off I went to the Subaru dealership in Plano, which is
literally next door to CarMax on the same street, W. Plano
Parkway. You'd think that Subaru mechanics should know what
they're looking for in a Subaru, and whaddyaknow -- they
really liked the condition of my WRX. And so they appraised
it at (and I therefore sold it for) $14,000. That's a
whopping 40% more than CarMax's "appraisal," if you can call
it that.

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CarMax
Posted: 2008-05-13 by Harrison [send email]
It's a den of morons
Complaint Rating: 0 % with 0 votes
Company information:
CarMax
United States
www.carmax.com

We took my immaculate 2003 Ford F250 Diesel Crew Cab Pickup truck to get a "fair evaluation and a great price» for it. The pushy Asian kid talked our ears off with all of the "feel good" CarMax BS for a good 15 minutes before he finally took the keys and had his appraisal guy look it over. He drove it for 3 minutes, looked around it, and disappeared for 20 minutes.

Then Asian kid came back. (Keep in mind that this truck Blue Books for trade in value of $21, 000.00 low to $23, 000.00 high!) He held up the appraisal sheet showing $8, 000.00! We laughed and left. Took it across the street to Ken Grody Ford, where they bought it for $21, 500.00!

The cars we saw on the CarMax lot as we were looking around, cost more used that you can buy a new car for. Example, a Hyundai was 2 years old for $16, 788.00, Hyundai of Garden Grove has a new 2008 with all options for $15, 350.00! Avoid this place-rip off!

Posted by will at May 31, 2008 12:56 AM