Avoid CarMax
Randy Moore
I purchased a Dodge Caravan from Car max last year. It was 1 year old,
so didn't feel that I needed the extended warranty ( Salesperson
agreed)....Since the purchase I have had to have the transmission
"rebuilt" twice. This has led to an out of pocket expense of over
$2100.00. Carmax has been of absolutely no help in this, Chrysler has
paid for a portion of each repair though.
I emphasized rebuilt above as after the first repair I was told that
the transmission had been rebuilt, however, after it failing again in
approx. 6,000 miles, I was told it was not rebuilt, but the broken
part in the transmission had ben replaced.
I don't feel like Car max has dealt fairly with me, and would not
recommend them to anyone..
Bud Williams
Which Carmax did you purchase the vehicle from?
Being a Carmax sales consultant at the Town Center location,
I have seen on numerous occasions that the management at our Carmax
take back cars with problems even after the 5 day/250 mile return period.
I had one customer after 6 or 7 months return a car!
I had another customer order a car from Raleigh and pay the $150 deposit (which is
suppose to be non-refundable if the vehicle is not purchased by the customer)
and the managers refunded the deposit!
You also did not mention the mileage at the time of purchase and time of failure.
How much factory warranty did you have left when you bought it?
Was is out of factory warranty when it broke?
Do you feel Carmax is actually obligated to pay for these repairs?
Would you be mad at the dealership if you bought this vehicle new and it broke down?
I, as well as Clark Howard, recommend the extended warranties for used cars in most cases.
It's hard to sell the warranty on a 97 with 10K but a 95 with 30K or so would definately
be recommended.
--
Bud Williams
Photo Graphics ~ Makers of
Photo Mugs and Beer Steins
http://www.mugshots.com
770-735-6639
Willi
Once upon a time I thought CarMax was a great thing. I fully intended
to buy a pickup there once I found what I was looking for. Finally I
did. A one year old extended cab Chvy S-10, fully loaded with a 4.3
liter V-6. I test drove the truck and realized that it didn't have the
get-up-and-go that the engine should have. After a closer inspection
under the hood, I realized that the truck actually had a 4 cylinder
engine. I asked the mamgement to take some off the price for not having
the sdvertised engine in it and, guess what. They refused but
"PROMISED" th correct what was "OBVIOUSLY" a clerical error.
Feeling somewhat miffed I went home, only to return two weeks later.
Seeing the same truck on the lot I wandered by out of curiosity.
Imagine my cynical lack of surprize to wee that the sticker STILL showed
a 4.3 liter as the engine.
I guess used car lots, and used car salesmen are still the same, no
matter if the wear a neat little uniform or not.
Needless to say, I never did buy a vehicle from them. Never will
either.
Bud Williams
Did you notice the disclaimer on the window sticker? It is a kind of catch all for this type of thing.
Whe a car is first purchased by our buying staff, they inspect or appraise the car, if it meets our criteria
then our buyers write a check and buy the car. Then it gets transferred to our store.
We then process the car which includes putting a bar code on the car, a buyers guide and window sticker,
assign a transmitter which logs the car in and out of the gates and then it goes into the "whip" lanes
to be inspected by our techs, After it gets inspected, and any repairs are made to make the cars saleable,
we then put the car in the pricing lane. Our buyers then price the car and it goes into the FQC lane, the
Final Quality Check. After that it then goes out to the lot. We hire people to enter the options and engine
data into the computer data base which the window sticker is derived from. These are our inventory guys.
usually young people, it is an important job like all jobs. If an inventory associate does enter the wrong
data such as engine size into the system, it does not mean the price is not correct. Our buyers when they
price a car know what it is, sometimes they miss some small entry such as that.
Average pricing for CArmax cars is 500-1000 dollars under NADA Retail Book. I have looked up hundreds of
these prices and found a few minor errors. I try to correct these mistakes on the window stickers as soon as
they are noted. We as sales consultants stay pretty busy. That still is not excuse. But the engine size
is a rather minute detail, I'll wager that the price was still under retail and an excellent value.
By no means am I sticking up for Carmax's mistakes, There are many things that annoy me about Carmax as well
as any other retail store. I have been at Carmax since April 97 and have seen alot. I feel they do the best
job possible considering the growing pains were are going thru. Would you rather buy a car from a typical
dealership and haggle and get the runaround from them or find the car you like and drive away in about an hour
and a half with out and kind of BS?
I'll give you a chance if you'd like to see me in person at the Town Center Location.
I'll let you see first hand how we operate and give you a tour of the facility if you'd like.
I work there part-time and it's not a bad part-time job.
Bud Williams
770-919-2277 ext 2031
1-800-4CARMAX
Randy Moore
Dear Bud,
I bought the car in Norcross,. Had approx. 40,000 when
purchased. At around 52,000 mi. the tranny went out for the first
time. 58,000 the second time.
You are righ, purchasing a car at Carmax is not an unpleasant
experience. Unfortunately though, that is where the "warm fuzzies"
end! The service stinks. Now I'm stuck with a $15,000 lemon that must
be relied on as transportation for my wife and four kids.
Someone earlier stated it correctly when saying "CarMax is nothing
more than, Circuit City..A sales organization". At some point your
organization has to realize their is a service after the sale factor
involved.
Randy
m._ricci
What is the law in Georgia regarding that sort of thing? I moved here
from Pennsylvania, where we have "Lemon Laws"....there are certain
criteria that your car has to have to be considered a lemon, but if it
qualifies, you are protected under the law and can receive
reparations, new car, etc. from whoever sold it to you! Good luck....
On Sun, 21 Dec 1997 11:08:20 GMT, ir...@mindspring.com (Randy Moore)
wrote:
EJ
M., Ricci wrote:
>
> What is the law in Georgia regarding that sort of thing? I moved here
> from Pennsylvania, where we have "Lemon Laws"....
I don't think there is a lemon law in Georgia that applies to used
vehicles - only new ones.
Buyer beware.
EJ
Rick Lowe
M., Ricci wrote:
> What is the law in Georgia regarding that sort of thing? I moved here
> from Pennsylvania, where we have "Lemon Laws"....--
Unfortunately, "Lemon Laws" in Georgia apply ONLY to NEW vehicles. A few
years ago, our legislature attempted to extend a lemon-law-like policy to
used cars, but the lobbyist (who are incredibly influential in this state)
got it squashed quietly. The only law that applies to used cars in Georgia
is caveat emptor (buyer beware).
Rick Lowe
Cameron
What a wonderful little explaination of the way things supposedly work
at CarMax. I doubt that your examples of the wild exceptions that
have been made for others will make this guy feel any better.
I am assuming also, that since you are an employee of CarMax, you are
aware that they brag in industry mags about having the highest profit
margin in the industry?
Maybe if he had huge tits he would have been treated better.....
-Cameron
On Fri, 19 Dec 1997 23:20:11 -0500, Bud Williams <b...@mugshots.com>
wrote:
>Which Carmax did you purchase the vehicle from?
>Being a Carmax sales consultant at the Town Center location,
>I have seen on numerous occasions that the management at our Carmax
>take back cars with problems even after the 5 day/250 mile return period.
>I had one customer after 6 or 7 months return a car!
>I had another customer order a car from Raleigh and pay the $150 deposit (which is
>suppose to be non-refundable if the vehicle is not purchased by the customer)
>and the managers refunded the deposit!
>
>You also did not mention the mileage at the time of purchase and time of failure.
>How much factory warranty did you have left when you bought it?
>Was is out of factory warranty when it broke?
>Do you feel Carmax is actually obligated to pay for these repairs?
>Would you be mad at the dealership if you bought this vehicle new and it broke down?
>
>I, as well as Clark Howard, recommend the extended warranties for used cars in most cases.
>It's hard to sell the warranty on a 97 with 10K but a 95 with 30K or so would definately
>be recommended.
>
>
Ga Bush Master
You folks get stuck on one subject and run it in the ground.In a city of
almost 3 Million residents there has gotta be someting more interesting
for us to talk about. Best strip joint or maybe a good brothel or two.
m._ricci
Doubt it.....usually having the aforementioned attributes will only
get you treated like a bimbo, so you tend to get taken advantage of
more often.
On Mon, 22 Dec 1997 21:15:11 GMT, came...@mindspring.com (Cameron)
wrote:
m._ricci
Perhaps you need to look for (or start) a group called alt.horny guys,
because that seems to be your sole line of thinking judging from your
other postings on this group. You are free to ignore any and all
threads that do not interest you. This isn't a chat room, after all.
Ga Bush Master
Sha-na-na
>and you should try alt.binaries.wienny.nerds.
That was really cool.
Willi
By the way,
Saturn has a no questions asked, money back guarantee on their used
vehicles. For those that are intrested.