I don't know if I would ever buy a car at Carmax - the prices are just too high and I don't mind negotiating a discount from a regular car dealer.
Carmax USED to a good place to sell a car as they would give you KBB / Edmunds trade in or even private party for your car. That was then they first opened around here - then they got smart and starting getting cars from the local auto auctions and would only give auction money offers for your car. So any time lately they have looked at a car of mine or a friend's car they would offer what they can get the same car for at auction - which is a pretty low-ball price and well below values shown online. Normally, you could "trade in" a car and get more for it - but it depends on the car and what you are trading for. If it is not something the dealer wants to put on their lot and sell, then they too will offer you auction money for it.
My wife was tired of filling up her guzzling Honda Pilot but we had a few months left on the lease. The online trade values showed more value than current lease payoff so I figured I would give Carmax a shot. I figured auction money would be close enough to payoff to let the car go so we could get something else w/o having to stay in the lease. I also did a Carmax nation-wide search for the year and model and found similar vehicles with similar miles and they were offered for sale at prices much higher than lease buyout.
Well, I guess Pilots are hot sellers as the offer came back nearly $2k more than payoff! We cleaned the car out and let them have it :surprise: . My wife misses the space of the 3 row SUV, but is getting 43-45 mpg in her new Prius and loves it.
Carmax offered her Pilot on their site about 2 weeks later (once the title came in from AHFC) for nearly $5,000 more than they gave us. They marked it down a couple of times and sold it (or auctioned it) in a few weeks. Last listed price was about $4k more than they paid us for it. I was happy with $2k over lease buyout, so more power to them if they made more off of the Pilot. I shopped it at a couple of Toyota dealers and the best offer was $750 or so less than Carmax paid. One note: they listed her Pilot as AWD when it as a FWD model. Could have been a mistake in the listing OR at appraisal time. So perhaps we made a profit due to them thinking incorrectly it was AWD? A quick check would show you it was not (I can tell w/o getting out of the vehicle) AND the original window sticker was in the glove box.
That worked out so well I let them appraise my G37. They did not offer me a $2k over lease buy out, but a price really close to buy out. So again I took them up on the offer and sold them the car so I could get me something new. They offered the G online in a couple of weeks for about $3,000 more than they paid me and later dropped the price to $2,500 over before they sold it (or auctioned it). I was surprised that the mark up on the Pilot was so much more than the G37, but again I got a fair price - my best other offer on a trade was $3k under the Carmax offer.
Both of the cars I sold them were under full warranty and were "like new". The Pilot had normal miles for a 3 year old car, the G37 was really low miles - both were clearly nice enough for them to sell (or try to sell) on their lot after purchasing them. Maybe that accounted for the "nice" appraisal prices I got?
The one dark cloud on the whole deal is the contract you have to sign when selling them a car. I never saw that until I did the first deal and if you read it (and you should) it is TOTALLY in Carmax's favor. For any reason and at any time they can call off the deal - even if they have paid off your loan / lease. If they do, then you have to pay them back the money they gave you (if any) AND repay the amount they paid out to pay off the car. I am sure the language is in place in case your title never comes in, or has more liens on it that you disclosed, or comes back salvage or rebuild even though Autocheck / Carfax say the VIN is clean. But it COULD be used for any reason to let Carmax unwind the deal. Ask them and they say "it never happens" unless the car turns out to be stolen or something. Also, they pay you with a bank draft, not a check. You have to deposit it and (depending on your account and bank) wait for Carmax to decide to honor it or not.
If you owe more than the offer you can pay Carmax to buy the car from you, but (get this) they only take CASH or certified funds. No personal checks (over $250) and no credit cards.
Ironic, isn't it? There is no way they would sell you a car under the terms they impose when they BUY your car.
In my case, both worked out just fine so I will change my Carmax "sell us your car" recommendation from "don't bother" to "worth a shot". If you go in during a slow time you can be in and out in under an hour, easy - so may be worth your time. Do a nationwide search on Carmax and find cars just like yours and what they are asking for them. Figure $3-5k UNDER that number is what they will be offering you - as long as your car is like new and clear Autocheck. If they make you an acceptable offer, have them give you a copy of the contract for you to read over and study at leisure to see if you can live with the terms - then decide if you want to sell to Carmax or not.
Keep in mind if you own or finance (rather than lease) your car there is a trade in tax credit in most states. Assuming you are not going to buy an overpriced Carmax car, take this into account when judging the offer. If taxes were 7%, for example, an offer from Carmax of $20,000 for your car would be the same a trading it toward your new car and getting $18,692 for it when counting the trade in tax savings. If leasing, it does not matter (most all states) so just take the best offer.
