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I've gone to Carmax and seen their sticker prices. Yikes! Some of the vehicles I saw were just a few years old but were being sold with a current year price tag. Might as well buy new at that point. At least you can haggle the price on a new car. Carmax doesn't haggle.
No haggle is great for people that can't negotiate, the rest of us negotiate over the phone and then show up to purchase. I saved 2k on my last car that way. When the product is the exact same, you can get service at any dealer, what do you have left, price.
I've gone to Carmax and seen their sticker prices. Yikes! Some of the vehicles I saw were just a few years old but were being sold with a current year price tag. Might as well buy new at that point. At least you can haggle the price on a new car. Carmax doesn't haggle.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colorado xxxxx
No haggle is great for people that can't negotiate, the rest of us negotiate over the phone and then show up to purchase. I saved 2k on my last car that way. When the product is the exact same, you can get service at any dealer, what do you have left, price.
Again, depends entirely on the car your buying in that local market.
In the Texas market for instance, Carmax in not competitive on Toyotas, Hondas, most Hyundais (some exceptions), most Chryslers and Dodge sedans.
They are however very competitive on BMW's, Audi's on most occasions, Hyundai Equus and Genesis Sedan as well as a few others, they also routinely overpay on Subaru trade ins.
A couple of examples: I found my car at Carmax several thousand cheaper than listed prices locally.
I've seen BMW's there where comparative models in the local market have been well over $6k higher listed price.
Yes, in many cases you pay a premium for a slightly lower pressure experience, but as an informed buyer you'd be foolish to ignore them just because you don't get the satisfaction of haggling the price down.
I've bought two cars outside of Carmax and two through Carmax, my next car will yet again be bough wherever I can find the better out the door price.
I don't know about the poster above, but whatever car I am shopping for is extremely overpriced at carmax. This was true even before the used car prices went through the roof. They could also not reproduce ANY repair records, including timing belts on cars that were probably way past due time for this.
At today's market, it is tough to buy a used car, 2-3 years old. The problem is that the used cars are priced based on depreciation from MSRP on the new ones. But you can do so much better on the MSRP on a new car.
For example, I bought a new 2014 Ford Focus hatch for $4500 off MSRP. This brings the price down to about a used 2012 with 30K miles from a private party. Which one would you take?
I don't know about the poster above, but whatever car I am shopping for is extremely overpriced at carmax. This was true even before the used car prices went through the roof. They could also not reproduce ANY repair records, including timing belts on cars that were probably way past due time for this.
At today's market, it is tough to buy a used car, 2-3 years old. The problem is that the used cars are priced based on depreciation from MSRP on the new ones. But you can do so much better on the MSRP on a new car.
For example, I bought a new 2014 Ford Focus hatch for $4500 off MSRP. This brings the price down to about a used 2012 with 30K miles from a private party. Which one would you take?
One example was based off a 2010 BMW 535i M sport with around 30k miles that I contemplated buying, at the time, Carmax had it listed for $30,995.00, the most comparable vehicle at another dealership was priced at around $37k, it had 6k more miles on it.
I bought my 2010 Hyundai Genesis Sedan for $26,750.00 (for the car, TTL and ESP not included), the car had 11,5k miles. The closest comparable car I could find within 300 miles had over 24k miles and was listed for somewhere around $32k (I think $31,995.00)
Carmax does everything a "traditional" dealer does.
They take trade-ins.
They sell new and used vehicles.
They try to sell you vehicle service contracts and maintenance contracts to go with the sale of your vehicle.
They have auto financing.
They have a service department.
Tell me how it's not a dealership again? The name? The clothes?
!!!! I am a Car max ex employee so I can give you a little feedback, Car max puts about $4,000 markup from cost on average some less some even more, I have experience in buying cars and you are better off in a dealership where you can haggle the price paying whatever a dealer thinks is fair is just plain stupid, if you are a skill negotiator you can get a really good deal. Auto nation and Car max are both the same, corporations for profit business, they just go about conducting their business in a different manner. Car max is not the Salvation Army or United way, they charge really high interest rates for their cars and both dealerships if you let them will bury you into a car that you will be greatly upside down someday when you want to get out of the car. I also sold for traditional dealerships and they do the same, be a smart consumer and a good negotiator but I would never buy a car at a fixed price unless I got whosale value with Edmond's or KBB. ...
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