I have two 8-yo twins grandkids to help put through school and buy cars for like I’m doing for my 16-yo and 21-yo grand daughters, so I need every cent I can scrape together to make that happen. Mitsubishi Best Deal and Offer. And I, as the admin of this page and the author, approved your comment. I remember getting the title in the mail from the bank and I wasn’t sure what to do with it…but I have loved not having a car payment for the last two years! So they did. I am not geared for the excitement of buying cars. So again, rather like buying and selling at CarMax, it comes down to are you willing to pay a potentially STIFF price for the convenience of whatever happens to go wrong with your car in x years and y miles only costing you whatever the deductible is? I sold my beloved Dakota R/T to CARMAX a few years ago. Consumers need to understand that they are parting with their vehicle for wholesale, not retail while at the same time giving up any sales tax advantage they might have by trading in. Also my standards are low, the Taurus replaced a 2000 Cavalier, which had replaced an 88 Sunbird. I went for a 2000 Malibu which kept cutting off on me over a 3 week period, went back for a 2002 Sable that I never even got to see because after 3 days they couldn’t figure out why it kept cutting off, ended buying the 2002 Taurus they had me using as a loaner car(after complaining about them squeezing my 6’2″ self into a couple of Grand Ams). The reason “One Price” dealers have such a hard time is that their competitors are using their posted pricing against them to undercut their upfront prices and earn business. Wholesale auctions frequented by dealers who sometimes travel long distances to buy the very same cars that you are tired of driving. RE: “Maybe I’m wrong, but I believe that all buyers and sellers in the market still pay a premium for the luxury of not having to haggle.”. Why might borrowing be beneficial when one can pay cash? Why don’t the automakers do away entirely with individual dealers and sell directly to the public? After all, a dealer didn’t spend or borrow $20 million without some kind of contract with his supplier. In fact, Carmax's annual sales (retail and wholesale) exceeded 1 million units for the first time in 2016. That leads me to wonder, does my habit of paying off my car loans early ultimately hurt me when seeking a new loan? Again, my comment was to those touting the Apple model as if gadget sales somehow translates into new vehicle sales. Ford already did it once as part of their grand experiment. To be fair, MANY of the subventions are either/or, rebate or rate subvention. And no one likes the unwashed masses. 2009 Hyundai Elantra: Grandma’s last car; sold for 1000 less than she bought it for 2 years and maybe 12k miles earlier. even bought a car there for my daughter in 2002. It’s classified as a full-size SUV even though it was a mid-size in the past. When a customer brings in their car for a breakdown, it is a pleasure for a dealer to charge the ESA company full retail for the repairs while telling their customer “no charge” or collecting a small deductible. The process was easy and very fast. I’m not planning on buying another car, so the trade-in route is closed. RE: “The key insight here is that the dealership system is still stuck in the bazaar model in large part due to legislation which protects it from immediate/marginal competition, and manufacturers don’t care enough to drag down their own wall st. grades to make a better experience:”. Thanks John. Out of the 4 other dealers we visited, the CarMax offer was $1,500 LESS than the LOWEST offer from the … (I’d actually prefer a black on black Mustang based Lincoln sedan with the Coyote. They had to order the splash guards and I took it back the following week to have them installed. There isn’t that much to it. I’ve considered Leasing, like so many who have preceded me, but haven’t finalized my decision yet. The closets one was $700 higher and the highest was just $500 off MSRP (and thousands higher than the no-haggle dealer). They have also provided a pricing umbrella that allows other business models to enter and still make plenty of money. The company operates in two segments, CarMax Sales Operations and CarMax Auto Finance. This is a good post. HINT: When looking at pre-owned vehicles, look for any evidence your vehicle of choice might already have an ESA on it from the previous owner. You really have suffered enough; it’s time to treat yourself to a nicer car. For example, if you buy the right coverage, your ESA pays for a rental while your vehicle is in for warranty work. I worked for Carmax for a summer about 10 years ago, the criteria for a Carmax lot car is less than 5 years old and less than 50,000 miles. etc. Kelly Book Blue value the same vehicle with the same mileage at $4,000 to $6,000. If it doesn’t, the dealer won’t tell you about it. So you are losing the time value of the money and the beneficial side of inflation – a dollar today is worth more than one 4-5 years from now. So be it. Before we went to the Mazda dealership to talk trade-in, I took it to Carmax to see what they’d offer. Voila! Neither do they charge an application fee. They were always friendly there. I also might wait to see how the performance models stack up. When people ask me about Carmax I tell them it’s a great place to sell a car, not so much to buy a car. It may not be sporty or flashy, but it beats walking or riding the school bus. I don’t know why, but many people out there seem intimidated by the proposition of hashing out a price on a car and will let go of thousands of extra dollars to avoid having to do it. What you quoted does not say all buyers are willing to pay a premium to haggle. . Long story short, the wife loves it, now has close to 40K on the clock and hopes to keep it until the end of this year or the end of next year, without any problems. Certified Pre-Owned. It isn’t called a dealership and it doesn’t have inventory, but none of the showrooms in any of the states carry inventory. Someone’s kid or an aspiring scammer is going to light up your cell phone with a never-ending torrent of stupid pointless questions. > Much of Apple’s business model consists of adding a user-friendly cool factor and aesthetics to consumer electronics. I once went to a CarMax with a video camera to document one of their locations for a Japanese client as an example of a new American trend. I’m sure that it rankles the car makers to spend millions constructing the perfect marketing message and environment for their product, only to have some semi-sapient weasel with a gold chain and reflective scalp trample all over it in order extract another $200 from his “up”. =) It had Medium Driftwood fabric upholstery because the leather used in the JGC at the time was so ugly! And the FTC enforces this precept. They offered me 10,000 which was a crazy low number. My wife bought a CPO Accord at an area Honda dealer last week for the same money as an identical Carmax Accord with 12k more miles. 30 days! That would be a good argument, but I did have a few other things repaired (sunroof, horn switch, etc) that still put me ahead given what I paid. It’s arbitrage, with a churn that now numbers close to 7,000 vehicles. “What you REALLY want is for a dealer to have to quote a fixed price and stick to it to make it easier to shop.”. Actually, an extended service agreement is one of the best values available DEPENDING on the coverage you get and the price you pay. My theory is that the OEMs have already priced in the next round of rate subventions expected because interest rates will most certainly rise. Besides, every time an automaker decides to sell direct it becomes an expensive failure. Our warranty is probably the only thing CarMax offers that isn't a total rip off. CarMax is smart to offer this policy because it knows few people are going to return a car after five days after going through the hassles of buying it. Try getting a partner to invest $20 million or so without contractual assurances with their supplier. RE: “Though car salesmen are often good at the hard sell, they’re evidently bad at courting new buyers.”. Don’t kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. I bought an extended policy on my Stratus that cost me around $560 and I got around $2,200 in repairs out of it, so I definitely came out ahead. Much of Apple’s business model consists of adding a user-friendly cool factor and aesthetics to consumer electronics. Plus you get all the new technology, new safety stuff, and a better warranty. Vegas has better odds of paying out.”. Cars. But I’m not going to do it for free. 2. I don’t know exactly how they deal with finance issues as they are quite secretive. Especially in these times of “free money” interest rates. Doesn’t seem fair, but the credit system is what it is. To sell used cars to end user you also need a dealer license, something that has nothing to do with OEM or dealer lobbying. Give consumers what they say they want on surveys and they’ll betray you every time. Not an uncommon sales tactic… now what’s the chance that that happening to some guy, in the same area or same dealer, around the same time you traded in your old car? Those who had LEASED those vehicles had nothing to worry about. That 1990 Honda Accord which has been driven 356,168 miles? That clear conscience is worth money to some. On average, a Carmax auction gets more eyeballs per vehicle basis anyone else. Automotive, Aircraft & Boat. I’m happy to see you are factoring in tire replacement, brakes, and other parts costs in your decision. Maybe it was made on a day when the UAW workers had all their faculties working simultaneously and all were lucid of mind, like maybe mid-morning assembly before the drinking, smoking and toking commenced. When I went to go buy my 2012 GTI, the jerks at dealership offed me only $3100 for my excellent condition 2005 Civic Si with 170K miles. Subventions generally stretch down to 680 FICO but the “fast track” minimum is generally 720 – 740. At the ages of 60 and 65, that appears to be sufficient to qualify them for the lowest rates and promo offers. I’ve never run across one that didn’t, unless it was strictly a salvage auction. Like em’ or hate em’, Carmax is now the official used car Goliath of the auto industry. I recommend CARMAX to people of a certain mindset. Rare PAPS Auto Accesories. A friend in Dallas has leased many of them. CarMax also welcomes all vehicles: “Whether it goes on our lot or to auction, we want to make an offer for your car,” states CarMax. (It’s debatable that Tesla does, as Tesla has yet to demostrate that it can sell cars for a profit.) My step-mom bought a 2007 Hyundai Sonata from them in 2009 and she raves about the Carmax buying experience! That old clunker loses it’s endearing qualities and then, what do you do? They will both be lowballed by the general public. Frankly vertical integration in general requires more product insight than writing synergy on a page between two other words. The exterior design is handsome, if a little bland and generic, but the interior was the first thing that really impressed me. CarMax has their own finance company. I thought folks preferred no haggle? Subaru dealers in the NW are discounting the BRZ while Scion dealers have to stick to Scion fixed pricing.”. Private sellers tend to significantly overvalue their vehicles (want the same price as a dealer). It was on Black Friday 2012 and they only had one F&I guy working and there were two customers in line ahead of us to see him! I finally shut him up when I told him, “IF I can afford to write a check to buy the CX-9, I can afford to write one to fix whatever might happen in the future”….even if it wasn’t true…. The CarMax offer was a shot below the belt. I’m kidding, but the Sequoia is definitely larger than the Jeep. It was an 18-month battle, but I finally got a check for $2600 from them. The service that CarMax offers is very terrible very high mileage vehicles financing with high interest rates cars have been in car accidents being overcharged on the vehicles so if I was you I would take a look of going somewhere else Useful. So I knew they’d be willing to deal. I kind of felt like I was using them because at their prices, I wasn’t going to buy from them. I posted this in the other thread but it’s worth iterating here: From what I can piece together about the reasons for this setup (from pch et al), the primary seems to be that manufacturers as a class of companies with ~4% expected margin don’t want to absorb dealers as a retail org w/ ~2%. Unless they have changed their compensation plan in the last year or so, they pay Sales Associates a decent (for sales) base salary and a flat fee for each sale. My suggestion to the timid is to go to a One Price store or take an Indian or Korean with you on your shopping trip. And I’m one-eighth Jewish! So off to CMax! You are tired of your car. By giving you the opportunity to not deal with them, and giving dealers the opportunity to capitalize on your automotive misery. If you like sedans a mid 2000’s Lexus LS is nice, and you can pick them up in the low teens with all dealer service and around 125k miles. Trust me, if you buy from them they don’t hate you. +1, provided your trade is a good one. So what’s up with the move from the JGC to the Toyota Sequoia? Dan, I’ve seen the same thing in Kansas City – their prices used to be stupid-high, but have come down so they’re closer to the rest of the market. Most dealers would also be banking on profit generated by F&I on financing, extended warranties, protection packages, etc. Damn, we sound like Suze Ohrmann here. One of my main gripes is that they will not let you take the car to have an independent mechanic check it out. I’m tired of slinging mud in the trenches. That first billion is the one everyone here is already familiar with. Having recently taken the Uniform Commercial Code financial instruments training class at the Fed, I questioned them on what the hell that meant. The Mazda6 was OK, and the Accord was much better. I then got a fair deal on a better car from a dealer who gave me a straight quote on the phone, with no BS. Once you put that Aveo online for $3000, someone will offer you $1500 over the phone and then not show up. That said, my last new car bought was a 2012 Grand Cherokee in Phoenix, AZ, and that sales manager didn’t dick around. And I’ve bought four of my last five cars at CarMax. That is unless you live in northwest Georgia. A friend of mine just asked me what I thought about CarMax so I forwarded this. Most dealership employees don’t know the true cost basis of their own products. I live in a major metro area and I wish CarMax were an option for me. A starter interrupt on it a check for their car or just a decision from management... 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