Carmax is a bit of mixed bag.
I can't speak highly enough of Shahed Parsa, who was the Carmax customer service representative from the sales team who worked with me. I was struggling to find a 2017 Honda Fit Ex to replace the 2017 Honda Fit Ex I recently lost due to a drunk driver.
It turns out another Carmax location near Los Angeles had one available, and I was able to ship it from there to Burbank, CA for me to look at. So big points for Carmax for having a very big selection and living up to their free transfer pitch.
Also, as soon as I made the order, I was contacted by Shahed. He was extremely friendly, very helpful, and let me know all the details I needed to know. He also let me know when the car arrived so we could do a testdrive.
Here's where things went a little sideways. The car had some scratching, some gunk on one of the windows, a sticker attacked to the inside of the driver's side handle, a partial sticker on the passenger side mirror, and the door handles on all four doors felt a little loose. Probably the biggest red-flag was that the glove compartment had the manuals, but INSIDE the pouch with the manuals was all previous owner's personal documents for car registration, insurance, etc., with their name, address, and personal info. Lastly, I will say that two of the tires, (in the back) had recently been replaced. The front ones definitely looked worn, but the back ones looked pretty sharp, and I had read that the the Carmax location the car had come from had put on the tires, so at least they did do that to make the car more safe to drive.
Basically, the car was in overall pretty good shape, but aside from a quick vacuum job and some armorall, it didn't look like it had been detailed. I have to be clear about this because the condition of the car plays into the review. The car looked almost as if it had come from a private seller.
The price of the Carmax 2017 Honda Fit EX at Carmax was $16,998, with 18,000 miles on it.
The test drive went well, and I Shahed was great. True to Carmax's promise of service, he didn't try to 'sell' me the car at any time. It made the test drive a lot of fun... more like to buddies talking about life and cars then gearing up for a serious purchase.
I was already pre-qualified with Bank of America, but I held off on the purchase to check out one more car.
The next day, I went to see a different 2017 Honda Fit EX with 20,000 miles on it, but the condition was immaculate. That made a big difference. Also, they were priced at $14,988, a whopping 2,000 dollars less on the front-end then Carmax. Overall, I saved about $2,300 when all was said and done between the price of the car and the financing.
So here's the thing: I really loved that Carmax absolutely was a PLEASURE to visit and work with. Shahed was a great agent, the selection of used vehicles is enormous, and Carmax's ability to pull up cars from their other lots, (usually for free if they're within a certain range), was AWESOME. I was 98% ready to buy there, and truthfully, they were my fall back position in case the better deal didn't work out.
So in the end, really, the only reason I can't give Carmax in Burbank 5 stars is because of the condition of the vehicle and the price they listed it at. That's not to say that's always a deal-breaker; I saw an absolutely gorgeous Toyota HR-C there that was clean as a whistle. It really just appeared to me that Carmax takes the vehicles pretty much as-is from the previous owner and checks them out just enough to make sure they are road-worthy. There was a slight lack of attention to detail, but overall the car was definitely buyable and still cheaper than buying some used cars at a dealership.
Carmax certainly builds in a hefty profit for their cars. I can't blame them for that. What I can say for sure though is that what you're paying for is exactly what they advertise: the no-hassle experience. After all the stress of car researching and shopping, Shahed and Carmax were like a breath of fresh air... Shahed never tried to deny there was a scratch, or blame something on a co-worker, or race to keep me on the lot to talk to a finance manager, or try to guilt me because I ordered a vehicle in. The only questions are if you can accept the vehicle in the condition it's in at the price they are offering. If you can do that, this is probably the easiest, breeziest car buying you'll ever do. If you want to save money, if you like to haggle and negotiate, or you think you can do better financially elsewhere, you probably can. I'd just say that my new saying when buying a car is, "When all else fails, at least you can head to Carmax. At least they shoot straight."
3 stars for Shahed's customer service, and for Carmax's delivering on the promise of no hassles, while also moving a car from their other location with no fees or promises on my end. 2 stars down for higher prices and possibly iffy condition of the vehicles. read more