Sam Milner at the Madison CarMax was outstanding. From the start he was friendly, personable, and clearly knew his stuff. He was well-prepared, walked me through the initial paperwork quickly, and sent me on a test drive with genuine encouragement to really get a feel for the vehicle. He even had the car cleaned up and ready with a big bow, which was a fun touch. After the test drive, Sam patiently guided me through the electronic paperwork with the right balance of humor and professionalism. He offered great advice on timelines, funding options, what to do if something like a manual is missing, and even encouraged an independent inspection. He also helped take photos of my new vehicle afterward. What really impressed me was that he also went above and beyond for my daughter, who was there for a separate transaction. He was friendly, took an interest in her compact car, and even helped remove some adhesive residue from the back of her vehicle. Sam made both of us feel welcome, valued, and respected. CarMax earned my respect (and loyalty) because of Sam's personality, professionalism, and genuine love for his job. read more

I bought a car in May 2023. The car is a Kia Sportage 2015 with a mileage around 43,000. According to the Carmax, this was a perfect-to-fit car and according to their inspection policies, they make sure everything is replaced, brand new parts, full inspection. To say that, I generally drive around 10-15 miles per day, sometimes 20 miles per day on the weekend. Some days I do not drive. However, within 3 years, I replaced the shitty engine GDi, braking pads, braking discs, etc. Last year I replaced the AC compressor and this year I also replaced the AC compressor and the stirring wheel turns out to be defective. When I bought this shitty car, I ended up paying $19,000 plus taxes. Since then I have spent around $10,000 on this car and according to Kelly's book, now this car is worth $6,600. What I want to say is do not believe the Carmax description on the car that they sell what you pay for. They simply rip you off on your money. Plus, Kia is the worst car you want to have. This is a very scammy company that can lure you into buying very used, shitty car at a very high price. Do not trust these people and this company. I am leaving the comment because I bought this car in this location in West Madison. read more

BUYER BEWARE, CARMAX IS NO DIFFERENT THAN ANY OTHER USED CAR DEALER WHEN IT COMES TO PREVIOUS DAMAGE........ALWAYS BRING THE VEHICLE TO A BODYSHOP AND MECHANIC BEFORE YOU SIGN! I bought $38000 Acura from the store in January 2025. No paint damage was disclosed. A few weeks after the purchase I gave the car a hand wash; the "RDX" badge fell off the rear tailgate. Oh boy, I said to myself, I bought a car with previous damage! Upon further investigation I found paint overspray on the rear tailgate and more evidence of a terrible paint job. CarMax did not divulge the damage. This was the third car I bought from CarMax, I trusted their 125 point inspection, not anymore. Sam Milner great guy to deal with. read more

Bought a new car today. After extensive research, we found prices everywhere were about the same. However, CarMax offered us $900 more for our trade-in than any dealer in the area, so we opted to buy the car through CarMax. Our sales guy, Max Doan, was great. He got stuff done in a hurry, and he was easy to be around. The whole process took about 3.5 hours, and it was about as seamless as buying a car can be. I don't know if the car will turn out to be a lemon or not (I hope not), but as far as the buying process, it was great. read more

At Carmax, I had built my sales in my last month to an $1100 bonus under the bonus plan. I was called into the office for a meeting with the GM and assistant manager. Carmax managers told me at that time my employment was terminated. It was because of a verbal conflict with an employee. They would not give me opportunity to apologize. At Carmax, I inquired about my bonus. They said I was fired on the 10th and the bonus pays out on the 20th. You dont get the bonus. They robbed me of a hard earned bonus. Carmax used cars are problematic. I had a buyer and all 3 of the cars I showed them had problems. Brakes screeching, Smokey interiors, another was a sure sale but the passenger door handle was broken n rattling around inside the door, Carmax gives customers low trade values. I had several customers walk out and go to regular dealerships for their trade ins. Carmax is not a regular car dealer. They are unfair to employees and to customers and have inferior used cars as well. read more

11-15-24. Worked with Sam Milner to assist an elderly family member sell his vehicle as he can no longer drive safely. Sam was exceptionally polite, friendly and good at his job. He also knows a lot about cars (has an automotive background, not just sales). The transaction took a little over an hour, was efficient and they offered a good price. I highly recommend working with Sam. read more

They lied about the vehicle by stating it was not involved in any accidents or damage. I purchased the vehicle and come to find out through my insurance agent it certainly was involved in a collision and a run away vehicle and title was altered. Due to this absolute lie on their part I have to pay an insane amount for insurance costs. How is this fair?! They will see me in court....I promise. Karma read more

Easy, fair estimate online. Had to take car in to 'verify' the quote. I expected haggling and attempt to decrease the estimate. No such thing. I was honest on my assessment and so was CarMax. In fact, they increased the appraisal after inspecting the car. They were friendly, efficient, fair, and honest. Fantastic, professional staff (Alexis). Quick and painless process. Second time using this store to sell a vehicle. Same superb experience each time. read more

I bought my car back in January and have big regrets! This location lacks customer service, class, and customer respect. Upon selling me the car they failed to properly inspect this vehicle, didn't bother telling me about the broken horn or broken door handle until I was at checkout . What baffles me is what 100 point do they do!!? Old dirty broke wind shield wipers ? Seriously? Dont get me started on the sloppy customer service you will receive with this location as well. Now my door seal is bad and this was something not inspected prior to buying. Now I'm forced to pay out of pocket because again this location and corporate fail to take care of a issue that's clearly something they should of fixed. If your wanting to purchase a car from this location just be warned it's a huge mistake! Its gotten so bad ive consulted legal action since corpirate thinks im bluffing . They don't even do all the stuff they advertise! I've waited months to post a review hoping my experience would turn positive but honestly it's gotten worse. I've posted this review so everyone can see how shady car max and this location is! read more

First. tried to buy a vehicle online. The vehicle has been previously reserved for me. I am already logged in to my account, click to buy the car, despite being logged in to my account with previous multifactor text sent to my phone to verify my idenity not twenty seconds prior, carmax online tells me that I need to verify with another code to my email in order to start the purchase. I waited over an hour for this second code to be sent, in that time someone else orders the car and has it sent to Colorado. I call and plead my case to find out there is nothing anyone can do, I guess I should say nothing anyone " will do". ( You stink Carmax, that first vehicle should have been re-routed to me, on my end it also said it was still resevered. which I re-reserved it after driving it.). One month later, I finally find a sort of similar vehicle and car max cancels the transfer on me from Kenosha. ( " car needs some work", someone says after I inquire, but only after I inquire, no one reached out to me just a cancel notification?). . The Kenosha car becomes avaible again, I order it, it arrives in Madison I drive it, and hear a rumbling noise coming from the front which is clearly the suspension! Then I notice a brand new head light and different color front corner panels. No one can give me any explanations, despite my earnest pleas. I was even promised someone would let me know what the truth was. TO date that vehicle is still waiting on parts to fix the suspension. Two weeks after that, yesterday I find a car in Chicago, pay the shipping fee. No one can help expedite the vehcile despite all Carmax screw ups. 5 days. I give up read more

Easy process dealing with CarMax in getting our new vehicle. Knock down a star though due to an unpleasant interaction that almost led us to leave CarMax. When booking an appointment, note that it doesn't mean much if there were walk-ins that came in before you. Annoyed that we waited a half hour from our appointment time, my husband approached the reception. The employee at reception (Richard) matched his annoyance escalating the situation instead of trying to defuse it be at least apologizing. Luckily someone became available at that moment (Dave) who was very helpful and we did end up buying our vehicle. Everyone else that we came in contact with at CarMax (Jordan, Luke) were extremely helpful, friendly and professional. It's a shame that one employee almost caused us to walk out and we wouldn't have purchased our car there. read more

Today we sold our vehicle at Carmax. We went there a week ago and got a quote. Because the car was a part of an estate in Illinois, it was a very messy situation with the title of the vehicle. Carmax handled this beautifully and gave us a list of all the documents we needed in order to complete the transaction. We went there with our necessary documents today and it was an absolutely seamless experience. We got a great price and I couldn't be happier! I would definitely use Carmax again. Brian, Jake and Chuck were all wonderful to work with. Thank you Carmax! read more

I went to CarMax to trade my vehicle in and purchase an upgraded vehicle. They offered me more on my trade than 4 other dealerships in the area. I did research on my new vehicle and they were comparable to other dealers in the Madison area. I don't want to haggle for hours and spend my day at the dealership. They were quick, respectful, and wonderful to deal with. Gabriel and Joe were great from start to finish!! read more

CarMax - Used Car Dealers Near Me - Madison, Wisconsin

I used CarMax for their car-buying program. I went to CarMax really wanting to hate them because they're the "big box" version of used cars, but everything about the experience was pleasant and I would happily go there if I needed the service again. I went on a weekday evening without an appointment. The staff explained the process to me and asked for my keys. They did a visual inspection and then drove my car around the block. Following their inspection, they input all of my car data into the computer (took about 20 minutes total). The guy working with us explained what data they collected and showed us the offer (which was very competitive after doing research via Kelly Blue Book). He gave me a printout of the offer, which was good for 7 days. While I was waiting, the lobby was clean and comfortable with complimentary drinks. I was also able to browse cars for sale on the lot. Overall, it was a great experience! read more

My wife and i had been searching for a vehicle for a while, we went from am SUV to a car to finally a mini van. We stopped at CarMax first, i talked with Emily. She met us and talked for a while. She test drove 3 vans with us. She was honest, upfront and down to earth. If she didn't know, she didn't lie she told us she didn't know...but didn't stop there, she found out for us. They're "no haggle", which means they don't budge on their prices. So we shopped around, but we kept being drawn back to CarMax. Other companies had the vehicle we wanted, and better prices, but they lacked one thing...Emily. Her customer service, professionalism, friendliness, straight forwardness and integrity was bar none. read more

Terrible customer service. My aunt went here and got a lemon and management did not care and had terrible follow through and were very unprofessional. I cannot believe management at this place is allowed to treat customers like this. I am a business manager myself, and would never ever let this happen to a customer. DO NOT GO HERE. read more

No haggle? WTF? If you had outstanding prices that beat everyone else, ok, but when your prices are the same as others, don't expect me to just buy it from you. The car lot down the street will beat your price because they WILL haggle. The no haggle gimmick is for suckers who just want to believe that a CAR DEALERSHIP is actually giving them a good deal and that you should just buy it without discussing price. They can apparently get cars from other Carmax lots, but there is a transfer fee? They charge you a few to see a car that you want to buy from them? That's arrogance. The last thing I do when I visit a car lot is talk to someone. From what under here, you have to be escorted around the lot? They need our personal information before we get the privilege of viewing their cars? It's said that there is a market for this type of lot and it's even worse that people flock to it. Don't be fooled by these no haggle places....what a joke. read more

Needed a used car in a hurry. Was able to get a vehicle transferred from Florida to Wisconsin with little effort on my part. Tanya is awesome! As soon as she knew what vehicle I wanted transferred, she went to work ad kept me informed. Once the vehicle arrived in Wisconsin, she immediately called me and I picked up the vehicle the same day. Easiest car buying experience ever. From start to finish (including arranging the vehicle transfer), I spent less than two hours at the dealer to complete the purchase. Super easy to find a vehicle, sell them my old vehicle, get financing, and get all of the paperwork completed. I'll definitely see Tanya for my future purchase needs. read more

Great place to buy a car! Fast, friendly and helpful. I bought a vehicle in South Carolina years ago and I've been waiting for a Carmax to open in Madison. You still have to do research to make sure you getting a good deal. I checked around on the vehicle I bought and nobody (3 dealerships) could even come close to Carmax price. That being said I deafly want to sell my vehicle to Carmax. They do undercut you big time. Not sure what the two morons on here that gave it a one star rating are talking about. He probably think they should be getting that money for crap vehicles. I would recommend this place. read more

Positive experience! I couldn't be happier! The staff was helpful, knowledgeable and patient. I highly recommend CarMax!

Very good experience. Went looking for a certain car, didn't find one on the lot so salesman told me to check out their website, they will bring any vehicle in within 250 miles at no charge or obligation. Saves the running around from lot to lot. Spent an hour on their website, had a car brought in, a few days later it arrived and ended up purchasing it. Was out of there in about an hour with the new vehicle. As a bonus they washed it while I was completing paperwork and filled it up with a tank of gas. Thanks for the great service. read more

If I could put a negative here I would. My husband and I reserved a vehicle to be shipped here to Madison last Saturday 8/3/2019 from Schaumburg Illinois. We were told it would be here within the week. We called yesterday 8/9/2019 to check on the status of the vehicle. We were told that on Thursday 8/8/2019 someone had reserved "our" vehicle and it was being sent to Cincinnati. So after waiting almost a week to get our car we are now being told there's nothing they can do about it. A sensible person would think they would tell the people who "reserved" it four days AFTER we did that there was a system glitch and that the vehicle was already reserved by someone else. This sure seems like a bait a switch situation. If I were you I would avoid Madison Carmax. There's plenty of other dealerships out there. read more

"Go check out Carmax," my wife suggested. I had found my dream car on craigslist and need the funds from this car to help me get that one. I did my homework, checked multiple websites, read countless reviews, researched four different valuation sites. I went in and had my car appraised for a quick turnaround. My agent was great, which is why it's not 1 star. I'd give him 4-5 stars. My trade in would have been between 7500 and 9000 with a dealer. Carmax offered me 5500. I sold my car on Craigslist for $10000 in less than 36 hours two days later. Carmax's answer to my question about their terrible offer was that because my car has 80000 miles they would just sell it wholesale. I feel like the ads are misleading. Don't tell me you're going to give me a great price for my car when you're low balling people with a smile on your face. I will not return read more

I purchased my car from CarMax Omaha and very much enjoyed the experience. However, I decided to cancel my MaxCare after moving to Madison. I went into the Madison CarMax and was told that the money could be refunded to my lender or to me directly if I preferred. I asked for the money to be refunded to me directly as I'm planning a wedding and could use the extra cash. Unfortunately, the money was refunded to my lender and both CarMaxes that I spoke to told me that that is always the process. I was misled by the employee I spoke with and feel very frustrated about it. It's not okay to mislead people in this way. I won't be working with CarMax again any time soon. read more

I wish I could give them negative stars. They definitely are targeting people that are clueless about vehicle values or people with more money than sense. First they offered me half the trade in value for my vehicle. When I called them out on it, I was told because thats all they could get at auction. Yes, I said half!! Not have retail value... half the lowest trade in I could find... Second, all of there vehicles are at least $2000 over retail book value. People, please do your research. Third, every car I checked the car fax on had some kind of "minor" accident report. Lastly, their sales staff has no real knowledge of the products they sell. I'm guessing most were selling vacuum cleaners or knife sets the week before. Unless money is no object, run, don't walk to the next dealer. read more

Once again Carmax comes through on great service and professional work. Lindsay is the glue that holds it all together! She deserves a promotion or just more $$$$$!!!!! read more

I had a great experience with Carmax. Ryan is the person who helped me. He was knowledgeable and thoroughly explained everything. Plus their prices were way better than any other dealer in Madison. I would definitely recommend working with Carmax!! read more

Purchased a 2011 Jetta a year ago from Carmax. Easiest buying experience I've had at any car dealership. Prices are no haggle which is great because I hate negotiating. Comparing the prices to other dealerships in the area the price was very fair. read more

Outstanding car selling experience. Had to sell my car by a fixed date due to a long distance move and I found the security and professionalism they displayed right on the target. They gave me a fair offer, didn't nitpick over a stain or a scratch, treated me with respect and friendliness and worked fast to get me in and out quickly. The thought of an ad online and dealing with strangers, as a woman, was not a risk I was willing to take. I am so glad Carmax exists. read more

I was skeptical walking into this place. Boy, was I wrong. Scott was very knowledgeable about vehicles. Sold my Jeep and bought a SUV. They have very fair prices, wide variety of vehicles to choose from, clean office, and friendly staff. The process of selling and buying is very efficient and fast. Who wants to spend all day at a dealership? Not me. They also sell only solid vehicles. No lemons. The cars they sell have gone through a rigorous testing process. I'd def go back here again. read more

Although my husband and I ultimately decided not to buy a car from carmax we had a wonderful experience and service from Emily. If you are looking to buy a car from carmax ask for Emily. She was great! Not at all pushy and answered any and all questions we had. read more

I got the car I wanted from NC. I was told it was an 8 on a 10 point scale. When I went to see it the car had some cosmetic issues (minor). I with my salesperson looked over the car and was told Carmax would replace headlights and roof pillars and other things. Salemans wrote these thing on the service agreement and change to repair vs replace. I questioned salesperson once I picked my vehicle up and he stated he never said replace. My daughter who was with me also stated replace. Be careful of what is said and look at ALL your paperwork. read more

Carmax is Great I think I will buy my 1st car here when the time comes. Great business over all with very helpful staff and no rush or pressure to buy a car. The freedom to roam the enclosed and gated lot means you can see the interior of the car without having to ask for keys. Great Great Dealer. read more

Really don't go above and beyond. Had to bring one repair back to be corrected. If the car was not under warranty I would not take it there.

I just recently purchased a used Ford Fusion from CarMax (literally last week). I was thoroughly impressed with the car buying experience. My most recent car was a total loss after a neighbor kid hit it while it was parked so note that I was NOT trading in a car so I cannot comment on that part. I have USAA and they have a "car buying service" and CarMax is one of their preferred dealers. They happened to have quite a few of the exact make, model, year and engine I wanted. Steve, my agent, did an excellent job. It was so fast and the test driving was easy. Then when you are about to go over and fill out the paperwork, your name and car pops up on a cool screen congratulating you. The paperwork was fast and the finance gal, Jordan, did a great job as well. As I was finishing up, like 5 other people all came and congratulated me on my new car. They also have a 30-day warranty (on top of the dealer warranty and any other you purchase) where if anything is wrong they will fix it. The USB port in my car is broken and they are already fixing it. It was quick and easy. I'd buy from CarMax again! read more

I would give this worthless excuse for a company zero stars if I was able. Do NOT sell/trade your car to these incompetent morons. They will give you pretty much nothing for your vehicle and then, months later, call you up and need you to come back in to resign over the title because some idiot 'misplaced' it or some bullsh*t like that. And then, a year later, you'll get a notice in the mail from the city of Chicago stating that your vehicle has been impounded and you need to appear for a hearing only to notify them that you no longer own this vehicle... which they should be aware of if CarMax did their damn job and filed the appropriate paperwork when they purchased the car. Which by the way, CarMax said they would take care of and there was nothing else I needed to do with the sale of the vehicle. AND THEN, about a month after the initial notice from the City of Chicago (so about a year since I sold the stupid vehicle) I get an order in the mail saying I now owe $2,615 to the City of Chicago for a storage fee and towing fee of a vehicle that I sold to this INEPT CARMAX LOCATION A YEAR AGO! In summary, F*ck this business. read more

First of all, I did not end up purchasing a vehicle. I am giving 5 stars however, because I really appreciated the way my experience went. I needed a vehicle immediately because the one I was driving was done for. I worked with Lora, who listened to what I wanted/needed in a vehicle and worked to find options that met my specifications. My credit is not great and I have had horrendous experiences with other dealers due to this and being a female who doesn't know a lot about cars. They always feel they can really put the pressure on and can be extremely condescending. As it turned out, the down payment for the vehicle I really wanted was more than I could afford. She did look for another, less expensive, slightly older vehicle that I may be able to put less down on, but ultimately I decided to go another route for the time being. I know I will be needing another vehicle in the near future, so I will be going back to Carmax after spending some time trying to improve my credit and saving more for a down payment so I can get the vehicle I am really happy with. While some people like haggling with car dealerships, I personally hate it and dread it, so I appreciated the straightforward approach Carmax takes. I never felt talked down to and I also appreciated that. read more