CarMax help please

[acarney]

Has anyone had experience with CarMax when they’re not local? The CarMax near me is 150 mile drive. I spoke with them on the phone asking if they could give a ballpark number to see if it was worth my time driving up there. Of course they can’t, but they said they work with Edmunds and I could go there and estimate my cars value and it would show me the low range and high range and they would be somewhere in there. Well for my 2019 SR+ (blue/white) with standard AP and 7,500 miles Edmunds is showing...

Rough - $34,800
Average - $36,200
Clean - $37,550
Outstanding - $38,200

Has anyone used Edmunds first and then confirmed by actually going to CarMax and selling? If it was $36,000 or more that is probably worth my time (and family members time to follow me up there) since Vroom has offered $35,500 but are dragging their feet (haven’t signed the contract yet). Carvana offered $37,900 but is 600 miles away...

I’m just not sure if CarMax tends to be up there with Vroom and Carvana, or more like Tesla and super low ball (Tesla offered $30k).

[On Edmunds I went to appraise, used my VIN, selected Standard Plus for the model and selected, Adaptive Cruise Control, Blind Spot and Lane Departure Warning System, Braking Assist, and Vinyl Seating as the options]

 

[ucmndd]

Recently sold a non-Tesla to CarMax after getting offers from them, Vroom, and Carvana.

They were all within $1,000 of each other, CarMax was the highest.

 

[User3509]

I have sold several cars to CarMax. I usually take the average of the trade-in values and that is normally what CarMax will give. However, 160 miles is a long way to drive.

I would guess CarMax offers around $36K-$37k

 

[TX_M3P+]

I had a 2012 KIA Soul with 90k miles on it. Every dealership in town offered $3-3.5k, which was low end trade in value according to Edmunds. Car Max offered $6k and a local dealership advertised that they'd beat any Car Max deal by $500, so I ended up getting $6.5k for a car I thought I'd only get about $5k for. Car dealerships will never give you above trad-in value, but Car Max tends to be more close to the lower end of the retail value, in my experiences with them. I have sold a total of 3 cars using the Car Max starting offer then always going to the dealership that offers $500 more. Way better than trying to sell on my own and have to meet people at random locations and go on test drives. But I have a Car Max less that 10 miles from where I live, so it's a much tougher decision when they are 150 miles away.

 

[acarney]

Recently sold a non-Tesla to CarMax after getting offers from them, Vroom, and Carvana.

They were all within $1,000 of each other, CarMax was the highest.

Had you checked KBB or Edmunds estimates for the car value first? I’m wondering if they tend to be in line with those estimates.... spoiler, Tesla WAY isn’t, lol

 

[acarney]

I have sold several cars to CarMax. I usually take the average of the trade-in values and that is normally what CarMax will give. However, 160 miles is a long way to drive.

I would guess CarMax offers around $36K-$37k

It is, but Vroom is already at 6 days from me accepting the offer and they haven’t sent the contract yet... THEN they have to arrange transportation and apparently get it to their home base in Texas before cutting a check. They said ok the phone it normally takes a week or two for the shipping date...

My Model Y is estimated at 2 to 4 weeks from yesterday... so one wasted day driving up with a family member following me is worth it to sell the car right then and there, especially if I get ~$37k since that will be a bit more... I’m just worried they’ll offer something stupid like $33,500 or $34k and it’ll be an absolute waste or I take the offer and it’s even less than Vroom. I know everyone says this, but my car is absolutely in perfect condition. I’ve had full front PPF since a couple days after delivery, it’s garage kept, I don’t have pets or children inside it. No scratches inside or out, no marks, no discoloring of the white interior (I switched to white jeans when I was worried the blue dye would stain, lol)...

 

[ucmndd]

Had you checked KBB or Edmunds estimates for the car value first? I’m wondering if they tend to be in line with those estimates.... spoiler, Tesla WAY isn’t, lol

No, but I’d venture that it really doesn’t matter. CarMax will offer you within $1k of the offers you received from Carvana and Vroom, almost guaranteed.

 

[Wennfred]

Make sure you reset the car to factory default.

Fred

 

[Leeclanual]

Has anyone had experience with CarMax when they’re not local? The CarMax near me is 150 mile drive. I spoke with them on the phone asking if they could give a ballpark number to see if it was worth my time driving up there. Of course they can’t, but they said they work with Edmunds and I could go there and estimate my cars value and it would show me the low range and high range and they would be somewhere in there. Well for my 2019 SR+ (blue/white) with standard AP and 7,500 miles Edmunds is showing...

Rough - $34,800
Average - $36,200
Clean - $37,550
Outstanding - $38,200

Has anyone used Edmunds first and then confirmed by actually going to CarMax and selling? If it was $36,000 or more that is probably worth my time (and family members time to follow me up there) since Vroom has offered $35,500 but are dragging their feet (haven’t signed the contract yet). Carvana offered $37,900 but is 600 miles away...

I’m just not sure if CarMax tends to be up there with Vroom and Carvana, or more like Tesla and super low ball (Tesla offered $30k).

[On Edmunds I went to appraise, used my VIN, selected Standard Plus for the model and selected, Adaptive Cruise Control, Blind Spot and Lane Departure Warning System, Braking Assist, and Vinyl Seating as the options]

it will be in the 36K range...

 

[acarney]

it will be in the 36K range...

Wish it was more, but I think I would be happy with that. It’s $500+ more than Vroom and if it would be same day transaction (maybe not cash in hand since my credit union isn’t open Saturday and I suspect they need to confirm a payoff amount directly with them) it’s worth it to me!

 

[hmin03]

I've only sold one car to Carmax, but they're usually involved in the process at some point. Last time:

• I used KBB to get an online instant offer on the car and they came back with a low average.
• Took it to CarMax and they offered about 2K more.
• Turned around and took the car to one of the KBB Instant Offer participating dealerships (which are usually local to you) and left the Carmax offer face down in the passenger seat.
• In turn, they offered $500 over the the Carmax offer which got me around what I was hoping for.

Never take the first offer and take the time to shop the car around. These days, used cars are in high demand and in short supply. A little effort could pay off.

 

[acarney]

I've only sold one car to Carmax, but they're usually involved in the process at some point. Last time:

• I used KBB to get an online instant offer on the car and they came back with a low average.
• Took it to CarMax and they offered about 2K more.
• Turned around and took the car to one of the KBB Instant Offer participating dealerships (which are usually local to you) and left the Carmax offer face down in the passenger seat.
• In turn, they offered $500 over the the Carmax offer which got me around what I was hoping for.

Never take the first offer and take the time to shop the car around. These days, used cars are in high demand and in short supply. A little effort could pay off.

Model 3 isn’t available for the KBB instant offer, Carvana is 600+ miles away.... that leaves Vroom and CarMax...

 

[iwannam3]

Look to see what they are selling cars like yours for. That can give you an idea of their marketplace

 

[acarney]

Look to see what they are selling cars like yours for. That can give you an idea of their marketplace

They don’t have any Tesla cars...

 

[acarney]

Holy *sugar*. CarMax offered $32,000... they also said my front bumper would need repainted (at 7,700 miles) and when I dragged out their rep to point at it and show that it’s perfect (has had full PPF since ~75 miles on the odometer) they agreed that it looked brand new... but doesn’t affect their offers at all since they can repaint stuff in house. That was a waste of six hours and 300 miles...

Vroom it is, they FINALLY sent me today a notice saying to request a 15 day payoff amount... 8 days after I clicked accept on their web offer (they claimed it should take 24-48 hours to get this email...) I’m over their 250 mile window though... so I’ll be curious how they handle that when they pick up the car... I’ll only be over by 75-100 miles since I only drive about 8 miles a day, but today’s trip certainly pushed me over...

 

[acarney]

No, but I’d venture that it really doesn’t matter. CarMax will offer you within $1k of the offers you received from Carvana and Vroom, almost guaranteed.

They were $7k less than Carvana and $3,500 less than Vroom :-/

 

[acarney]

it will be in the 36K range...

You were off by $4k, thanks for playing

 

[hmin03]

Yikes! Sorry that it took you 300 miles to get low balled like that.

 

[ry-ballz]

They were $7k less than Carvana and $3,500 less than Vroom :-/

You got offered $39k for a user SR+ and still decided to take a 6 hour trip to see if you could get a better offer?

 

[acarney]

You got offered $39k for a user SR+ and still decided to take a 6 hour trip to see if you could get a better offer?

Carvana was like $38,780 or something... but I would have to get to San Francisco (~650 miles). With COVID and now the fires I wasn’t a fan of that. I was willing to ship the car down on my dime (~$900) but Carvana said I had to be there in person for a wet signature. I figured CarMax would be less, and would have been totally ok with that based on the closer distance, I was hoping they would at LEAST be in the KBB range, which they actually automatically send you while waiting for the offer with a comment saying it’s a possible range that your vehicle might fall in.... $36k was the low end of that trade in range.

I just wish they could have told me over the phone that they could be well below that trade in range even if the vehicle was perfect, I would have skipped it then. But a couple different reps told me that while they won’t do an over the phone estimate, I could use the KBB range as a good idea what I should expect...

Then when I got there they sent me a link to fill out my VIN, take pictures of the car and upload them to their web page, and then sit in their waiting room for the offer. Totally could have done that at home yet when I asked the day before they said that was impossible and it was an in person appraisal with their rep...