I have a car to sell, so I figured I would see what Carmax would offer. I didn't expect them to give me the best possible price, but the car is old and has a ton of miles on it, so I wasn't sure how much of a market there would be for it. It was really more of a curiosity thing than anything else.
Carmax's commercials tell you to "Start here" when selling your car -- basically to let them give you an estimate first and then go from there. In a way, they're offering to be your price guinea pig.
The blue book value of my car which is 11 years old, is about $6700. Last year the blue book was about $7500 (with less mileage), and I tried to sell it. I got a cold response from people, mostly assholes who wanted to lowball me. I decided to hang onto it for a bit longer.
Due to the cold response at the blue book price last year, I thought I might as well give Carmax a shot. I was also always curious about their operation.
First, I tried to get an appointment there to get my car appraised. I was told that the process takes approximately 40 minutes, including a 1-mile test drive and a "5-10 minute inspection". This already made me think I was going to get lowballed, as there's little they can ascertain in 5-10 minutes, so obviously you can slip mechanical problems by them. So I figured that had to be built into the price.
They could not give me a same-day appoitnment. I was told that the wait was about "15 minutes", so I came down there.
By the time I got to Carmax, the wait had grown to 25-30 minutes. I told them, "Okay, I will go to the AT&T store next door, and I'll be back shortly."
"You can't do that," says the scheduling guy.
"What?? I'm not allowed to leave?"
"Nope. It is required that you stay on premises the entire time while waiting," he coldly responded.
I felt like I was back in high school and dealing with the campus monitor.
"So why can't I leave during this wait?", I asked.
He gave a convoluted answer. "Our appraisers are paid by the hour, so we can't have them waiting around for you. Therefore, it isn't fair to them that you leave and have problems with you not being here when they call you."
"Ummm...okay," I responded. "But why can't they just cancel my place in line if I'm not here when they call me? How does that waste anyone's time?"
He didn't have an answer for that.
"Yeah, I'm gonna leave now and I'll be back in about 15," I said. "If you call me before I get back, I guess I just won't be selling my car to you."
I already felt that this place was geared towards idiots.
I left for 15 minutes, and returned.
I was told at that point that it would be "10-15 minutes", as expected. However, time kept passing, and they weren't calling me. The wait ended up being 50 minutes, and I was about 2 minutes away from raising an issue with the false 25-30 figure they gave me (along with stringing me along every 10 minutes telling me that I will get called 'any second now').
The associate took a bunch of information about me, my car, etc. Then they brought out a second guy to do a test drive with me and inspect a car.
After about another 15 minutes waiting, the first guy called me back over with his conclusions.
"Paint looks good"
"Title is clean"
"Car still runs well"
Basically every test was "passed". There were no factors they noticed that would degrade the value of the car. I would be getting the standard offer for this car's age and mileage, without any reduction.
Then came the time for the price.
To bring artificial suspense into the situation, he paused before clicking to the final screen.
"And the offer we're making to purchase your car iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiisssss........."
(Click)
I knew I would be lowballed, but this was ridiculous.
What a joke.
They were offering me less than 45% of the blue book value!
Just to see if the blue book price was way off, I put an ad out for $5500 and was mobbed with responses.
Conclusion: When you have a car to sell, don't "start here" with Carmax unless you enjoy wasting your time.
Apparently they cater to both the lazy and the clueless. They will give you a same-day cashier's check if you agree to sell it to them, so I bet that appeals to idiots who don't realize they can get same-day cash from private parties if you advertise for a low enough price.