Carmax seems overpriced - do you haggle them?
 

Jut started looking for a third family car the teens can drive and ding up.

Looking at 2008 Honda civic 4-door with around 100,000 miles.

There's a few on craigslist from private parties and independent dealers for around $6,000. Car max wants $9,999 for a very similar/same car with similar options.

Their "no haggle price." I thought they were supposed to be a good deal.

What gives?

Maybe it's a unicorn. :evil:

In my opinion, they are saying this to give the illusion of an excellent price and discourage you from haggling.
There is no question that you can get a better deal on the private market, the big benefit of carmax is the volume of cars available

The Civic is worth what someone is willing to pay.

Show them similar models and the prices even though it is private party. Ask them to show a vehicle inspection. Nothing wrong with asking. Have you looked at the vehicle in person?

I thought this was a thread about Carmex for a second. LMAO

I don't think they've ever truly claimed to be a "good deal." You can almost certainly get a better deal at a place that allows you to talk them down. Carmax just ensures that you won't get 100% screwed and that you can just take it or leave it without the anxiety of having to negotiate.

I've never heard of someone really trying to push them on a price, but that's a pretty small sample size.

That was the "burt" special

i tried when i bought my car a couple years ago and they would never budge they would just bring up the no haggle price

I think as with any dealer, you're paying for some peace of mind that the car has been inspected and there's a place to go if something goes tits-up.

Think about all the expense of the real estate, the advertising, the overhead cost of operating the business, that's ALL added to the prices of the cars, on top of what the need to mark it up to get a profit.


but with Honda owners, there's a lot of one-owner cars that the person was basically a very sensible person who maintained the car like clockwork and has all the maintenance records, etc. that's just as good as a dealer car IMO.

I've never shopped there but I think Carmax's thing is that they are "safe" for people that don't like to deal with car dealers, especially used car dealers. They inspect their cars, offer a warranty on newer ones (iirc) and have the whole 7 day window to change your mind after the deal thing. They aren't going to appeal to bargain shoppers, just to people that want to get a car without all of the hassle.

That's WAY too much for that car.

As others have said the Carmax model is to sell high quality cars that they have inspected. Think Certified Pre Owned from a dealership. They should have clean carfax reports. No wrecks, No major repairs. However they don't use Carfax they have their own report If I understand correctly.

I have a friend at work who bought a Toyota FJ Cruiser from Carmax. Had it for about 2 years and decided he wanted a Prius. (Go Figure) He went back to Carmax to see what the could get for his FJ. They took it back to inspect it and had the FJ for about an hour and a half. My buddy was getting a little irritated that it was taking so long. They came out and said they couldn't make an offer at this time and could he come back.

Obviously he was a bit pissed off. So he just Craigslisted it got a couple calls right away. The first guy comes and looks at it and shows my buddy where there was major damage that had been repaired.

Now he is really pissed. So he goes back to Carmax and finds the guy who inspected his car. And the guy admits that was why they couldn't make him an offer. Management gets involved and they gave my buddy back what he paid for the FJ two years ago.

Carmax made it right but they never should have sold him the car in the first place. By their standards.

All that said I wouldn't hesitate to buy from them.

buy a unicorn yukon bro and save your self the stress

The great thing about Hondas is the owner base has been instructed, for years about routine maintenance. There are many more Hondas out there that have had impeccable scheduled maintenance. The downside is...their perceived reliability is high so...so is the resale.

NOT being a homer here, but I would go for a GM model with a 3.8 just as quickly. I bet Sauto would agree. Damn fine engines.

Can't. It got wrecked.