CarMax

Dealing with car transactions are a P.I.T.A.

However, going online to CarMax, getting a quote, scheduling an appointment, selling your car and out in 45 minutes is a Y.A.Y.!

Enormous building filled with friendly, helpful CarMax people. We were greeted warmly, had organized interactions with the staff and left feeling satisfied.

Check it out!

Had a 4:30 appt to sell my car. Was told 30 mins to look at it and confirm on line offer I received. At 5:19 I received message the offer was confirmed. Then told it would be another 20 mins to finalize because there was 2 people in front of me???

Finally at 6:30 I was seen and it took maybe 5 mins to finish. The person that helped was very nice and VERY surprised it took that long.

I later learned I was pushed because the other 2 were buying cars w/trade in. I understand the sale is important, making me wait 2 hours is a lot. We are planning to purchase a car at a later date and will probably look elsewhere because of this.

DO NOT BUY THIS CAR! VIN# 5TFAY5F16FX434157 STOCK# 24546557
https://www.carmax.com/car/24546557?adcode=EM_XferArrived

I have never experienced a dealership try so hard to not sell a vehicle.

July 31- Transferred a vehicle from the east coast to CarMax Serramonte. I was given the time frame of Aug 16-22. I paid $2,000 for a non refundable transfer fee hoping the car is in great shape.

Aug 24- Called the CarMax call center and spoke to an Annie curious about the status of the vehicle. I tracked the vehicle online and it said the vehicle had arrived finishing up their quality inspection. Annie informed me that the vehicle had a parking brake issue that is being address at the Toyota dealership.

Aug 25 - Annie gives me an update that the car is being serviced and will be ready next week.

Sep 1- I asked Annie for an update and she said the vehicle arrived back at CarMax and is waiting for final quality check.

Sep 5- asked for another updated. I didn't get a reply.

Sep 8- I requested a sales manager to call me. A sales manager "calls me and tells me the car is ready and asked if I was available to come pick it up. I told him it may be last minute and I wasn't sure if I could.

I ended up going to the store because I wanted to at least check the car out and see if I wanted to actually buy the vehicle. I go with my daughter and her car seat pretty much ready to buy the car. I talk to one of the sales associates Lei who was very patient with me as I express my frustration. I'm waiting for the status of the vehicle for about 1.5 hours and another sales associate Kinzi told me that the car still required a smog and vin verification. I told her the only reason I'm still tied to this car is the $2,000 transfer fee. She offered to return that transfer fee and expedite the process, and offer me a lyft home.

Sept 11- Im at a local dealership and I see another car that can replace the one I was planning to get at Carmax. I call CarMax and spoke to a sales associate Juan. I let him know that I would be purchasing another vehicle if the vehicle wasn't ready. He put me on hold to speak to a manager. He came back and told me that they'll have an answer for me within the hour. I was already at another dealership so I told Juan I no longer want the vehicle.

Sept 12- Lei called me with an update that the vehicle got a check engine light after the smog and is going out to repairs. I let her know that I no longer want the vehicle because I already went with another dealership.

If you didn't bother reading the review, here is the short version. Don't buy with CarMax unless you want the worse headache of your life. You can tell that the departments do not communicate with each other at all. With incompetent managers, everything else trickles downhill from there. First the parking brake was the issue, then the smog, then the check engine light. If there was any type of transparency this would've been avoided.

If you choose to ignore my warning, asked for Lei or Kinzi and make sure there's an actual sales associate attached to the vehicle you want to buy.

Highly recommend this dealership. I did an online self appraisal of my vehicle received a quote that was way better than any others I received. Check in at dealership was smooth and they cut me a check for exactly same as online quote.... Very friendly staff. Dealership is spacious and very comfortable. My DMV paperwork was all done within minutes and I left with a nice check..... best dealership I've had by far!

I purchased a car here and was not that satisfied after. Honestly, it was kind of a last resort situation. I'd definitely not purchase their max care. Also expect any used car you purchase and inquire on whether or not they can fix minor damages before confirming your interest. The customer service was okay.I felt like they were trying their best, but their internal communication could use improvement. The car I purchased wasn't the best deal, but it also wasn't the worst.

Pretty nice dealership. Some reasonable prices especially for hybrids. Professional service and very responsive. Bathrooms were very clean and I was pleased they had a kid's corner where my daughter could play while we did our business :)
We ended up testing 2 cars here. Cars seem all well-maintained and in good condition.

My recently purchased car was inspected at another store and some issues are missed. It was still within limited warranty and the service department was very generous in repairing the various issues, namely an engine head replacement and lower control arm replacement. They even cleaned the car and filled up gas before returning it to me.

Very pleased with my purchase experience. They were very nice to work with at all 3 locations I went to. They honored their 30day guarantee and I was able to get a great car on my third pick.

Purchased my car here for the first time on November 26th last year and after doing research we selected a Prius Prime that unfortunately had to be delivered from their Arizona location and therefore we were not able to physically see the car. Car arrives and was missing the 24 ft charging cord and our sales guy credited us the delivery charge for the inconvenience and ordered a cord which arrived within 10 days. Two months later I noticed that the Master panel Driver's side which controls the door unlock and lock buttons did not illuminate and a new panel was ordered from City Toyota by Arian who was my Service Advisor. Coming back to get it installed, the mechanic stated it was defective so Arian offered to call City Toyota to make a diagnostic appointment which luckily was first thing that next morning. CT mechanic confirmed the part was indeed defective and a new part was ordered and installed that same day. Now here is why I gave Arian and Car Max Service Department Five Stars. I was still under the 90 day warranty and in order for CT to release the vehicle they had to receive payment from Car Max. The City Toyota Advisor and Arian communicated back and forth throughout that day and payment was received. Great communication with Arian letting me know the status of where things were at along with a surprise call to me later that evening from him letting me know that payment had been sent and making sure the panel illuminated even though I had already picked up the car earlier.

Now (11/2021) is a great time to sell your car since you will get a much better value out of it. And I had a good experience selling my minivan to Carmax. We drive a lot less since pandemic started therefore, there is no reason for us to keep the minivan. I looked around the websites like Carmax, Vroom and Carvana, looks like Carmax offered the best price for my minivan. Write down my offer code and scheduled an appt at their Daly City location. Showed up on time and was helped right away. Whole process took a bit longer than I expected but overall Arron was very friendly and helpful. Once he started the process, we were out of there in less than 30min.

Keep in mind that if you are currently leasing your car, there are number of companies Carmax will not work with and I have attached a picture below.

Overall a good experience selling to Carmax.

Here are the selling process:

You show up at front and check in, filled out a form and head to business off and give them your key

A person will go to your car and check it out, possibly take it out for a test drive

Then a sales rep will come over with an offer, the offer they have should be the same or similar with the offer you received online as long as you filled out and answers each question correctly

After you agree with the price, you can sell it to them right away or you have 7 days to think about the offer

Once you agree to sell on the spot, it should take about 30-60min for the process to be completed. They will need to all your loan or leasing company with you to get the correct payoff amount.