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Dang, Carmax!

AutobahnSHO

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Any chance you are confusing Carmax with Carvana? We've all heard Carvana is circling the drain, but I've never heard/read anything about Carmax having financial problems.

DOH! oops, yup, my mistake.
 

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Love CarMax. I took my car to them the day before going to my dealer to pick up my Maverick and got an appraisal. Kept it quiet while my dealer told me their trade in value for it then pulled out the CarMax offer that was more than double. They called CarMax to verify and ended up matching the trade in.
 
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JennyJoannSuebeeMcNash

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Love CarMax. I took my car to them the day before going to my dealer to pick up my Maverick and got an appraisal. Kept it quiet while my dealer told me their trade in value for it then pulled out the CarMax offer that was more than double. They called CarMax to verify and ended up matching the trade in.
I did the same. Never could find the car I traded in for sale, though. Anyone know why that might be?
 

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Love CarMax. I took my car to them the day before going to my dealer to pick up my Maverick and got an appraisal. Kept it quiet while my dealer told me their trade in value for it then pulled out the CarMax offer that was more than double. They called CarMax to verify and ended up matching the trade in.
I did same when buying my Jeep. Kept the printed offer in my pocket while they kept making insulting offers on my pristine low mileage Vibe. Started out telling me it had NO trade value, then slowly coming up a little each time I rejected and said forget the trade. They pissed themselves when I dropped the offer on the desk at the end and it was more than double their "best offer" :LOL:
 

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Dad

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I did same when buying my Jeep. Kept the printed offer in my pocket while they kept making insulting offers on my pristine low mileage Vibe. Started out telling me it had NO trade value, then slowly coming up a little each time I rejected and said forget the trade. They pissed themselves when I dropped the offer on the desk at the end and it was more than double their "best offer" :LOL:
It's a whole new ballgame with the dealers now facing stiff competition from the online sellers (CarMax, Carvana, etc.)
 

AutobahnSHO

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I did the same. Never could find the car I traded in for sale, though. Anyone know why that might be?
They may have shipped it to another store, but seems their market is a certain pricepoint. They may unload the vehicles that are lower quality or higher mileage (or whatever is out of their market for their stores) at auction or other dealers?
 

AutobahnSHO

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It's a whole new ballgame with the dealers now facing stiff competition from the online sellers (CarMax, Carvana, etc.)
Definitely. Private sales are still a little more profitable but getting squeezed, too.
 
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Maverick#2

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And keep in mind what you're not seeing is the price someone sold them to CarMax for...
Just took my 2016 Mazda3 to CarMax to get a quote to compare to trade in when my Maverick actually arrives. They gave my car the highest ratings for condition, then offered me $5000 less than what they're selling a comparable car for.
 

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Which tells me they're asking too much.
It's nationwide and severely constrained supply. What's the inventory # that would make you think they're not charging enough. Zero? :)

I see 51 now, but again, nationwide that is hardly any inventory for Carmax.

And of those 51, only 5 are hybrid: 2 XL in the 30s, and 3 XLT in the mid-upper 30s. I would never pay that, and I actually agree the market is weakening and prices starting to fall, but Mavericks are going to be above msrp for a while to come.
 
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MaverickCruiser

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Definitely. Private sales are still a little more profitable but getting squeezed, too.
The little tax savings using it as a trade in can help offset the difference from a private sale. I also just like being somewhat anonymous to the next owner and having the dealer as a legal buffer in case anything were to go wrong with the vehicle (though admittedly I worry too much).
 

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It's nationwide and severely constrained supply. What's the inventory # that would make you think they're not charging enough. Zero? :)

I see 51 now, but again, nationwide that is hardly any inventory for Carmax.

And of those 51, only 5 are hybrid: 2 XL in the 30s, and 3 XLT in the mid-upper 30s. I would never pay that, and I actually agree the market is weakening and prices starting to fall, but Mavericks are going to be above msrp for a while to come.
If you had read my earlier posts, you would have realized that I was replying to someone who was complaining Carmax was gouging people. My response was that supply and demand was controlling the market price and that any auto business should be able to charge whatever they like. It's up to the consumer to decide to either pay the price or pass it by. Not enough people willing to pay the price, then either the business makes adjustments or they get stuck with vehicles not selling. If consumer demand is high and people are willing to pay more, then that's fine ... that's how the market is supposed to work. I'm not against paying over MSRP, I did so myself because I chose to rather than not have a vehicle that I wanted. You're preaching to the choir.
 

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Which tells me they're asking too much.
I bet half those 48 are gone in a week.I work at a huge used car dealer rhymes with jar fax and these things are gone fast.
 

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I did same when buying my Jeep. Kept the printed offer in my pocket while they kept making insulting offers on my pristine low mileage Vibe. Started out telling me it had NO trade value, then slowly coming up a little each time I rejected and said forget the trade. They pissed themselves when I dropped the offer on the desk at the end and it was more than double their "best offer" :LOL:
Yep, I never talk trade until a price has been agreed upon and already have my best loan rate in hand. The manager was upset with my salesman for not knowing I had a trade in. I told them they could match my Car Max offer or I would would just sell it to them. They matched it and made my life a little easier by not going to Car Max later. These tools make dealing with a dealership much easier.
 

Old Ranchero

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Yep, I never talk trade until a price has been agreed upon and already have my best loan rate in hand. The manager was upset with my salesman for not knowing I had a trade in. I told them they could match my Car Max offer or I would would just sell it to them. They matched it and made my life a little easier by not going to Car Max later. These tools make dealing with a dealership much easier.
Same (y) I had another card up my sleeve too. I was searching for a specific option set on the 2013 Grand Cherokee and did lots of internet searching up to 250 miles away. Talked to a bunch of "internet managers" about OTD price, etc. Turns out, there were 2 dealers 40 minutes away and about 10 miles apart on same freeway that had units with options I wanted. 1 dealer actually had 2, but they had more stuff on them and couple thousand more than I wanted to spend and didn't NEED the fancy Nav, sunroof and upgraded seating on his. They were also black on black. I went to visit him 1st and test drove 1 and they were acceptable. He wanted to sell on the spot before I went to check out the other 1. I showed him OTD pricing the other dealer emailed me and he couldn't quite get there so I left but told him I'd be back if the other guy played any games and let him know either way.

Got to the 2nd dealer and was negotiating with their "Closer" who was playing the no trade value BS, when my phone rings. It was the 1st dealer (I had told each guy about the other 1) and I answered with him on speaker. He was like I hope you didn't sign anything yet - my manager just told me I can match the other price now if you come back! The "closer" across the desk looked like all the blood just drained out of him! LOL. I thanked the guy on the phone for the update and told him I would seriously consider it and get right back to him. Closer guy now is sweating and wants to see my CarMax offer so I threw it on the desk. Now he's worried and has to "take it "upstairs" for OK". I said make it quick or I'm heading down the street pronto :ROFLMAO: I started calling people on my phone as he left the room to spook him. He was back in a flash with the OK on trade. Then he tried to renegotiate our OTD price, so I pulled the phone out again and flipped through my call list and he popped. " Okay, okay, okay"-he's now back to agreed deal and says "let's shake and do the deal right now!"

We shook on it and he escorted me to the F&I guy and I wrapped it up real quick ;) I was tired after all that, but it was probably my best deal I won ever buying a car. Still have the Jeep too.
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