CarMax
Reviews and Complaints

We purchased a vehicle from Carmax and it was financed for 6 years. We faithfully made very payment on it, but when my husband and I were both laid off at the same time, we fell behind in our payments. I called Carmax and asked them to work with us on the payments and they said they don't do that. Every single one of our creditors has worked with us, including our mortgage company. When my husband was called by to work, I contacted Carmax and told them that we were going to work on catching up the payments and I, at that time, sent them a payment which was more than one month in an attempt to start getting the payments up to date. The customer service rep was quite polite about it, and took the payment and a few days later, our car was repossessed and they sold it for $500 and sent us a bill for $3, 000, which is what we owed on it. We had one year to go to pay this vehicle off and they refused to work with us, repossessed our car, and now want us to pay for a car that we no longer own. I would not recommend them to anyone. If you are laid off, they don't care. They will NOT work with you as other creditors do. They will grab your car, sell it cheap, and send you a bill for what you had owed on it. It is an unfair business practice, especially in hard economic times. They are heartless and do not care about their customers.

WARRANTY WORK POOR.
REPAIRS NOT PROPERLY PERFORMED, WORSE THE MAINTENANCE LIED ABOUT TWO OBVIOUS PROBLEMS.FRONT DISC WERE BAD AND THEY SAID THE BRAKE PADS NEEDED TO BE BROKE IN. VALVE COVER GASKET LEAKS, NOT REPLACED BUT FILLED WITH SEALANT UP.
SALES AGENTS BEGIN BY HAVING YOU TAKE LOAN WITH- THEIR FINANCE COMPANY -FINANCE, ASSOCIATED WITH CAR MAX. PROBLEM IS IT IS A MONEY SCAM THAT WELL OKAY REALLY READ THE COMPLICATED FORM IT WAS NO DEAL HIGH INTEREST AND GUESS WHAT THEY DO NOT LIKE WHITE PEOPLE. THEY DO NOT HONOR ANT COMPLAINTS. NONE.

I bought a 2006 Pacifica in 2009; I also bought their Maxcare Extended Warranty. The car has shut off without warning >20 times. It has been taken into CarMax and the Chrysler Dealers; numerous times, "repairs" have been made. Yet the car continues to shut off without warning. Furthermore, CarMax has stated they cannot recreate the problem so the car is fine. I'm afraid for my safety, the safety of my family and the safety of others driving around me. CarMax's response is there is nothing they can do but they will buy my car back for less than 1/2 of what I paid for it and less than what is still owed on the car, and for me to buy another car from them. I mean they've got to be kidding me! The Maxcare Extended Warranty is still in effect but it seems like CarMax is trying to ignore me as long as they can until the warranty expires and they no longer have to do anything. If I had the luxury of taking the car to a junk yard and buying a new one I would do it tomorrow! But here I am a hazard on the road driving this death vehicle, because it's my only means of transportation. I have contacted a lawyer; I have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and the Florida Attorney General.

Had scheduled appointment from an employee. Schedule off to meet the senior consultant. 4/20/2011 Armen, he was late. He arrived and went into his office. Ran Experian then he ran Equifax. No authorization request to remove profile. Spoke with manager Mike call headquarters. Spoke with Eisha, he said will not be removed. No one else to speak to.File the complaint to Federal Trade Commission remove from profile. Stop another dealership from finance. never have my credit ran twice same dealership. Cleaning my credit inquiry to many bring score down.

Carmax advertises a 125 point inspection on all cars they sell. This is a deceptive and fraudulent advertising claim tha tis not worth the paper it is written on. I recently purcashed a car from them that had to have $1455 worth of service work that their 125 point inspection should have caught and they should have done the serivce work as they advertise. Buyer beware if you shop at Carmax

I want to make a long story short, I just want to get the facts about Carmax out there. My husband and I purchased two vehicles in 2008 and since then both vehicles have been in the shop for a wide variety of very expensive problems. The "extended warranty' we purchased was a joke and very seldom offered us any relief on repairs. The 2007 H3 we purchased has been sent from Carmax to Hummer for a problem we have had "fixed" twice. Of course this time its to the tune of $1200., on us. The service has always been horrible, and the people unsympathetic to our situation. PLEASE DON"T DO BUSINESS WITH CARMAX.

I would not do business with Carmax dealership if it were the only one on earth. I spoke to a sales person named Ashley Shadle, who took my credit app. At that time I told her what I had as a down, 10 min later she said I was approved and to give her $49.00 transfer fee. I did as she instructed when I went to pick up the vehicle and went to do the paper work they could not use social security or Iowa teachers retirement as income making me unqualified at the rate I was quoted by the sales person Ashley. It was stated to me I had to triple my down payment making it imposible for me to qualify. After traveling over 100 miles and trying to complete the paper work after 10pm they had no intrest in helping me get a loan, In my opinion these peope are no more than cheats, deceivers and liars with the integerty of a jack ### . The people managing, operating and conducting daily business are morally and ethacally bankrupt boyals on the ### cheeks of life. gary and carol craig lawton oklahoma

Be very careful when buying automobiles from CarMax. I purchased my car Dec 2009 and was quite happy with the purchase in the beginning. First of all they add lots of features with gloom and doom scenarios to take the low price to a all time high. Gap insurance and a costly extended warranty took the car price so high, I am still trying to gain ground on my loan. They stripped the car of everything, the owners manual, the floor mats and had mixed matched tires on it. When I expressed my concern, they blamed it on the facility they acquired the vehicle from (another CarMax). Four to five months into ownership, I noticed the fuel gauge was fluxuating so spiratically I never knew how much fuel I really had. I took the car in for repair. They had me wait an entire day in the waiting room only to tell me at the end of the day I would have to rent a car for the weekend. It turns out the car needed a sensor and it had to be ordered. I return on Monday to pick up the car only to be told a part broke while fixing it, but my understanding is they broke a part and once again a rental car for me. Once I returned the rental this time and took my car, I didn't even make it home before the gauge began fluxuating again, so I called the service manager who was just about to leave, I was told and I raced back over there. Here we go, a great deal of pass the customer to someone else who would never be available. I took yet another day off to bring the car in again. I would eventually take a whole week of days off and never was this issue resolved. But back to taking another day off, I brought the car in again, left it over night again and once I picked it up this time, I drove it for approximately a half an hour and with the gauge and the electronic device reading a quarter tank, the car simply stopped in the middle of the street. Of course I was livid. The car was towed back to CarMax and the service man actually saw that the gauge read a fourth tank and couldn't understand it. They sent the car to a Ford dealership that they have a relationship with and they found nothing wrong. Go figure. I took it to my own choice of Ford dealership, but their hands were tied because since CarMax had already hit the insurance company up for repairs on this issue, they couldn't charge for that again. As I sat in the waiting room for what was over what would be 5 shifts on the job, I heard horror stories of the incompetance of the service department of CarMax. If you buy a car from there, you better be a mechanic or have one on speed dial.

Purchased Lexus Truck from them and obtained financing financing through a lender they offered name Slander. I live in in another state title and registration had to be done in my state. When I came back home in September 2010 after purchasing I went to local dmv with my paperwork from purchase. Local dmv explains that I should have gotten the title from dealership. I called dealership and they said they were waiting on it to come from Toyota. Then once they got it they send it to the house and had FedEx receipt to prove it. Long story short I waited from September to the first week of December to get my title. By this time I didn't have 3 thousand to pay taxes because my finances changed slightly. However I did make payments to Santander. I asked in January 2011 if Santandercould

I went to carmax to look at a Jeep Wrangler. I made an appointment almost 2 days from my visit. So in that time I would think the 'sales associate' would at least do her homework and know something about the vehicle.
So she brings us out on the lot and looks for the remote on the key chain. There isn't one because there are no power locks. She opens the door with the key and looks for the door unlock. Again no power locks. My wife and I look at each other and think oh this is going to be fun. She knew ZERO about the Jeep.
Ok...so rides nice and time to appraise my vehicle. I don't expect to win the lottery with a 130K mile vehicle but I do expect to be treated fair. I came ready with two trade in values from KBB and Autotrader and both were within $200 of each other. Oh...and I also had a car fax for this vehicle. The 'appraiser' came back with autocheck and wow did he low ball me. About 2k lower. And the autocheck was much different from mine. He says the KBB and Autotrader values were garbage and they don't use them and he laughed. D*bag! He says that is not what they use but I return with it is what they use to price me a vehicle to sell me. Again more laughter. Bigger d*bag!
And the autocheck? Completely different from the car fax that I had to check the VIN to be sure it was right. Same VIN. I saw complaints of carmax of people who buy from carmax with a 'clean' title and then try to appraise it later for another vehicle and the autocheck shows something from before they bought it. How does that happen carmax? I know...your scammers and unethical.
DO NOT BUY FROM CARMAX! YOU WILL BE SORRY!

As a former employee, I can tell you their standards for the cars they buy and how they fix them up have changed drastically since 2006. It is all about the margain now and not about the cars. You however have to remember you are buying a car that is "used". It is not going to be perfect, but the quality of how everything works is substandard to the way they used to prepare cars for sale. They are very far when it comes to buying your car because the prices come straight from the auction prices from around the USA. Good luck trying to get them to fix anything...they will just ask you to return the vehicle or trade it in.

On 26 May 2011, my girlfriend and I stopped into Carmax of Hartford to upgrade our 1998 GMC Sonoma (2.2L, 2WD, 4spd AT, 182K miles) to a truck that would serve my business better. While looking at their trucks with a sales representative, an appraiser came by and took the keys to our truck for a quick road test. 25 minutes later, the sales representative receives an email stating our GMC was only worth $250 because of "transmission shifting issues". Being an automotive technician for 10 years, I assured her he was mistaken, and asked to speak with the appraiser. When asked to explain the said issue, his comment was "Well, I really pushed her when I left here to get her up to forty, and she shifted real hard from first to second, indicating a transmission issue" .. I was shocked that he would admit to abusing my truck, but felt that maybe he just used the wrong terminology. Back to the sale rep., I was asked if I'd like to trade my GMC, and I declined knowing I could privately sell it for over $2K. On that decision, my girlfriend spent the next four hours looking at medium sedans, and settled with a 2006 Chevrolet Impala, financed, and purchased the extended warranty. After thank yous, hand shakes, and such, we get back to our GMC, and started her up. Right off the bat, the idling was rough. My girlfriend noted as much, and I thought maybe it was just the bad gas we purchased earlier that day still running itself out of the system. As I'm pulling out of the lot, my truck stalled while in idle. I restarted her, and the idle became rougher. Frustrated, I continued down the road (25mph speed limit) and pulled onto I-91 South. Halfway down the on-ramp, at about 40mph, the truck's RPM range dropped so fast the truck stalled out, and we were stuck on the side of the road for 3hrs. I called Carmax to speak with the appraiser, but the business was closed for the day. I was beyond frustrated. I crept the truck home, stalling out at every light, and finally pulled to the driveway, where the truck stalled one last time, and refused to start again. I am extremely aggravated at the mistreatment of my vehicle. I called Carmax the next day, and spoke to three managers, who each gave me the generic "a truck with that high of mileage, you cannot be sure it was our appraiser's doing" before I finally got a manager who stated that the appraiser "has worked for her for many years, and has test drove many nice vehicles" ... I told her that owning my own business, I am well aware of companies defending their employees and did not expect to get any cooperation. I was told that a master technician and a manager would show up to my house and look at the truck to determine if it was negligence of the appraiser's doing. I was greeted with respect, and the master tech. scanned my truck, found it to be running lean on cylinder one, which concluded that it was a spark plug issue and therefore not the appraiser's doing. When I worked on the truck today, I pulled plug one out, and found the spark plug gap to be crushed, and the two points nearly welded shut. I also discovered plug three's gap to be pushed in slightly, while two and four have scrap indications. My diagnosis is that the appraiser slammed on the gas and the RPMs redlined, causing the pistons to hit the spark plugs, which is what will happen. I am appalled at the service I received after politely, and proffessionally filing a legit complaint. It's unfortunite that I purchased a vehicle from them before knowing what they did to my truck. At least their appraisal is right, the truck is worth $250 now.

FORMER EMPLOYEE OF CARMAX, I HAVE OVERHEARD THEIR SALES PEOPLE TALKING, THERE TRYING TO SELL CARS SO BAD THEY ARE TELLING PEOPLE IN A ROUND ABOUT WAY TO TURN IN THE CURRENT CAR IF THEY ARE UPSIDE DOWN AND THEY WILL GET THEM FINANCED ON ONE OF THERE CARS, THEY THEN GIVE THERE CURRENT CAR BACK AND DRIVE AWAY IN A CARMAX CAR. IS CARMAX CONTRIBUTING TO MORE CREDIT PROBLEMS IN THE FUTURE?