CarMax
Reviews and Complaints

We all know how deceptive Car Companies can be, but it surprised me that Car Max, which is a self-described "no ###" car company would be running this scam. When you buy a car, in my case, a 2001 Lincoln Navigator, the salesman pressures you to buy the extended warranty. This is not cheap, in my case I purchased the warranty for $1800, figuring that a "no ###" company would have a "no ###" warranty.
Surprisingly, such was not the case. During my extended warranty, the transmission went out on my Navigator at only 80, 000 miles. Now this would make you think the company had sold a bad car? But no, when I approached Car Max, they asked me to prove that I had properly serviced the car. This is service, according to the small print on their extended warranty. Happily, I had properly serviced my car according to CarMax. The next step was for Car Max to "sub" the job out to another company. Surprise! They do not do transmission work, or several other car servicing jobs. These jobs are basics with a regular car dealer, but to car max, it appears that anything over an oil change is out of their realm of expertise. The trouble starts if the sub company does not do great work. Car Max sends you to these people, they are "trusted" by Car Max, and when they screw up, Car Max keeps sending you back to this company, until you are happy. This results in lost work, time spent dealing with the issue, and Car Max does not supply a loaner or rental car while these shennanigans are going on! Initially: Car Max was responsible for hooking me up with a loaner car. But as I went back to the sub 2, 3 4 times to get the work done right: Car Max was not responsible for the loaner car, the sub was. This resulted in my receiving a horrible, dirty, and badly serviced loaner car. The window wipers, and horn didn't work on it. I was driving my kids around in a Chrysler that had definitely seen better days.
The first time I got my transmission done by this sub, I took it home, and it stopped working a day or two later. Then it would work again, then stop again. I took it back.
The second time, it worked longer, but it had a "hitch" at 42 mph. The car would roughly shift into a higher gear. I asked the sub about this rough shifter, and they said the transmission was the only one Car Max would pay for, and that was the best I could hope for. Again, the transmission would stop working at random times, and I had to leave my car in the shop for several days so the "mechanic" could drive it to his home, and diagnose it.
This continued for two months. I was so mad at Car Max, and the transmission shop, but Car Max kept throwing the blame back on the sub. Car Max took NO RESPONSIBILITY for the continuing issue, only the sub was to blame. I lost so much work over the two months, and had so much aggravation, I was furious.
The final straw was when I was getting ready to take a vacation. I was driving 500 miles, and didn't want to experience any of the issues I'd had. I asked the sub to make sure my transmission was ready to go. The owner snottily informed me that not only was my car ready, but he wanted a personal apology if I made it to my vacation destination and back without transmission trouble.
Well, guess what. After traveling 400 miles, my transmission went again. It wouldn't go in reverse. So while on vacation, resulting in a ruined vacation, my car had to go into the shop again. This time, when phoning Car Max, I was told that the sub was responsible for the repair, and they would find a sub where I was vacationing.
I guess it was fortuitous that my car finally was fixed, by the sub's sub. If not, I think I'd probably still be going back to the original sub and begging them to get my transmission going.
The moral: DO NOT BUY an extended warranty from Car Max. They are selling you a useless document, unless you know who will be doing the repair work. If Car Max isn't responsible, they shouldn't be selling the warranties. I will never buy another car from Car Max.
In an interesting aside: after I bought my car, and was assured it was in good working order and had never been in an accident, I called my insurance agent to get insurance on it. He asked me about the accident I'd had a few months before. I told him I'd just purchased the car, and hadn't been in an accident. Car Max DOES NOT give it's consumers an accurate record on what's happened to the cars they sell. You'd be better off going to Ned the Snakey Car Salesman than Car Max.

Carmax took 5 months to send me my title - only after I phoned
We were approaching the payoff date for our van so I phoned Carmax to confirm the payoff amount and the expected time frame in which we could expect our title. At the beginning of June I spoke with a nice woman named Ruth at Carmax. She told me the pay off amount, updated our address, and assured me that our title would arrive 4 weeks after our last payment. We made our final payment and waited...and waited...and waited. As things go, I got busy and assumed that my spouse had received the title and filed it away. Then recently (November) I was looking through our van file folder and noticed that we had not yet received our title. I phoned Carmax and went through the phone menu, found out that we had indeed paid off the van, and that the title had not yet been mailed to us! It was explained as an "oversight, " as the customer service rep chuckled. I told her it was nothing to laugh about - what if I had wanted to sell the van? What poor customer service! She promised the title would arrive in 7 days. We'll see if they can get their act straight this time.

I prefer to purchase my cars from individuals and this experience with Carmax reinforces my reasons for avoiding purchasing vehicles from used car dealers.

4 WEEKS AFTER DRIVING MY "INSPECTED" CAR OFF THE LOT - THE left FRONT WHEEL CAME OFF, Dealer it was towed to and insurance imspector both stated lug nutts not properly installed. Car MAx refuses to accept claim as " it couldnt have been them as I drove the car for 4 weeks"( even though I had called 1 week eariler to get appt as breaks were sounding funny)

I can’t even begin to explain how disgusted I am with CarMax. Prior to this I have purchased three other cars wit them and will NEVER go back to another CarMax again. I purchased my Lincoln LS 2005 three months ago. Since them have had nothing but trouble.

A week or so after I drove it off the lot the breaks started squeaking. I took it back and in the next 30 days had to go back 5 times because it was never fixed right – all they kept saying is we will check the breaks. Finally they had to send it to a Lincoln dealership to have them change the breaks. The supervisor at the local CarMax even told me on MY 3rd visit that its because they put cheap breaks on it but they fixed that. Should have known then!

Well a few weeks ago I took it to the Lincoln dealership to have the AC checked because it was not cooling right. I was told it had never been serviced and had mildew and crud in it so it was going to cost $215 to correct that, clean it out, service it, check lines, etc!

Well a few weeks the car starts having problems running so I had to take it in AGAIN. I was told that there was no real service done by CarMax and that I need a list full of things, flushes, line checks, maintenance, etc and they had to replace a bad coil. Another $883. I had only made my second payment and am already down $1098. Additionally I commented about all the problems I had with CarMax because I had to have a break service done as well and Richard indicated that he remember my car when CarMax brought it to change breaks. He said he recommended this service to them at the time but they said no just change breaks.

Car Max is supposedly “CERTIFIES” cars before they sell them; we know that is not the truth given my experience. When I contacted Carmax home office with all the issues I initially had – they were very uncaring and non-concerned. The response I got is we will contact the local GM. What did he do – simply had a manager GREET ME! Ya, like that made a difference!

I think they should be responsible to reimburse me the $1098 I have already spent just getting this car up to par. Keep in mind it is in the SHOP AGAIN because there is an issue with the AC valve!

What a horrific experience.

Hello all would be used car buyers. I wanted to pass on a FYI for you about Carmax. You see I used to work for this company as a manager, so I know how they go about reconditioning their cars. First their "quality 150" point check is a joke. How can you check all of the major systems on a car from bumper to bumper in a mater of minutes. They use teams of mechanics who rely on each other doing the job before them properly. Its what we use to call a production line system. That would be fine if there were any type of supervision on these teams, but there is not. There was a running joke at the store that the night production team was too involved in racing the golf carts or playing football in the shop that all the cars produced at night were our "crap cars". Who cares those cars our associates would not buy...so what. Well here we have it now Carmax is going to a new production system. Now Carmax is going to be "reconditioning" your used quality vehicle that was suppose to have a "150 point" check in a matter minutes 15 minutes to be exact. Wow now thats a car that I want my family in on the road. Hey how about this...they buy junk cars at auctions and repair them to their "standards". Look at their show room floor that "never sell" car that was repaired is a typical car that we reconditioned at the store. Do you know how many cars have some type of damage that was painted, repaired, etc. Thats why we had a body shop on site...go figure. So do yourself a favor and stay away from these scam artists...yes I do not work for them any longer. Its not the way to treat customers.

My husband has been with CarMax for 10 years. He was recruited from another dealership, in another words CarMax WANTED him, pursued him for a year, as a matter of fact, sought him out and hired him.

My story starts in 1999 when CarMax told him that he had to fly to Florida for 3 months of training, 3 months turned into 12 whole months. Myself and our 2 young children were left at home alone for an entire year based on promises of a wonderful future with CarMax. Finally, after a year of waiting, they relocated us to the other side of the country, leaving our friends and family behind. A big price to pay, but well worth it for a future with this brand new, great company, that seemed to be on the rise. We had to relocate, at CarMax's request, 2 more times before we finally settled down in one place. We have been in our current location for 7 years now. Our children attend High school now and are finally happy because they have friends and a stable home. The constant moving and leaving their family and friends behind was very difficult for them.

Our trouble first started early 2009. My husband had a problem employee that learned that all he had to do is call the "Cool" line and he could get his managers in trouble whether they deserved it or not. Another words, great tool for associates if used properly. Great tool for unscrupulous associates that want to get their managers in trouble, because they CAN. It seems as though CarMax's approach is Guilty until proven innocent. This associated caused a lot of trouble. Long story short my husband's name was now on the radar. Because his name was now on the radar, He was given a Corrective action, for crap that was later proven to be false by their own HR investigation team and one other issue that was thin at best. Was he given an apology?...NO. Was the corrective removed?...NO. He was told NOT to worry that CarMax had confidence in him and was certain that he could overcome these "issues". For the next several months he received nothing but positive feedback from his immediate boss (GM) and his regional team. Several weeks ago one of his coworkers asked for his help on resolving an issue, my husband misunderstood exactly what this coworker wanted initially, but took immediate action to resolve the issue. Through communication with this coworker, he was able to ascertain exactly what he wanted and moved swiftly to resolve the issue. In the meantime his GM caught wind of this "misunderstanding" and twisted it into an entirely different story. He relayed this "story" he had created to the regional team who now stated that my husband is an ineffective manager and is not on the same page as CarMax. Long story short they fired him. They gave no reason as to exactly why (because there isn't one) There was no severance package, no letter of separation, no NOTHING, just three form letters saying goodbye. TEN YEARS of dedication, TEN YEARS of 60-70 hr work weeks and they threw him out on his ear. My husband, my children and I are now in danger of losing everything for NOTHING! He is in danger of losing everything he has worked for and has NO IDEA why. Countless coworkers have called him in support, they too can not understand why CarMax has done this to him. If he was truly not an effective manager, why are all these people calling?

This is how this Fortune 500 company truly treats there employees. Top 100 places to work? Not if you're a manager, especially an OPS manager, Long hours, an insurmountable workload and NO RESPECT. No wonder our Country is in such trouble and unemployment is on the rise. Company's like CarMax use hard working people like my husband to rise to the top and then drop them like a hot potato, why? Because they can. No respect! Thank you CarMax for uprooting my family and devastating my husband, my children and myself. My husband feels like he has let his family down, when in true it is YOU that has let us down and from the sounds of it, many other hard working people.

Hopefully he can find work soon...or we will be out on the street.

Carmax does not allow pre-purchase inspection of their vehicles. Once you pay your money and drive off the lot, do NOT expect quality customer care as a follow up to your purchase. After having purchased a high end luxury vehicle from Carmax and taking it to a luxury brand specialist for a post-purchase inspection, I discovered a few minor issues. I promptly scheduled an appointment with Carmax to address and fix those issues. They would not take in my vehicle until the 5th day after purchase. (You will have 5 calendar days to address mechanical issues and return the vehicle). Instead of replacing rear brake pads and rotors which were deemed to be "very low" by the luxury brand specialist, Carmax simply told me that they were fine in their opinion. Instead of ordering the $185 missing undercarriage panel, Carmax said they wanted me to come in and point out what was missing. How would I know? Instead of addressing the driver side door which would not close properly, Carmax said it seemed to be due to a puffy inner door seal. Bottom line: Carmax will take your money and run with it, leaving you to diagnose and fix any issues with the vehicle yourself. I had even purchased the highest level of extended warranty, which did no good as it did not cover the said repair. The sales manager spoke down to me and argued with me for a half hour about why I was wrong to ask for a little consideration and quality customer service.

I spoke to a service tech, the service manager, the sales manager, a business office associate, an operations manager, 3 customer care rep's in the corporate office, the CEO's secretary. No one would connect me to the local branch's general manager or to the company CEO. Why? Because no one of real power wants to hear of how shoddy their employees treat their "valued" customers. The repair I requested would cost, in their opinion, "a couple hundred dollars".

If Carmax won't absorb a "couple hundred dollars" to satisfy a customer, aggravates a situation by arguing with the customer, does not return phone calls as promised, then they do not deserve a good reputation. The public and the shareholders have a right to know how dismissive and disrespectful the staff is.

CARMAX WORTHY(FALSE FALSE FALSE)I HAVE HAD TO TAKE MY CAR BACK TO CARMAX EVERY MONTH ONCE A MONTH TO CHANGE THE AC COMP. THE MOTOR MOUNTS, THE AXLES, THE SUN ROOF, , JUST SO MANY THINGS HAVE GONE WRONG AND I ALWAYS HAVE TO RENT A CAR WHICH IS ANOTHER 150 DOLLARS ON TOP OF MY 350 DOLLAR CAR PAYMENT, , JUST NOT FAIR

I'm posting on behalf a friend I find this unbelievable . My friend bought a car two weeks ago got approved with a cosigner . Paid a deposit of about $1500 and then after the fact they take it back . Don't even get a cab or provide transportation back home which is sad. Then they make my friend wait a week to get the deposit back(we are still waiting) . Supposedly the lender called the loan . I mean if you're denied a loan you should know immediately not drive off the lot with the car thinking you got it. Its very humiliating that should be illegal just be careful buying from carmax . Don't believe the hype the commercials are lying .. If you insist on buying from them you better have your own financing .Double check those cars make sure they are in the working condition they say as with any dealership.

I purchased my car from Carmax based upon its 125 point inspection only to find out later from the Jaguar repair shop that the vehicle had major issues. Carmax's service department repeatedly told me the car was okay but I insisted something was wrong. My vehicle was at the repair shop for 2 weeks when I decided to take it upon myself to call the repair shop myself. They stated the car had major issues and they didn't want to service it and gave me a list of the issues. Carmax Service stated we are not going to make you a new car. I still believe in the business model carmax has laid out but HONOR is not something I feel they believe in at this point since they are vividly trying to avoid responsibility for the $20k plus repairs that have taken place thus far. Moreover, I have driven the car only 25k miles with continuous problems. What happens once the warranty is up? I still have to pay them for the car and repair bills. Doesn't sound fair to me

I paid to have a car shipped to my local Carmax dealer. After it did not make it onto the transport for the 3rd time and the store manager lying telling me it had already shipped when in fact it had not I decided it was a big mistake on my part and to eat the shipping fee rather than deal with a company that lies and steals from it's customers. I'd think REAL hard if your considering Carmax.

I bought last year (10/07), I've put 18, 000 miles on it. I needed 2 new tires (250.00) the radials were sticking out and the kicker my brakes started to squeak on Sunday so I park the car. I bring it in for new pads on Thursday (I own another car to drive) the guy tells me I need new rotors. What? 18, 000 miles he not telling the truth so I tell him to box up the old ones I want to see them. This guy is right these things are so corroded pieces are falling off into the box. I pay (324.00).

I call CarMax (Greenville sc) I tell them "hey maybe somebody missed something on my inspection but my rotors are shot Chris tells me "to bring it down Monday " I ask him please don't waste my time just to tell me it's wear and tare. Long story short Chris tells me "yeah that would pass CarMax inspection" are you kidding me? They really are used car sales men. I have pictures of these rotors maybe they can use them in their next commercial and see how much business they get. I'm giving corporate a chance to make it better but if not then of to BBB, the news paper the news and tons of blogging with pictures (*this is my third purchase with them 60, 000$$ in the last few years).

I purchased a 2007 Chrysler Sebring in January 2008. I have seen 2 recall notices from Chrysler. When I purchased the vehicle it had a recall notice but yet the dealership told me since I bought it I should take care of it! I took the vehicle to a Dodge/Chrysler Dealership and a CarMax Service Center in regards to my car stalling. I was told there was nothing they could do since it "was like trying to find a needle in a hay stack". They said when it stall, then call them so they can figure it out! Or I can leave the car with them for 3 days until they can "reproduce" the issue. I am a single parent of 2 kids...this is my only vehicle. I cannot use the warranty rental coverage until they find the issue. My vehicle has 36000 miles had is stalling! Last night in Dallas TX, it was 39 degrees and misty, my car stalled with my small children in the car. It turned back on after 10 minutes.

Found a car I wanted at CarMax. Did the research. Applied for financing over the phone to make sure it'd go through before I drove the hour to the suburbs to visit the car. Financing went through, or so the salesman said. Spent three hours at the dealer sealing the deal. Got the car I wanted, traded in my old one, all was great!

Or so I thought. For four days I was singing their praises. And on the fifth day, god created anger, when I received a call from their business office saying my loan had been denied & I had to find new financing or return the car within 24 hours. Excuse me? Who gives out keys to a vehicle without an assured loan? Couldn't they have asked me to fax in paperwork & then call when things were final?

Basically, they MISLED me to think my loan had been approved & for five days, I drove around in my dream car thinking everything was fine. Then they tell me it's NOT fine? I was driving around with an unassured loan? I had ZERO idea it was not final.

I am DEVASTATED. Husband & I are having to apply for financing elsewhere, then drive back to suburbs (an hour's drive; & gas right now is $4/gallon) to fix this problem? Ridiculous. I hate this company.