CarMax

Ok, so I went into Carmax in San Diego in Apr 2008 and was looking for an SUV. We quickly went into a 2004 Toyota Sequoia Limited and it seemed like a good price. We did all the paperwork, to include an Autocheck that showed the vehicle was clear of any accidents. I had a great experience with the salesperson, manager and all the steps of buying.

I actually love the truck, very solid, but sucks on gas...

Fast forward to 1 June 2011. I'm looking to reduce my bills, get rid of the 2nd vehicle and consolidate debt. So, I know I'm still upside-down on the Sequoia, but ready to take a $2K loss just to be done with the payments and all. I took the truck back to the same dealer I bought it from, Carmax, because they offer a free appraisal. Why not? They seemed like nice people when I bought the truck...

Went into the sales floor in San Diego, told them I was looking for an appraisal, he took the keys, identified the truck with a plastic number thingy, and we sat down. He asked me what I was looking to replace it and more chit-chat, to include updating me on the the status of the appraisal.

About 25 minutes later he brought me to a desk and started going over the appraisal process, market condition, condition of the exterior, mechanical, exterior condition, Autocheck history, etc. He showed me their off and it was pretty rediculous! $3k below what I was moderately estimating. Then he went over the factors...EVERYTHING on their appraisal showed Good condition! So why the low ball?

Looking closer at the Autocheck, there had been an accident reported in AZ! It showed "Vehicle Damage reported as DISABLING" What's worse? It was reported 3/16/2006! 2 FULL YEARS BEFORE I BOUGHT THE TRUCK! WHY wasn't it on the (almighty) Autocheck done on 4/13/08, when I bought the truck? I would NEVER have bought the truck knowing it had been in an accident!

All the sales person and the manager could do was offer excuses why it wasn't there when I bought the truck, how it was probably just a minor scratch that they didn't detect on their 125 point inspection, "I've never seen this happen before", etc.

Well here I am, stuck with a vehicle I can't sell (For any decent value), dupped by Carmax and their Autocheck report that "wasn't accurate then, but is now". Who owns Autocheck? Carmax maybe? HMMMMMMM!

Chuck
San Diego

Bought a used vehicle there in February. Within 3 weeks, I had it back in for a brake service because the brakes were making a metal-on-metal sound. They "fixed" them and sent me on my way. Within a week, I am hearing the noise again, and decide that I should go to an Acura dealership. Long story short, the front brakes (which were the ones they worked on) were non-Acura, and so were not fitting properly. Also, the Acura dealership said that Carmax bent (ruined) 2 screws in the braking component because they tried to put it on with the wrong tool. To make matters worse, they told me that my back brakes had 1 mm left on them, and that ALL of my fluids (brake, transmission, etc) were dirty and didn't look like they had ever been replaced.

Beware of Carmax's "quality inspection." They apparently just make sure the car runs well enough to make it off the lot.

Oh, and while my car was in service with Carmax, they scratched my leather dashboard!