CarMax haggle and shopping experience

[jimbrewer]

I have a use for them. You can conveniently test drive competing vehicles. Then buy one elsewhere if you don't like the price. I wouldn't feel bad about it, either. They had the first shot at selling you the car, after all.

 

[3for3]

In my experiences a used car comes with a higher interest rate on the loan.

Often car companies will offer 0% - 0.9% interest deals on their new cars. So, unless a used car is significantly lower in price than a new car, the higher interest rate on the used car could jack the payment up closer to a new car payment.

Maybe you can get CarMax to give you an incredible deal on your trade-in to make up for their high sticker prices. That's how I dealt with Scion's "No Haggle" business model. If they won't budge on sticker price, then they better give you the deal of a life on your trade-in.

 

[mtndew_dad]

I have sold them 2 cars and they paid a lot more then the new car dealership offered on trade. One of the cars was a 2007 Honda Fit. After owning it a year it just didn't "fit" me so I decided to get something bigger. At the time the Fit was in high demand, even so I couldn't find a buyer selling it myself. Carmax made me a real strong offer on it so I sold it to them. They had it on their lot within a week listed at $500 more than new MSRP! So they must prey on the uninformed. I was told by a car salesman that Carmax "goes real deep" on financing, meaning they will finance just about anybody. People with poor or no credit are shopping for financing more than a good deal it seems.

 

[supton]

I can't haggle to save my life. But when I look I generally will only look if the price was ok to begin with.

My Jetta was probably the only car I have bought with any sort of value or desirability (actually remains the highest priced vehicle I have bought), and I doubt many would have been able to talk it down much from msrp. It would have just been sold to someone else the following day. The Camry is a stripper, somewhat rare and desirable given the transmission, doubt there was much room in the price. My truck, that was an emotional buy, should have walked away on that one--but she was good at sales, let me drive it for a day... All of them I really wanted, probably should have avoided "looking" in the first place.

I would probably do better if I walked in with a stack of Benjamins instead of financing what I want. That is the real thing, people would argue on price if they walked in with a stack of cash. Of their own. Dealers would not like that, as less people (like me) would make emotionally driven decisions.

 

[mtndew_dad]

Does Scion still stick to the no negotiation concept? For new cars I think it might be a decent idea as long as the fixed retail price is reasonable. For example, Pickup trucks seem way overpriced as evidenced by always having huge rebates and incentives available all the time. If the MSRP was closer to the real market sale price they would have stickers $7-10k lower. I guess manufacturers have created there own market with large discounts part of the game.

 

[mtndew_dad]

At least if you walk in with cash you can't spend more than you bring! How many people do you know go in with a payment budget in mind and walk out paying "a little bit more" to get what they want.

 

[dishdude]

CarMax is good for people who know nothing about cars or how dealers work, and are afraid to negotiate. They'll pay more, but they won't be taken to the cleaners. For me, I can't see buying a 2-3 year old car for 10% less than I can buy a brand new one for.

CarMax is also good if you have a car to sell them that they will put on their lot. If it's something they'll auction off, forget it.

 

[tightwad]

My own experience with CarMax was entirely positive. I searched for a car online for about 3 months. I kept coming back to one at CarMax. It was a 4 year old Caddy, priced $500 below KBB loan value, with 39,000 miles. I drove 200 miles to look at it. It was cleaned-up, of course, all spiffy. It looked "right" for what it was supposed to be; a couple of small scratches in the paint, minor wear on the driver's seat, etc. It drove great and the oil was clean, so I bought it. No pressure for add-ons, no hassle. I walked in at 10:00 AM and drove out at 12:30, after they washed it and filled it with gas. In the four years since, nothing but oil and filter changes. It had a new battery and new tires when I got it. I did swap out the Firestone tires for Primacys. The dealerships here all have overpriced junk on their used car lots. I'll start at CarMax next time.

 

[rjundi]

They seem successful and they don't bargain.

Its a model for certain folks and not you.

Did you bargain at the apple store when you got your new macX or iXXX?

 

[MNgopher]

I love the concept of telling us a business model doesn't work or stinks because they won't haggle which is expressly not their business model. Obviously, given their proliferation nationally, their business model is working - for them - which is the point of running a business.

As you noted, used cars don't make nearly as much sense as they did say, before the recession hit. Less cars were sold and used car pricing reflects it.

Doesn't matter if the dealer is no haggle or not, the buyer has to do their homework. My no-haggle experience netted me a vehicle that was priced correctly according to the market, a short bit of paperwork, and walking out with car in hand quickly. Don't like the pricing, go elsewhere...

 

[whip]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
The no haggle pricing really just equates to a worse price for the buyer.

I've never understood the appeal. Negotiating a fair deal isn't that complicated.

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
They thrive off of duping people into believing that MSRP is what they will pay at the dealer. Crazy.

A person can't be duped if they do their research. 15 minutes on the internet, and you can find the value of any car. If a buyer isn't smart enough to figure that out, don't blame the sales person.

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway) just purchased this company. Buffett only buys what he understands. I don't like the idea of BH owning this outfit but their business model must be good because Buffett seldom makes a mistake when adding to his holdings. I think Lubrizol was the last big purchase he made.

 

[stephen9666]

Originally Posted By: HosteenJorje
Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway) just purchased this company. Buffett only buys what he understands. I don't like the idea of BH owning this outfit but their business model must be good because Buffett seldom makes a mistake when adding to his holdings. I think Lubrizol was the last big purchase he made.


Buffet recently bought the Van Tuyl Group of dealers.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon...lership-splash/

BH used to own shares of Carmax, but sold them several years ago according to my googling.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/11/15/us-berkshire-idUSTRE6AE4IA20101115
Quote:
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N) sold shares in industrial, consumer and capital goods companies during the third quarter...

Buffett no longer held stakes in used car retailer Carmax (KMX.N), home improvement retailer Home Depot (HD.N) or waste manager Republic Services (RSG.N) as of September 30, according to a quarterly holdings report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: exranger06
You should've known they were gonna say no from the start. What part of "no haggle" don't you understand?


What part of negotiating in the purchase of a car dont you understand?

I dont haggle in K-mart or costco, but for buying a car? Its all part of the process.

Particularly when their price is higher than KBB/Edmunds retail for the used car.

 

[stephen9666]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: exranger06
You should've known they were gonna say no from the start. What part of "no haggle" don't you understand?


What part of negotiating in the purchase of a car dont you understand?

I dont haggle in K-mart or costco, but for buying a car? Its all part of the process.

Particularly when their price is higher than KBB/Edmunds retail for the used car.


Exranger06 is right. You went to a place that makes it clear they don't haggle on price.

You can believe it's "part of the process" to haggle on a car purchase, but it's not really part of the process when you go to a place that doesn't negotiate prices.

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

Originally Posted By: stephen9666
Originally Posted By: HosteenJorje
Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway) just purchased this company. Buffett only buys what he understands. I don't like the idea of BH owning this outfit but their business model must be good because Buffett seldom makes a mistake when adding to his holdings. I think Lubrizol was the last big purchase he made.


Buffet recently bought the Van Tuyl Group of dealers.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon...lership-splash/

BH used to own shares of Carmax, but sold them several years ago according to my googling.Thanks 9666, I guess I was having a senior moment when I wrote that. I did get the Lubrizol part right didn't I? Wish I had had a dozen or sor class A BH shares.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/11/15/us-berkshire-idUSTRE6AE4IA20101115
Quote:
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N) sold shares in industrial, consumer and capital goods companies during the third quarter...

Buffett no longer held stakes in used car retailer Carmax (KMX.N), home improvement retailer Home Depot (HD.N) or waste manager Republic Services (RSG.N) as of September 30, according to a quarterly holdings report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: stephen9666
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: exranger06
You should've known they were gonna say no from the start. What part of "no haggle" don't you understand?


What part of negotiating in the purchase of a car dont you understand?

I dont haggle in K-mart or costco, but for buying a car? Its all part of the process.

Particularly when their price is higher than KBB/Edmunds retail for the used car.


Exranger06 is right. You went to a place that makes it clear they don't haggle on price.

You can believe it's "part of the process" to haggle on a car purchase, but it's not really part of the process when you go to a place that doesn't negotiate prices.


Look, Id be all for no-haggle, no negotiating on prices if the price was good. Unfortunately the value was really poor.

It does still boggle my mind a bit that they would give up a >$60k sale over a car that is $2k too much.

Interestingly, the other dealer we went to that has a similar model and straight-up no haggle pricing got back to me with a negotiatable price on another van (which is actually nicer than the carmax one and the one they had on their local lot).

 

[steveh]

For a inexperienced car buyer like a woman or a young kid, they might be getting a better deal from CarMax.

 

[bdcardinal]

I will say that CarMax seems to treat their mechanics well. We had 2 leave our dealer to go to a CarMax that was closer to home. They will stop by and tell us that the money might not be as good, but they are treated a lot better by management.

 

[Vikas]

If Carmax had been aware of BITOG and your reputation, they could have broken their policy of no haggling just for you.