opinoins on carmax

If you're buying new, Carmax makes buying a car quick and easy. No pressure or haggling, and often a decent selection. However, you can normally beat a Carmax price if you're willing to do the leg work and haggle with the dealerships and salespeople. Some people may love this aspect of buying a car while others will hate it. A relative who has purchased many vehicles in the past recently bought a Toyota from Carmax and traded his old one in. He loved the entire process, and said even if he could have saved something like an extra 500 bucks elsewhere by haggling, he still would have gone to Carmax to avoid the headaches.

They even gave him 4 identical vehicles to choose from, when one had a slight scratch on it!

-Dave

I guess it really depends on where you are. I found dealing with Carmax in Tucson, Arizona to be bad experience. Great packaging but at heart, just another used car dealer. jor

Saving $500 on a $30,000 plus vehicle, for me, is NOT worth the hassle. If I can get THAT close to a good deal WITHOUT all the bullshit, that's what matters.

Agreed, and that's exactly how he felt. When I bought a new car in '05 it came down between 2 dealers. One salesman thought I should buy the car from him just because he let me have a test drive. He was a real idiot. The salesman(dealership) I bought from took the time to explain everything and worked out a great deal. The idiot was willing to beat the other guy by a whopping $60! In insult if anything else.

-Dave

Before you buy from Carmax, do some hard negotiation with a Toyota dealer for a new version of the same car. You might be surprised that the new car will be almost as cheap as a used one from Carmax.

Ed

If you're looking for a relatively new Corolla, the Carmax prices are high. Here in Washington, DC, Carmax's Dulles location is selling a

2005 Corolla LE (1NXBR32E05Z358316) for $14,988, no haggle. Well, nearby, Miller Toyota has new 8 2007 Corolla LEs for $14,738 .