CarMax Sacramento/Roseville

We've purchased at Carmax before and loved it! This trip - not so much. We found the vehicle to be over priced by about $4K. Our sales rep didn't seem to have their heart in the game. And, when we prepaid to have a car delivered from the central valley, we ended up cancelling the transation about 2 hours later. They told us "no problem" but forgot to cancel the transport. The next day we got the call that our car had been delivered - you know - the one we cancelled. No harm no foul - they just weren't on their game this trip. I would still go back and give them a try.

At Roseville CA Carmax on November 18, 2024. I received a quote online for $8600 online for my 2014 Aura RLX. The vehicle is in excellent mechanical condition but needs a paint job. I made an appointment, and the car was evaluated and came back with an evaluation that it had a transmission problem, and they changed the quote to $7000. I do a lot of mechanical work and know nothing is wrong with the transmission. They said there was hard shifting from 2 to 3 gear and to cover the risk that something may be wrong they had to cut the quote by $1600. I told the gal I was mechanical and did a lot of work on cars and that I wanted to ride with the person who did the evaluation and if they could point out the problem, fine. I was told the evaluators are not mechanics but trained evaluators. They got a second evaluator to drive the car, again without me being allowed to ride along and the second evaluator confirmed there was a slight hesitation (no longer hard shifting) that was barely noticeable but might be a problem. The evaluator said she was fully confident in the car and would drive it anywhere but there was the hesitation at times. She said it might need fluid change. I said this was flat out wrong and nothing was wrong with the car. The adjuster admitted the evaluator was not a mechanic or technician but had been trained to listen for symptoms. I pushed to bring the quote up and was told no, take it or leave it. I told them while I was waiting, I had heard another adjuster talking with another person selling their car. She was telling the guy that the transmission had problem shifting and the risk required that they lower the quoted. The adjuster said that happens. Bingo, there is method to CarMax. Give a quote and when they get you in, they give a very subjective evaluation by "trained evaluators" who have no technical background or training. The transmission is a good thing for them to identify as a "problem" then to account for the risk of the transmission falling apart, they reduce the quote, in my case by 19%. From listening to the adjuster and the customer from earlier, and my own experience, I could tell what they were saying was scripted. They used the exact same words and reasoning, "not sure what it is", "could be a risk", "we are building a case", "trained evaluators", etc. The second evaluator seemed embarrassed but with the adjuster right there she could not say anything else. As for the adjuster she could tell non-truths with a straight face. I would guess that CarMax sends them to be trained for that. They got me as I have no desire to sell this on the market, so I took the money. To be fair the rest of the experience was relatively painless but took a lot of time. I do not understand why they had to be dishonest on the quote part of the experience

We all know that Carmax is notorious for lowball offers on used vehicles, but today they hit a new low in my mind. I tried to sell them my vehicle that recently failed smog. I called them to make sure that they would still be able to buy it even with the failed smog - they said "YES". At my appointment check-in, I again told them about the failed smog - no concerns noted by them. Then, after waiting 45 minutes for a review process they said would take "10-20 minutes", they gave me a revised, LOWBALL offer...which I accepted. It was only then that they informed me that they could not buy the vehicle due to the failed smog. Absolute waste of my time... At least they were all VERY sorry that their staff had given me "misinformation" (sarcasm intended). Carmax sucks - I'll never try to use them again.

Never heard back...just ended up on spam newsletter...would not recommend...opted out and am trying other doutces

Never replays to my question, ZERO response. Not much left to say, I moved on to another dealer.

Clean, and efficient. The space was cold, sales people in knit hats. Sales guy was good

Clean, friendly, and courteous. My salesman was helpfully and didn't try to upscale me! Overall a good experience and drove off in the car of my dreams!

The worst worst car buying experience I've ever had. I got a different answer every time I talked to a salesperson, they were rude and the car looked like absolute terrible it was so dirty. I would never recommend car max.

Purchased a plug-in hybrid. Not even 24 hours later there was a check engine light that came on that required the car to be serviced. Clearly, they did not do proper testing on the vehicle before selling it. In addition, the salesperson told me the car would come with a 240v charger--but it didn't. When I called the service department they told me I had to purchase it. They don't seem to have a problem with misrepresentation in order to make a sale. I won't purchase any other vehicles from CarMax.

I get it. The average person with little automotive buying/selling experience or maybe has had a poor experience, can be easily attracted to a slogan like: "The way car buying should be". Or their "mission" I would also warn that one should not be fooled by this BS either: “To drive integrity in the automotive industry by being honest & transparent in every interaction.” They are absolutely, NOT TRANSPARENT! The truth is, this organization has a very low value level for people's intelligence and time. I hand it to them: their model is very non-confrontational (no haggle). Remember- this is where the wolf arrives. So, don't be fooled. You DO NOT have to overpay. And if you're selling, they use a 1-2 punch approach. First a written appraisal. Then once you agree to proceed, they will perform their road test. Which then will result in a reduction in their offer. Even if the vehicle is in perfect mechanical condition. Do your homework, shop around and be prepared before dealing with these knuckleheads.