Black STI at CarMax w/ Azenis?

MilesBeam · **Joined:** Fri Aug 15, 2003 1:57 pm **Posts:** 427

Any dealer that tries to stay in business is going to be offering wholesale as a general rule for a car. Wholesale for some cars is so incredibly dirt cheap compared to retail prices that it is a real shocker unless you know what the wholesale price of your car is before you go. And granted, it isn't always easy to get that figure. Some cars are difficult to sell on the open market, but as a general rule, an individual will be able to pay you much more for a car than a dealer. But I'm sure you guys all knew that. Yes, there may be rare exceptions, but they are just that- rare.

What I am amazed about is that there are instances where CarMax has offered people an amount of money for their car that was even close to current retail market value. When you think about it, that is AMAZING. It obviously has to be a clean car in very high demand because they are going to put some money into the car and then turn around try to sell it for at least several grand more than they paid you for it.

CarMax is the only dealership I've ever heard of where the dealer would just buy a car straight out from someone (no trade) and the price they offered would not ALWAYS be laughable. (okay, there's probably another dealer out there that has done this...... I just haven't heard of any).

There are some sources out there that say that KBB (Kelly Blue Book) prices are all geared very strongly towards the dealer's favor. It is worth checking multiple sources for a car's value and to alway try and make sure you get a reality check with what similar cars in your area are selling for, if you can.

If you trade a used car in on a new car, you have no idea what you are really paying for either car. You just know the difference in value, and maybe that's enough info for you to work with. But most of the time, you really could do better selling your old car outright. Any honest dealer will also tell you that. I understand that some people don't have the time, want to deal with the hassles of the time wasters that want free test drives, etc. or the additional money they might get for the car is not worth the hassle factor. Trading in or taking a car to CarMax as a buyer is worth it to those folks but generally they know they are trading in some money for convenience.

The important thing in either case, whether you take your car to CarMax to buy it or try to sell it as an individual, is to have realistic expectations.

My 1.5 cents worth
Miles

Kevin Hoff · **Posted:** Wed Dec 22, 2004 11:47 am

MilesBeam wrote:

There are some sources out there that say that KBB (Kelly Blue Book) prices are all geared very strongly towards the dealer's favor. It is worth checking multiple sources for a car's value and to alway try and make sure you get a reality check with what similar cars in your area are selling for, if you can.

KBB is extremely dealer friendly. NADA.com is a bit more realistic and doesn't try to overscrutinize the car based on obscure options. I've had good luck asking my bank to give me 1-2 month old copies of their black book for _real_ wholesale prices.

--Kevin H.

Arthur McDonald · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 1:54 am **Posts:** 2052

Les Davis wrote:

Matt McGrain wrote:

Arthur McDonald wrote:

YMMV = your mileage may vary. For example Contour SVTs get excellent mileage, while Excursions... not so good ... mileage...get.

Les - what do you mean by "I would buy a car at Carmax also, if I weren't a car guy." ? I assume you mean you would patronize one of our club sponsors instead, right?

I understand what he's saying, I think. My interpretation of the CarMax buyer is someone who doesn't know much about the used car buying process. Face it- it can be a major pain in the ass sometimes. Being car guys, we are 10x more informed than the average used car shopper, or so I'd like to think.

Matt's essentially got my meaning. Basically, I've bought 20 cars in the last 15 years. With that kind of volume, I learned early on that I have to maximize the transactions in my favor

, most of the time, that means buying from an individual. Particularly since I have also done all my own car matainance/repairs the last 15 years. And am fairly skilled at telling whether a used car is a POS or a good car. But, my last few car transactions have actually netted me a positive return. Of course the Mustang will not, but I knew that going into it.

However, if I was just some shmuck who buys a Camry every 5 years and takes it to Jiffy Lube for service, Carmax would be a decent place for that transaction.

Les, so you buy a car, on average, every 9 months. I think that makes you more of a car wh.... whoops! :lol:

I guess I'm towards the other extreme, I've averaged 45 months between car purchases. Of course, my parents average 121 months between car purchases.

Featherfoot Shultz -- my Mustang gets between 17-28 on the road.

David Spratte · **Posted:** Wed Dec 22, 2004 12:34 pm

MilesBeam wrote:

What I am amazed about is that there are instances where CarMax has offered people an amount of money for their car that was even close to current retail market value. When you think about it, that is AMAZING. It obviously has to be a clean car in very high demand because they are going to put some money into the car and then turn around try to sell it for at least several grand more than they paid you for it.

It's less amazing if you keep in mind it's a multi-state network. They can afford to pay x for a car in RDU if they can truck up/down where ever and sell it for x+$2000.

Especially since they subsidize the transportation fees when Susie wants that convertible Beetle from Dallas and is willing to throw $450 on the table to get it here.

Andy Greene · **Posted:** Wed Dec 22, 2004 2:49 pm

^ I believe it is only $150 to transfer a car and they used to refund the transfer fee if you bought the car...I don't know if they still do that or not.

Last spring they had two STi's out there priced at $26,995. That was a heck of a deal considering one had something like 8k on the odometer and the other was around 13k. It would probably take quite a bit of searching to find a similar deal now; 10 months later.

They have some good deals and some bad deals. My theory on it is that they are going to sell the car for whatever they think someone will pay. If the price is really bad the car won't sell, it will go through their last chance system, and the next one that pops up will probably be priced better.

David Spratte · **Posted:** Wed Dec 22, 2004 3:10 pm

Andy Greene wrote:

^ I believe it is only $150 to transfer a car and they used to refund the transfer fee if you bought the car...I don't know if they still do that or not.

It's a scaled fee dependent on how far away the car in question is. I think you're right though in that they'll refund up to $150 of the transfer fee.

Wes Eargle · **Joined:** Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:47 am **Posts:** 3683

Adam Ligon wrote:

Its called joking, and unless you simply don't pay attention or know anyone on these boards you would realize that. Hell that is what 90% of the posts here are, jokes and giving other poeple a hard time.

Move along people, nothing to see here.

Patrick Wellenius · **Posted:** Wed Dec 22, 2004 9:37 pm

David Spratte wrote:

Susie wants that convertible Beetle from Dallas and is willing to throw $450 on the table to get it here.

Is that what happened to Bremer? :lol:

Comparing KBB to NADA, the KBB value on the 190 was about half the NADA value. Makes sense then that my credit union goes by NADA value when figuring used car loans.

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Black STI at CarMax w/ Azenis?

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