CarMax secrets...shhh...its [CLASSIFIED]

i called carmax to find out what maintenance the car had done to it right before i bought it. you know, see what belts they had changed (i.e. timing belt, etc), so i wouldn't have to spend extra time inspecting it all and finding out what i needed (even though i should anyways). so i call them and ask them for records. they tell me they don't keep the records of the previous owners (no shit!), i told them i wanted the records of when THEY owned the car. their simple answer: "those are classified and i can't give them to you", my response "i bought the damn car, i want to know", "i'm sorry".

shouldn't that be illegal?? you ask for records and they don't give them to you?? i sure wish i would've asked for them before i bought the car and laughed in their face when they said that.....oh well...you live and you learn.

well .. they do belong to carmax but I can not see why they would keep them under wraps

my ex bf bought a car from car max in KCK. he got it home and i went to drive it, the steering wheel was crooked. i got to looking closer at it and the serpentine belt looked like it was ready to fall apart(probably still the original). i called them up to complain about it and they aligned it and replaced the seprentine belt for free. i was fairly happy...just didnt like the idea of having to drive 30 miles to get it done

I guess there's not much you can do about it, its not like they're medical records! Hope they're not hiding anything...

Watch out, this means that your car can fall apart ANY SECOND! :eek:

You would think they couldn't keep records on maintaining a specific vehicle if the current owner wanted them. They must have some policy that enables them to not show you the invoices of work done or records.

Carmax keeps all the records on cars. I worked there. They also are one of the shadiest companies I've ever worked for. At least at some little dealer you know they are lying, but Carmax acts like they do all kinds of inspections and service, but they don't. The only thing they always do is oil changes. A lot of times they will do air filters too. Other then that they only replace something if it is out of spec or they can't hide it. They don't do timing belts, don't fix oil leaks unless it's dripping continously, I have actually witnessed them spraying undercoating on clamp marks (frame damage) to hide it. The only good thing is if you go in and bitch if something is wrong they will fix it a lot of times. While I worked there I saw two buyers sue them for selling frame damaged cars. They were a lot better a couple years ago when they were owned by Circuit City, but things quickly went south after they became independent.

Every dollar they spend fixing up a used car is a dollar less profit. Get it in, get it out, buyer beware. It's the law of the land in used cars. Then you have new cars, and the warranty service is probably a worse experience than that.

THEY PROBABLY SPEND MORE ON POLISH THEN ANYTHING ELSE.
They are also expensive. I have seen 6 -7 year old cars that they were selling for about 70% of their originall price.

i just bought a car there and can agree that they just change the oil filter.

i got a good look under the engine bay, the serpentine belts are worn and need to be replaced. the drivers door lock isnt working, and the brakes are warped.

i knew about this before buying the car, hoping they will take care of it.

im dropping it off with them tonight, let see what happens, i have a good friend who is a lawyer.

good luck with that.

I got another nice thing to add on this one if my friends has a 02 ws6, within 2 weeks of buying the car from our local carmax he ended up stripping the pinion in the rear. Come to find out the damn thing is bone dry, so he goes up to carmax to get it ficed you know payed the extra warranty and bs. Well looking at the spec sheet for the car they didnt look at the rear because who ever evaluatd the car put the drive train down as FWD turbo. So none the less who in the hell is that stupid to list a damn rwd v8 as fwd turbo.

yeah, but who bought the car without looking at the spec sheet first?

Carmax usually sells cars that are traded prior to needing belt changes and servicing. I would never by a car with that many miles and pay that much for a car.... no haggle price translates to bend over and take it up the ass.

Without the ky to ease the insersion, JK.

He didnt think of looking at the spec sheet since there such a great place to buy our cars, He thought twice after seeing it though. They didnt have any of that on the window sheet just a print out of the options, mileage price you the usual bs.

Figure they buy them at the auction. Usually cleaned up nice when sold and they probably put them straight on the lot. Have no idea what the car needs and don't care.

i have a pretty good carmax story.

a few weeks ago i went to the local carmax(in memphis).when i walked in there was a toyota sitting in the lobby(didnt look bad),and they had a picture showing the car had been wrecked,and how they could fix it but wouldnt sell it because its their standards

so i go out and i walk past a new bettle(look at the sn)

and the hood had a BIG paint run.after hearing that load of bs about not selling wrecked cars i asked a salesman about it

HE TOLD ME IT WAS A FACTORY DEFECT and could be bufed out:screwy: :screwy: :screwy:

so i told him nevermind and left.i dont think im going to buy a car there any time soon

i dont think im going to buy a car there any time soon

i'm thinking the same thing....

what i did was go to them with every little problem you can find. I went in there with a page full of issues that i had found. they fixed all the important ones and the others were ok since the car was aged.

i did find it rediculous however. As i said the drivers door lock wasnt working as it should, it used to have a port installed alarm, but it wasnt working and the remotes were missing. They replaced the door lock actuator but it still wouldnt work, no they say that it is due to the alarm not working, i mentioned that i wanted to get an aftermarket one with remote start and they told me to go do that and it should fix it.


They took my car from me on the fifth day so that i didnt return it. im never going to buy another car from carmax ever.

what do you mean by-- they took your car?

did they repo it?

no they took my car in to fix it. i had to fight for a loaner car though, im only 20 and they said they couldnt do it. they did

i was going to take the car back to them, but they wouldnt give me a loaner again. so fu}k them. im sick and tired of their crap.

I wouldnt trust carmax, they are just a bigger small used car dealership. Buyer beware.

A used car is a used car. No matter where you get it, change all the fluids when you get it - then you will KNOW when they were changed and that the correct fluids were used.

I don't care where I buy a car, I always get an oil change replace the air filter and other usual maint. as soon as I get the chance.

My '01 Altima was bought 14months ago from Carmax. It had 13,400 miles on it. Kept the "maintenance logs" from the previous owner in it. It had that old man smell with the strong deoderant smell and strong cologne. In my mind I'm thinking, this car's barely been driven and has been well kept. Price was $8,400! What a deal I thought. Well it got cold. The car wouldn't start in the cold. My wife and I figure it had low miles because it wouldn't start in cold weather!

Warranty was gone do to age. Carmax pretended we didn't exist. Local dealership did all sorts of stuff and "fixed" the cold start problem. Morning after we get the Altima back from the shop. It won't start. Back in it goes...they finally link it to the factor and find the computer's defective. Car has just over 17,000 miles and the stinking computer's defective. It get's replaced and I pay nearly $1k total for repairs. The car won't stay aligned more than 2months. The right CV joint needs replacing. Current miles is 23,000. The passenger window regulator was replaced. Sometimes all the windows stick to the rubber it slides in and you can here the motors straining to get them unstuck. She'll be paid off here within a year. Thinking of replacing it with an Outback.

I had 2 Sentra and both died with roughly 200k on them and only because some other person hit the cars and totaled them and not because there were any problems. I've heard that the newer Nissans were crap from a few. Now I believe it.

I refuse to buy another Nissan. I refuse to buy from Carmax again.

THEY PROBABLY SPEND MORE ON POLISH THEN ANYTHING ELSE.
They are also expensive. I have seen 6 -7 year old cars that they were selling for about 70% of their originall price.

I agree. They are overpriced even by used car dealer standards. they are a great place just to test drive a bunch of different types of cars if that's what you want to do.

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I'm sixty and have purchased my share of cars. We bought a three year old low mileage Lexus in Sterling, VA. It was literally the best car purchase experience I've ever had... new or used. So far no problems.