CarMax Dealership

Reviews 3

RH

Rhiannon Axton

As the one-star rating implies, yes, hated it. The experience my boyfriend and I had was nothing short of wretched. Now, before you read this and write me off as a crazy loser with nothing better to do: I have decent credit, I make 6 figures, Im a functional adult, I have a full time job which is all consuming, HOWEVER, my experience was so horrific that I wanted to make time to potentially warn others and save them an epic headache. SO, my nightmare began a few weeks ago when my boyfriend was interested in purchasing a used Subaru. We found his ideal car match at Carmax Irvine and were assisted by a gentleman (ahem) named Paul Benett. After taking down our information and running our credit, Paul came back with a "12% interest rate", which conveniently tacked on an additional $9,000 to the final price, and also made us both feel like we were "lucky" to be able to get anything all, and that Carmax financial would DEIGN to finance us poor peasants for the duration of the SIX YEAR LOAN. Though all of this seemed a bit suspicious since we were trying to purchase a used 3 year old Subaru with 50,000 miles on it, our confidence was so bashed during the whole experience that we were shocked that we were leaving in something more than a horse and buggy. The next day, my boyfriend went through the car to give it a good once over, and the battery died...additionally, the brakes were suddenly squeaky and lacked pressure, the car made a loud popping noise whenever the car turned right, and we noticed that the hood was not lining up with the bumper on the right side, as if it had been in an accident. This begs the question: what exactly are you inspecting during your 120 point inspection, Carmax? are you really taking the time or are you just doing anything in your power to get it to drive off the lot? We were informed that we had 5 days to return the vehicle as well as 30 days of free maintenance, so we took the car back to Carmax Irvine and asked to speak with Paul. Paul came out to speak with us, and it was blatantly obvious that he was not happy to see us. He looked at us like we were an unplanned root canal versus the customers who had dumped a chunk of commission in his pocket barely 24 hours prior. We explained our laundry list of issues to Paul, who responded with "So what? do you want to return it?" in a very bitter tone. Not "What can we do?" "How can we fix this?" We were met with ZERO semblance of customer service and no intent to keep our business. We replied with well, no, we just want it to be fixed...reasonable, right? WRONG. We were sent to the service department, who we again explained the issues to, and we were told they would be in contact. After a few days, the service department reached out to let us know that the battery was bad. Gee, thanks for the hot tip. Again, inspection? Anyone? We reminded the service department about the brakes, which they assured us were checked and fine, and they told us the car would be taken to the body shop and that the service department was working with management to resolve the issue. So after a total of 8 days, the service department let us know that the car was ready. We went to pick it up and noticed there were new scratches on the door, the interior was smeared with grease, and the hood of the car was bent to fit, not repaired, but bent. Complete with dents and a paint crease from the bend. We were both in a sort of shock. We took the car home, slept on it, agreed that the situation had been completely mishandled by Carmax, and decided to return it. We were met with the same awful customer service, but luckily, we were able to unload the car and get back to our normal world of sense and logic. We ended up going Subaru of Irvine where we got a screaming deal on a brand new 2016 Subaru Impreza Sport edition, with a 5 year loan, and 3.8% interest rate, with the same original ticket price as the used, broken garbage we got from Carmax. The moral of the story: proceed with caution...and by proceed with caution I mean dont ever go to Carmax. Youre welcome.

SU

Susi Larson

I saw the Lexus I wanted to purchase from my home in Arizona. Made an appt and drove to Irvine to purchase it. The internet ad as well as the window sticker advertised it as having the "Luxury Package". When the wheels didnt seem the type the "luxury package" included, I questioned the sales person, who assured me that these are the wheels included in the luxury package. As I drove back to Phoenix, I came to realize that not one item of the luxury package was actually on this vehicle. Okay, well mistakes are made. I called my sales consultantant who responded with "Well, you got a great deal either way". Well, that was irritating. HUGE thanks and accolades to the entire team at my own Gilbert CarMax, who, even though they had nothing to do with the sale or the mistake, went out of their way to easily and efficiently resolve this issue by giving me 3 options - any and all of which were very satisfactory to me. That Irvine would not even acknowledge the mistake is unacceptable. Theres more.. it is now 6 weeks since I purchased the vehicle and I still do not have the title to it. I have heard all kinds of excuses (its in the mail, it is being held up by the State, Ill send it out today, etc etc). Most recently, I was told that they would only send it to the Arizona DMV (not to me directly) as they "partnered" with them to make the registration process "easier" for their customers. Because I no longer had any confidence in anything I heard from the business office, I begged to have the title sent directly to me, but was refused. I asked for the tracking number so that I could avoid waiting for hours in the AZ DMV if, for some reason, the title had not arrived. When the tracking showed the titlle had been delivered to DMV, I went through the obligatory 2+ hours of waiting, only to find out that CarMax Irvine had listed themselves instead of me in the "buyer" slot. Thus I was again denied registration and still cannot drive my new vehicle. This was the first time my frustration was communicated over the phone and I still did not receive an apology, except from Erin who answered the phone, but was not in the proper department to help me. The business office shrugged it off like this was all par for the course. Again, they refused to send the "Statement of Error" required by the DMV to me, but instead insisted on sending it directly to DMV. I have no option but to wait in line for hours again and hope they filled it out correctly. Sloppy, sloppy sloppy business practices.

B

B Ill Barrett

I have purchased multiple cars from this store. On this last time, I was planning on buying new and visited new car dealers first. I only went to CarMax to find out if I could get more for my car than what the dealers were offering on a trade. Our plan was to buy a new car and either trade in our old car or sell it to CarMax. CarMax offered me $2,000 more for my car than the highest offer from a new car dealer. So, I decided that I would definitely sell my car to them. If your car is in excellent condition, CarMax will give you more for your trade than anyone else. If your car is not in good enough condition for CarMax to sell, you will get black book price, which is what a new car dealer offers. While we were there, we test drove a few cars, with the intention of comparing brands to help us shop for a new car. However, we found a 2013 Toyota Highlander with less than 12k miles that was a single owner, no smoke smell, and was not a rental car. It was priced a little higher than blue book value, but the additional $2,000 I was getting for my trade made up for that. Also, buying used would save lots of money over a comparable new car. We worked with Reuben, who was fantastic. He was a young guy, very nice and helpful. He put up with us test driving lots of cars and looking at even more. He was extremely knowledgeable about cars and about the inventory they had on the lot. One of the great things about shopping with CarMax is that you know exactly what you are paying and there is no pressure. You can go home, get online, and compare the car you liked to others offered at other dealers, on Craigs list, or wherever. You can also download the vehicle history from the CarMax website. This is important, because some of the cars on their lot were former rental cars, which I did not want. If you decide that you want to buy the car you test drove at CarMax, you can go online and reserve the car. No deposit, not signing a contract, but they will hold the car for you and not sell it out from under you. That is great customer service. So, why 4 stars and not 5. Customer service and Reuben deserve 5 stars. The ability to reserve a car without a non-refundable deposit is 5 stars. I would want to give them 4.5 stars. The half star deduction is that the car prices are a little above blue book. But then again, I could not find a 2013 Toyota Highlander, single-owner, low mileage, non-rental car anywhere else for the price I paid. So perhaps I am being stingy with my stars.