CarMax

Reviews 3

DA

Dave Ketelsen

My wife and I have bought 5 vehicles from Naperville Carmax. And traded in 4 or 5 other vehicles too. Last Saturday, the 20th, unfortunately is probably the end of our relationship with this dealership. On February 3rd my wife and I went to this store and test drove a 2013 Nissan Pathfinder SV. This particular vehicle was gold and the color was not for us. However we discovered almost the same vehicle in black at another Carmax that our sales associate, London, advised could be delivered in 2 to 3 days to the Naperville store. We were told that the vehicle had no damage and was in good condition. Finally after not hearing back from anyone I tried contacting London on February 12th. Heard back on February 15th the Pathfinder was in. My wife got to drive it on Wednesday the 17th and liked it. I just wanted to test drive it and we were set to buy it. The vehicle price out the door was $26,142.00. We brought $10,000.00 with us to put down. We went out to the vehicle, we walked around it and found a broken rear mud flap and the front bumper had obvious scrape damage. However we understand that is what you get with used vehicles and were not really discouraged by this. I then noticed that the 2 front tires on the vehicle were balding to the point where they would have to be replaced because of safety. London agreed with us and stated he would not buy a vehicle with the kind of balding tires on this vehicle. He said he would be able to talk with a manager to see about a price adjustment or fix for these tires. Well we took the vehicle for one last test drive and liked it. We were set to buy the vehicle and in the sales office when London advised his manager said that the tires were looked at and met Carmax stardards. (But they could fix the mud flap. Really? ) Even our sales associate said he would not drive on these tires. We decided that we were not going to buy new tires for a vehicle we were trying to pay over $30,000.00 after financing. So we began to leave but remembered that this store still had the original gold colored Pathfinder. We went and looked at its tires and they were all in good shape. So still trying to make a deal we told London if that Carmax saw the tires on the black Pathfinder as being safe why not just switch 2 tires from the gold Pathfinder to the black Pathfinder. Seems like a very reasonable request. I was told this could not be done because the black Pathfinder met Carmax standards. This isnt even really an answer on why they could not switch the tires. So no sale. London apologized in a text and stated he hoped it did not reflect bad on him. My answer to him was that this whole experience reflects badly on Naperville Carmax as a whole. It also shows me what customer loyalty gets you at Naperville Carmax. Absolutely nothing. I have never wrote a review before and probably never will again, but this experience I could not just overlook. Since our original review on yelp and this site you would think someone from the store, (anyone who actually cares ) would have called us to see what went wrong and ask what could be done to fix their mistake. Apparently they think our request of two tires was just way out of line. As of 03/04/16 no contact from a dealership where I have spent 10s of thousands of dollars. Very sad

JA

James Hanasik

CarMax really wants its customers to be happy as demonstrated by their business practices. We purchased a minivan. The one we wanted to see was not at that location, but they offered to bring it in for free. During the purchase, our salesman offered us financing although we were pre-qualified through our bank. Their finance offer was much better than the one we secured. He offered the extended warranty, which we turned down, and he moved on. There was no pressure to buy it or the car. In fact, although I was certain that we would ultimately buy the car, the Mrs. did not want to make a decision on the spot. She wanted to sleep on it. Our salesman said that was fine, they would hold it for 72 hours but then it would go back into inventory. Since taking ownership, an O2 sensor went out on the vehicle. It was covered by their 30 day warranty, but it would take several days to fix. We couldnt be without a car that long, so they arranged a loaner vehicle. The service tech I dealt with was extremely nice. But I hung around the service counter to watch others interactions with other techs. Customers seemed satisfied with the service provided, if unhappy about the need for service to begin with. But those are two separate issues. During the test drive and the purchase, we made use of the childrens play area, a place to corral the twins while we conducted business. Our salesman (a ten year veteran) was very experienced in working with car buying families. He accompanied both of us on separate trips test driving two vehicles. I have to stretch to find anything negative to say. Their offer on our trade-in was low, but that is made up for by not having to sell it private party. When you factor in the time and effort necessary to sell it private party, and the time spent with tire kickers not really serious in wanting the vehicle, it is a wash. I am rid of it and got enough in trade to defray most of the tax on the purchase. The two cars we viewed were obviously not well cleaned. Their service department did a haphazard job vacuuming them. A leaf may have been inadvertently tracked in by me, the Mrs., or the salesman, but gun wrappers and Cheetos bags were from previous owners or other potential buyers. And a few marks on the leather seating surfaces wiped right off with a rag and some cleaning product once we took our purchase home. These are minor details magnified only because they so markedly contrast to an otherwise terrific car buying experience.

PH

philanders white

Before I begin my review, let me explain why the 4 stars instead of 5. It is only my opinion in comparison to exact cars in extensive searches CarMax cars are priced higher by comparison. Also trade-in valuations are extremely undervalued. So now to the awesome experience I had: I went to several dealerships and had a million dealerships denying me for credit even with a co-signer who had a 814 FICO. No one would give me a car loan with an open loan and and not a big enough loan to trade the 2010 Chevy Traverse I had in. I had a RoadLoan approval which many dealerships dont accept, but CarMax is a preferred dealership. I knew they would want to run my credit to see if they could get a lender of their own. So because of the high priced Car Max vehicles I went at it on my own and figured I would let other dealers with better priced cars run my credit until I was down to my last option which was CarMax. When CarMax first started in the auto market, you needed impeccable credit to get a car, so I highly doubted that I would secure a loan with them, but I was out of options and this was it for me. I went in and asked for my RoadLoans contact Bill Maybach and I did not have an appointment. I had a car picked out that was low priced because I wanted to attempt to trade in my care (which in every case was impossible. I printed some different variations of the cars and went over my options with Bill. He helped me pick a transfer car that would take a few days to arrive. Bill ran my credit and I was financed with the trade in, with maybe a 480 credit score and only $400 down and no consignor. We would finalize my paperwork when the car arrived at their location. I received updates through email about the status of the car. I received an email informing me that the car arrived and was ready for a test drive. Again I showed up without an appointment and Bill helped me out and was professional and patient throughout the whole process. CarMax is very transparent (none of that let me go talk to my manager stuff). You see the financing offers on the screen. Options are thoroughly discussed. Everything is clearly explained. In the end I got the car I wanted and got rid of a headache.Now if they could just come down on those "No Haggle Prices", they would be flawless. I would definitely go there again.