CarMax

Reviews 4

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Rose Murray

FALSE GUARANTEE. I purchased a certified used car from the Baton Rouge Carmax in January 2014. It is now October 2014 and I took my car for a full 17 point oil change and checkup at a reputable mechanic chain (I am sitting at their waiting room right now). Being a conscientious owner, I took the car in right after it hit 3,000 miles since purchase (when I purchased the car it had a little under 55,000 miles - it now has a little over 58,000 miles). Carmax assured me at purchase in January that they put the car through a 125+ point inspection, including all essential fluids, including transmission fluid. The mechanics who are now servicing my car just took me out to show me a major issue with the transmission fluid. With my model car, the transmission fluid can only be accessed from beneath (it is not a simple check under the hood as in other types of cars) - meaning I the owner could not check it during my usual fluid checks, and relied on the Carmax guarantee that the transmission had been checked and guaranteed by their mechanics in the 125+ point inspection. Well, their word was worth nothing in this department. The mechanics showed me that the transmission fluid had not been checked and serviced in well over 30,000 miles (the recommended interval). They showed me the bolts that had to be unscrewed in order to check the transmission fluid, said that they were on so tight it might even be the case that the transmission fluid had not been serviced since the factory issue of this car in 2006, over 58,000 miles ago (there was still factory sealant on the bolts). They said for sure the transmission fluid had not been serviced in January when I purchased this car. My gears have been very dry for the last 10 months. Carmax, you did not actually look at and service this part of my car despite your guarantee to me. How can I trust that you did the other 124 points of the inspection you purported to do? If you had checked and serviced my transmission fluid when I bought this car in January, you would have found that it was badly blackened and in need of entire redraining and replacement, as the mechanics are now doing - at personal cost to me. Big disappointment and big breach of trust in the Carmax guarantee. I wonder what other surprises await me. Rose Murray New Orleans

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Lauren Reynerson

My husband and I purchased a vehicle from this location a few weeks ago, and our entire experience was amazing! This was his second purchase from CarMax and my first. I was very worried because I read so many negative reviews about CarMax as a company. We experienced nothing but kindness and positivity. My husband went in one day and got pre-approved for financing on a certain vehicle. The one I wanted was located in Texas, though. The vehicle that was on the Baton Rouge lot did not have the bells and whistles like the one in Texas, but we decided to go in for a test drive anyway. Little did we know that our salesman actually had another vehicle (same make/model) that was much more similar to the one I wanted, and he pulled that one around for me to drive so that I could get an even better "feel" for what my car would be like. One of the issues I was concerned about was the test drive. Id read so many people complaining about how their test drive was very short and was done in a location that they were unable to really test the mechanics of the vehicle. Our salesman directed us to a really open road where we were able to see how the car drove. We were able to accelerate as much as we wanted, brake as quickly as we wanted, etc. He did not rush us to finish the test drive. We went back to the lot only after my husband and I both had a chance to test it out. The day came when my car arrived from Texas. We went by the next day to see it, make payments, do paperwork, etc. The total time we were there that day was 45 minutes maybe. Our entire experience with CarMax, on location, was probably less than 2 hours. That was for the pre-approval, test drive and finalizing the sale. Pretty darn good if you ask me. Our salesman, William, was AMAZING! He was incredibly nice and personable. I would recommend CarMax to anyone looking for a used vehicle without the headache and overwhelming experience that can be found at some brand name" car lots. Thank you William, and thank you CarMax for this wonderful experience!!

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Herbie V

Two years ago I made my first CarMax purchase and it went smoothly with no issues at all, no unwanted pressure, friendly salesperson, etc. Three weeks ago I went back and made my second CarMax purchase, I love the car, but heres what might stop me from going back a third time. When the salesman told me what my monthly note would be, it was $480. I thought man thats really more than I want to pay, but I really want the car and I can swing it so why not. But then when I go to buy the car, I find out that he basically tried to sneak in the Maxcare warranty on me. Without the maxcare my note dropped to $430! How hard is it to say "sir your note would be $430 a month, for $50 more a month I can sell you an extended warranty?" not hard is it?! Also when I told him I didnt want it because it has a factory warranty up to 100,000 miles, he still tried to push it on me. Aside from that he was a nice guy. But onto the problems with the car. The inside was filthy! Stained seats, dirty trim on the door panels, um dont you people clean these cars before you sell them?! It took me only an hour once I got the car home to make the inside look new again, why couldnt they have done it? Last problem is, after the paperwork was signed, and Im going outside to leave in my car, they tell me the spare key doesnt work (sentry key) and needs to be programmed, and can only be done Mon, Wed, Fri, between 8am-10am. First of all I paid $200 to have the car transferred to that location so I could buy it, secondly, it was there for 8 days before I could get off work to go get it, you couldnt have made sure the keys worked?? You had to wait til I already purchased the damn car to check?! So I had to drive three hours round trip to bring the car back a week later to have the key programmed. I made a day of it, I like going to baton rouge anyway, and the car is great on gas so it might have cost me $15 to go back. But all this stuff adds up, and Im not so sure Ill be making a third purchase from car max.

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H Tran

Not satisfied. Had an amazing sales woman and the manager was awesome for trying his best to help. Make sure you know more about cars than they do because they only know so much. And your questions and specifics you request will only get a I am pretty sure it comes standard. (Which it one comes standard for some of them; I did not know at the time). And they cant really help you until its too late. But... there has to be ways to kind to help us customer get the exact car we want and not think it is the car until you take it home. I know they give us that 5 day guarantee thing...We also work 8am-9pm and I live over an hour from Carmax. I tried and tried to call over and over and over... getting constantly transferred over and over and getting sent to voice mail with no return calls. I mean anyone could have helped me, I had a simple question so that I can know if I have to take the car back or not. I could not reach anyone and no one stepped up to help until it was too late (it was the 6th day when I finally reached someone). And until after I did further research I found out that what I was told while buying the car wasnt what I got and specified. They did try to do what they can, but there has to be a way to do more to help the customer get the car of their dream. The manager did allow me to bring the car back but I cant choose any car that needs a transfer fee, only ones that are free transfers... which did not have the one that I wanted, even though I found one in Alabama carmax. I was will to pay more for the transfer, or even drive to alabama for my dream car, but it could not be done. So I was stuck. Only option given was to trade in and lose value... UNFAIR!! I am not happy because I asked if it had this feature and that feature, which was unclear by the salesman... so we thought it did have those features. But turns out it didnt. Second time buying from carmax, both times bad experience. Only difference was the 2nd sales woman was super nice.

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