First off I want to thank this forum for all the great advice and I want to give back how I can. This forum has given me the advice I needed to turn my credit back around and also the info to get back into school to complete my degree I recommend it to anyone I can and used the FICO code as well.

There have been many threads about CarMax and I recently purchased a wonderful vehicle from there. I've been searching for a very long time and they had the color/price. Let me share my story so it can hopefully help others as I have been helped.

To make a long story short I did read about CarMax here. I've actually had a PREVIOUS car financed by CarMax over 10 years ago. It shows paid in good standing. I figured with my better credit and with them financing me in the past, I should be good. Well after test driving the car a couple times I agreed to buy the car. The salesman was pretty poor (which I expected) but friendly. So after the 2nd time I drove it I decided to buy the car.

As many have stated, you give them some basic info and your SSN and from 5 seconds to 15 minutes or so, you get multiple offers from banks. It seems its based SOLELY on your credit score(s) and Equifax. My score for EQ at the time rose to a 648. So you sit in one of the offices and give them your info and viola you see your offers. I took a pic with my phone when the guy walked out Sorry its not too clear but I wanted to give you guys a general idea (and protect my butt with the offer)



I got multiple offers, I believe about 4 approvals. Most were nuts. The car asking price was 35k. The main ones I remember are
-Wachovia wanted 18k down and 14% interest for 72 months
-Wells Fargo (I think it was) wanted 15k down and 13% for 72 months
-Capital One wanted 6k down and 13% for 72 months
-Carmax, TURNED ME DOWN ironically
Payments as you can see were between $550-$650). I budgeted $600

I have another car with a $500 payment with 14 months left to pay. Clearly the offer to go with was Capital One. The down payment was not an issue. The offer stands for 2 days if I remember correctly.So I needed to bring 6k in and walk out with the car. The salesman looked at me like I was nuts. I'll never forget. I told him "I am going to have the money and buy the car by Friday". It was late Tuesday.

Now here is the BIG CATCH. I drive a modified car and I have no intentions of trading it in. However I made the MISTAKE of flirting with doing it. I know they are not going to offer me anything but I give it a shot. He's seen my car so he is surprised I am entertaining the offer. Well we drive the car I want again while my car gets "EVALUATED". Of course I get a lowball offer but he is REALLY interested in me trading my car in. Thats all he talks about the rest of the night seemingly. I say "I'll think about it". My value is around 8k, they give me $4300 for it. I owe around $6k on it.

So the guy takes the car out of the inventory and holds it. That means the car can NO LONGER be seen on the CARMAX website. I felt good.

So I call the guy explaining my schedule the next day and when I can come by etc. He was supposed to call back and NEVER does. Finally later in the afternoon he calls.

"Sorry but Capital One made another offer. They now want you to trade the car in and bring another $1000 down". So I am like WTF are you talking about what other offer and he explains another offer came in after I left and that is the only one. Trade the car, bring 7k down at a 13.75% interest rate.

I was up in arms. I call a close friend who is a lawyer and she tells me that is B.S. If I have a copy of the original offer, they have to stand by that. I call them back and the salesman is of NO help. I escalate to the manager, they are of no help. It then hits me not only do they want my cash and rape me with financing but they want my other car so they can sell/part out for more profit.That is why Carmax "buys cars" and is so willing to take trades. They lowball the hell out of u and then make more money selling ur old car.

Now you might ask "why are you going though all this for the car". Well its a very rare car and they clearly undervalued it by 6-8k. Everything came back clean from Autocheck and when I ran the VIN at a local dealership. I literally was getting a STEAL.

Out of curiosity when I was making withdrawals I go to both my banks loan officers and you know what they tell me? They tell me "we are not doing unsecured loans anymore" when I asked for 5k. I could not believe it. I've banked for years and the couple times I have asked for a loan I get turned down by my bank. (THen I go ELSEWHERE and get a loan or financed.) (I HATE BANKS) I explain to them how technically they should be BEGGING ME TO TAKE MONEY since my hard earned TAX DOLLARS bailed them out and keep their doors open. This point seemingly was lost on them.

So by this time, you might say "Hey ****magee it just wasn't meant to be" but I was going to get this car. I am not one to give up, especially when I know what I saw, heard and what I agreed too. I check online and they put the car back online for anyone to buy.

So Thursday I call Capital One lol. I find some CarMax loan department number for them on the internet. They sound pretty surprised when I called. That said, when I gave my SSN, my info INDEED PULLED UP!!! So I was in business. They don't want to take any blame or anything or take any responsibility. They are telling me to go to CarMax, this is their problem as they made the offers. The guy on the phone told me the 2 offers. The first one was the one I agreed too. The second one was another one they made the next day. EITHER OFFER STANDS WITH CAPITAL ONE Its crazy b/c one offer is clearly much better than the other for the consumer.

So I find on the internet some corporate executive complaint number for CarMax lol. I call and speak to a lady and explain how I was given an offer and they took it back and then are trying to get me to trade in my car and go with a WORSE offer. She was kind and of course didn't want to take any blame. She said someone would follow up with me later that day. I also explained the irony I was buying a Car at Carmax, I have a previous paid account with them and they turned me down. SHe of course didn't care.

So I go to my favorite place when I need to ponder HOOTERS!!! Its about 7pm and my phone rings. Its the salesman;

"Hello ****"
-yes its ****magee
"Hey I got good news, my manager approved the first offer so if you are ready we will stand by it"
-excellent (I go over the exact details of the first offer)
"Yes that is correct, we will go with it"
-See you tomorrow morning


Let me again say he was an awful salesman. No follow up, no call back nothing. Usually I would have walked but again, I was getting as smoking deal. I was ecstatic. I had the money and I had some time to get the car Friday morning.

Friday I go back with 6k CASH MONEY. I don't want to hear a thing about a check blah blah blah. I walk in and he shows me the offers again. I explain out of frustration it didn't have to get to this point as its plain to see either offer is in my face.

The process takes about 30 min (paperwork etc). Pick up the car and drive home grinning.

I hope this helps you understand the CarMax process more. To be honest this is likely my first AND last purchase based on how unethical they were and what I had to do. The car is driving like a charm though so I am very happy with the product.

My advice is to start and KEEP a relationship with a local dealer/salesperson and get to know the finance manager. It saves a lot of B.S and time in the long run and they really look out for you as a consumer from purchasing to service. I have a GREAT relationship with mine but sadly they never had this car in stock for over 2 years.

WOW!!!!!

13%? 72 months? $6000 down? Did you borrow that $6k to put down?

Anyway, if you think you got a good deal, congratulations.

This nonsense is why I don't mess with dealerships anymore. I don't plan on stepping onto a dealership lot for the rest of my life. I'd much rather prefer private owners.

Capital One does not make multiple offers on ONE APPLICATION.

They will approve, decline, condition ONE APPLICATION.

^So in other words, Carmax was jerking him around. Which I don't doubt as they've attempted to lowball me in the past when I attempted to sell my car.

I've seen some good deals at Carmax, but most of the time their cars are priced higher than a traditional dealer. At least with a traditional dealer, you can still haggle.

More than likely, Carmax realized you were getting a "steal" and raised the price a grand and then told you Cap One made an additional offer of yadda yadda to keep the LTV in line with their guidelines.

But hey, if you think you got a good deal, then great. Good job.

Oh, and I edited some words out of your original post.

As long as your happy!

I would rather walk than pay that kinda rate!

What kind of a car/SUV did you get?

Carmax doesn't part out cars. They have to remove any nonstock items on a car they can and they throw it in the trash. I think the salesman wanted to buy your car for cheap and either keep it or sale it himself for a profit. They get discount on a certain amount of cars each year.

Interesting. So if I yank out my aftermarket radio before trading a vehicle in (without replacing), it wouldn't impact the value either way?

So what kind of car was it?

It would because you don't have the factory parts in the car. They just don't pay you extra for after market parts, etc. The business model is messed up in my opinion or just the business model of the managers that need to hit quota without regard to overhead. But hey they get their bonuses and Carmax spends twice as much as they should to produce inventory.

I'm extremely curious! Did you get a Lotus Elise or something? I have a huge car obsessoin and that's the only car I can think of that is over two years old and worth about 40K is that extremely hard to come by.. Maybe i'm wrong though.. lol