CarMax Consumer Reviews

BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA -- Had an amazing salesman Steve who showed me around to test drive two vehicles (after CarMax Pompano Beach had a car put on hold with a sales order new year's eve so I could come back the next day with my cosigner and process paperwork etc. And I called 3 times confirming, loaded parents into car and drove them down. 5 minutes before I got there called back and said car was sold the night previous (aka they sold it before the first time they told me they wrote up a sales order and put it on hold for me...). One of the two vehicles was VERY smoky smelling, so Steve said he would get it cleaned...

I came BACK THE NEXT DAY with my cosigner to test drive/she them the two cars and to make a decision. Steve was busy (even though I made an appointment) so he passed me off to who I now refer to as the worst salesman ever (aka WSE)... WSE shows me first car and in an abrasive manner tells me it's not what I want and drives it off to be parked. Tells us he will be back in less than 5 minutes with the keys to other vehicle so we can test drive... 20-30 minutes later after baking in the sun outside (cosigner has a cast on foot and couldn't walk back to building easily)...

He finally returns and starts in about how all these other vehicles are what I want, blah blah blah... finally convince WSE to let me test the car I came there to sign paperwork on in reality. On test drive calls me foolish/dumb for driving around and test driving other cars, tells me every reason possible why I don't want the car I'm in, calls me and my mother poor essentially, told us he worked on commissions and test driving ONE car was wasting his time... Kept on insulting me until I has to yell at him after he rolled his eyes at me twice. If my mother has not been there, I was so disrespected it would have become me assaulting a salesman in the CarMax parking lot...

Disrespected me so much I had to walk out of your store before I made him eat his own teeth. I have never had such a bad sales experience, and have never felt the need to get physical with a car salesman before now... not only will I NOT be buying the 24 thousand dollar car I was looking at, I will be going back in today to make a formal complaint with the GM and also with corporate. I Will never shop at a CarMax again after the level of disrespect I was shown.

I'm sure I'm forgetting half the insulting back talking comments he made to me. I was so mad. At the end of the test drive it was all I could do from stopping myself dragging WSE out the car and making him eat his teeth in your parking lot... If he had said half the things he said to me and I wasn't somewhere where there was video cameras... dude would have woken up in a hospital wondering what happened...

Will also be filing complaints with every online rating service, CarMax Facebook page etc... Was treated so poorly I cannot let this go and the worst part??? I actually wanted/needed the car I was looking at and was ready to sign, stuck down in FL until I get a car and drive back home, missing work over this. And of course I am sure CarMax will do NOTHING to make this right....

NAPERVILE, ILLINOIS -- I bought a car 3 months ago thru CarMax auto financing. 2 weeks ago I had a accident and my insurance company has stated car as total loss. They gave me 2 option, to keep the vehicle and to pay CarMax value of car before accident - salvage value = 3221$ Or they want pay to Carmax 4500$+ and they keep the vehicle. I choosed the option 1. But talking with CarMax about a option to use that check of 3221$ to repair the car, they told me that if I want to keep the vehicle I have to pay 7000$+ (remaining balance of the lease). When I asked them where is that stated in the contract, that they are allowed to request full amount in upfront if I have any damages on car, they put me on hold for 1h30min and transferred me over 2 departments in that time.

At the end I was talking with "supervisor" and she "explained me" that it is stated in their internal policy which is not available on their website neither do in my contract/paperwork that I got from them. She said that I never signed and never was aware of that, and I don't need to sign something like that but I cannot get access to my car if I don't pay 7000+$ in upfront. Now I have to hire the lawyer and to go on court with this company while my car is not in my possession and I'm still paying monthly rate for car and for insurance. I'm using my car to work for UberEATS, DoorDash, PostMate.

I cannot work, and I have to pay car in one week! Again, I never was aware that they are allowed to request payment in upfront remaining balance if I have ANY damages on the car, even if that is a total loss (I have already ordered parts to make car driveable)/ I NEVER SIGNED SOMETHING AS THAT, I NEVER WOULD! These information are not available ANYWHERE on the date 20. February 2020! I don't know how that can be legal! I'm considering this as heavy fraud!

Contracts about buying a car are long, but there is NEITHER THE ONE section talking about that they have law right to do this. I don't understand why they acted as this in my situation because I would keep paying my monthly rate and after my lease is over, title of the car would be mine as the car ofc. So it is not really matter for them in what condition car would be. But I cannot accept that there is some "INTERNAL POLICY" where customer is not aware of anything what is in there and it is affecting the whole contract that I have signed with them. Why we are signing the contract anyway?? When they can write whatever they want in their "INTERNAL POLICY".

RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA -- We go in to look at a truck we're interested in Qx80 Infiniti and we walk in about hour or two before they're about to close. Well we didn't think anything of it. First of all the salesman Ryan was very rude, seemed like he was annoyed from all my kids, wasn't friendly at all. Took me on a test drive. I do all the talking and he only answers questions. Doesn't bother to tell me anything about the car, the cool features. It has nothing, just sits there. Then he was very pushy because they were closing soon, tells me, “So do you like it.” I tell him, “Yeah love the car but I'm not too happy with the way the seats look.”

So he tells me well they may be able to repair the seats if I'm not happy with it so I liked that idea. Well, we get in and he says, “Well the company we deal with doesn't repair luxury cars so you have to do it with Infiniti." Why would I pay thousands to repair leather with Infiniti. We had another car that was being transfer but wasn't the color I really wanted so we asked if it came in yet and he stated, “No it may take up to 7 days so you have to decided cause we can't hold two cars under your name.” Which I think is bs. There's ways around it.

Then he keeps trying to tell me that the lines in the seats are not that big of a deal. They won't crack which I thought he should keep his opinions to himself because everyone has their own preferences and that is something that will bother me. I'm going to be the one looking at it every day not him. So he states it again after I say I'm not too sure about the car. Then tells me they have to take the car off hold, starts being pushy again. So we say we need a day to think about it.

So then I tell him, “Can I take a look at the car again” so he gets even more annoyed and says, “Yeah sure, it's open.” And while we were outside we left our two kiddos inside where he was sitting and my son tells me he asks the manager, “Should I tell these people to leave because they were very close to closing”…how rude, why would say that while my children are sitting right there and why would you try to push a sale on someone who's indecisive that always turns out bad in your favor. So we decided to go back the next day to take a look again thinking maybe I was overthinking it and trying to see if the grey car had made it there cause it said it shipped.

So we were down the street from the dealership and he called again stating that they were closing soon and he wants to know if we're going to purchase the car. So we said we were still indecisive because we didn't see the silver car yet and knew it was almost there. So he said, “Well I'm going to have to take it off hold.” Then he tells my husband, “You're not trying to purchase the black car then return it are you.” First of all if that was the case why would we tell you we were still unsure about the car. Why wouldn't we just do it. He was very stereotypical thinking we would do something like that and we had no clue of this policy to begin with.

I guess CarMax has a 5 day return policy if you don't like the car. So then my husband got very mad and told him, “I don't appreciate you being pushy and saying stuff like that, you just lost a sale.” So we called this other salesman's named Davin and of course he sticks up for him calling me a liar saying, “That's unlike him to be pushy and rude.” Okay, why would I be making this all up. I'm telling him what he did if someone's not satisfied with something. There's nothing you can do to change their mind so why give input on how I like my seats to look.

Do I come and tell you how your car should look... please CarMax check your employees. They're ruining your business. Hire people who are more professional and know how to talk to people without offending them... this goes to my first CarMax experience was very bad. They hire very rude people to work for them. You know salesman can really effective if you walk out with that car or not and can make you change your mind with the right talking. That's what their job is. Not to make you hate your experience and not want the car anymore. WOW, I'M VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH CARMAX. THAT WILL BE THE LAST TIME I SHOP THERE FOR CARS.

AUSTIN, TEXAS -- I've always had good experiences with CarMax in the past. I've bought and sold from them more than a few times. Yes - the trade in amount they offer is always lower than what other car dealers offer me - I think they start at the average trade in value and take off what tax savings you will get on a purchase. Sometimes I've traded into them - sometimes I sold to another dealer and came out way ahead even giving up the tax break - but I think you are paying for the one stop shopping.

I've found what I wanted and drove 100 miles to go look at it (and bought it), and I've bought off the local lot. They were always good experiences. Yes, they made money off of me - but they are in business to do that, so it's to be expected.

Perhaps I was lulled into trusting them, perhaps I was tired of not seeing what I wanted anywhere near me - but this time the only truck that matched what I wanted was all the way across the country - a $899 transfer fee. I wanted the vehicle to use on my vacation which was coming up fast - and at 3 weeks I decided to bite the bullet and pay to have it transported to me.

After paying for it I asked how long it would take - and surprise - they told me 28 days - right when my vacation ends. I should have told them to reverse the charges - but when I reminded them what I wanted it for they told me it would probably just be 2 weeks, that the 4 weeks is just to be safe. I was also told that I could cancel at any time if I found something closer. I was concerned - but decided that since I could cancel it would be okay.

Funny - a few days later some trucks were popping up on the CarMax site that were even more than I wanted, and closer. I called my agent to cancel the other one (which hadn't shipped yet). I should have put a hold on it - because as I was talking to him it became unavailable. He told me so before the website did - and I wonder now if it was a coincidence... So time keeps passing - at a week it still hasn't shipped and I have a local dealer makes me a high offer on my current truck - and has one with everything I want - but also tricked out. It costs more - but with the higher offer on my truck.

I called my agent and asked about my transfer and was told he hadn't heard anything. I asked him to verify and he came back and told me it hadn't shipped. I asked him if I could only cancel if I found another CarMax vehicle, or if I could cancel if I found one at another dealer. He asked me why - so I told him that there were a lot of trucks popping up locally that interested me. He told me that I could cancel the transfer and get my money back with the only condition being that I could do it as long as my truck hadn't shipped yet.

So the other dealer texted me and told me the truck I really liked online would be at his store if I would like to test drive it - and we set up a time to look at it. And then the CarMax salesman called me to tell me mine had shipped. Maybe I shouldn't have called - but I wanted to make sure the ability to get my $899 back was good if I bought elsewhere.

Well - it's been another week. I have no idea where my truck is, or when it will get here. I've transported vehicles before - and I can't believe that I paid $899 and have no idea where it is or when it will get here. I'm a few days from going on my vacation - and I'm looking at spending $1,000 to rent a comparable vehicle for a week, or saying goodbye to the $899 and the truck I was shipping here - to buy the one local. Giving up the $899 seems like a better option - especially because I keep having people tell me coming from the Northwest what they consider normal for the condition of the undercarriage is what in Texas we consider too rusty.

I wouldn't recommend paying anyone to ship a vehicle to you to buy it unless it is new - and I would strongly recommend against having CarMax do it. What had always been a decent experience has been terrible only because of the lack of communication and lack of information about where is it and when will it get here. For $899 I would expect more.

ROSWELL, GEORGIA -- AVOID CARMAX ON ALPHARETTA HIGHWAY IN ROSWELL GEORGIA AT ALL COSTS!!!!!

My Kia Sportage died a few weeks ago which forced us to buy a new and larger family car sooner than anticipated. We immediately jumped to Carmax since they could bring a car in out of state for us as well as be rest assured the car was mechanically sound. We purchased outright via check a 2016 Ford Expedition el. Although the purchase process went very smoothly we hit a brick wall upon having the car inspected. We took the car to our local auto shop and had them give us a good once over so we could tell Carmax what had to be done (if anything) for no cost via their 30 day auto service policy following a purchase. There was no major work to be done however the tire life was questionably close to the required pierce stage gone requiring Carmax to put new tires on the car for no additional cost. My husband made the appointment and dropped the car off. The appointment was at 8am and we were told the car would be done by 1030 or so. Jon called from work, now the car would not be ready until 1230. No problem. He called again, car would not be ready until 230, this continued with no explanation until 430 when Jon called and said he was coming to get the car done or not. Upon arrival no customer service was given. No straight answers as to why a few things (alignment, tire balance, new windshield wiper) took all day long even with repeated calls. To our dismay the tires also measured just over the required sale tire life. Josh, the manager in the service department was called in and told Jon he would give us the tires at their cost price to make amends for being jerked around all day. Jon was to wait for a call the following day (Friday, a week after purchasing the car). Jon waited, no call. He called at 6pm while we were on our way to dinner. He was informed that josh was on his way out the door. Jon told whomeever picked the phone up that he was angry, had been forgotten once again, and if they wanted our continued service josh better pick the phone up and answer his questions. After rudely being put on hold josh answered. Jon reiterated that he had waited for a call all day, and now once again he was forced to chase Carmax around for an answer. All we needed to know was the cost of the tires and when to expect them in. Josh told Jon he would leave a message for another manager in the service department who would coordinate with Jon Monday morning. Jon specifically asked if josh could confirm someone would call him given their already horrible reputation for not returning calls. Josh confirmed "not to worry". Monday comes and goes. Jon called once again on Tuesday demanding to know what is going on, demanding to talk to a higher manager. No customer service has been offered to us since leaving their store with the new car. The store manager Kenny green talks to Jon and apoalgizes and tells him that the tires will be taken care of. He will contact him Wednesday. We have had it. Today is Wednesday. Today Kenny green has told us the best he can do is give us a $500 credit toward the tires. At this point we cannot take them at their word for anything! We didn't expect free tires. We were happy to pay their cost as originally agreed to. No one could get us Jose numbers or order the tires. Well now we want free tires and to never work with them again! Even after Jon told Kenny green that we will no longer purchase cars from them ( Jon needs a new car come October and has purchase in full with cash two other cars in the past from the same location). Kenny green is willing to lose a lifetime customer over a few hundred dollars, a horrible customer service. What is he willing to do next? He is a terrible manager and should be removed. After all of this, Kenny green did nothing else but hang up mid sentence on my husband. What kind of store manager does that?!

Avoid Carmax on Alpharetta highway in Roswell ga at all costs. They only want your money and then drop you at the wayside when it comes to upholding their end of auto service for 30 days free.

BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA -- I went to the Boynton Beach FL CarMax for a quick sale of my Kia Forte after a break up w/ my ex in order to sell my Kia Forte that he had been driving. Because of a convoluted situation where he owes me 18 months of rent and bills but did some remodeling work in the house, I agreed to sell the car which I bought new and give him the surplus money after the car loan was paid off up to 5 grand. Well, they offered me a very low ball offer. I sold them a 2012 Kia Forte w/ 44k miles in excellent condition which they offered me $9000.00 for. They're selling 2010 Kia Forte's with 56k miles that can't be in better condition for 13k as of this writing, so it was definitely a low ball offer.

The only reason I took it is because I wasn't getting the money from the car so I didn't really care. In fact because I was giving my ex the money it kind of was worthwhile to watch him walk away with less. If it hadn't been for that little twist of fate where he got less money I'd have waited and sold it privately for 12K. But I had no horse in the race so the quicker the better. And he wasn't going to offer me anything to improve his lot. If he'd have offered me a couple thousand and gotten a private loan he'd have been able to take over the note himself but it is what it is.

Anyway I sat in the caramel office for hours while the guy I dealt with went off showing cars to other people. Then I finally went off to drop my ex at the rental car place, came back and saw the low ball offer and said hell with it just accept it since I'm not making a nickel off it anyway. Oh the car has brand new tires and tinted windows on it too which the windows were 150 and the tires 600 bucks alone.

BRANDYWINE, MARYLAND -- I am so disappointed in my first experience with CarMax at the Brandywine, Md location. They did not meet my expectations at all. When I first arrived, no salesmen came to help me so that I can check out the vehicle that I found online prior to arriving. They just sent me over to the appraisal section and told me the person that I spoke to over the phone would be with me shortly.That person never came over to help. I waited an hour and a half to get car appraised by the way. I had to actually go over back to the front desk to ask if someone could help me so that I could check out the car that I was interested in.

When someone did, then we walked around for about 10 min to discover the car was no longer there. Then we had to go back inside to check the stock # and actually find where the vehicle was. The salesman assisting had issues getting into computer, left the station for about 20 minutes and during that time he had been chatting w/ co-workers, while I sat there waiting. He finally came back, got into system and found that car had already been sold. Then my car finally got appraised and the gentleman appraising it informed me that they do not offer Kelley blue book value.

He appraised my car for $2500 less than what the Kelley blue book value was in poor condition. That was huge disappointment. After that, I went back to speak w/ person assisting me with trade in, and basically he became very short and unhelpful with trying to continue with process of trading in my vehicle. I decided it wasn't the time to continue w/ process, the salesmen said okay and didn't seem concerned at all with helping me stay there and make the trade. I was there a total of two and half hours, and it was a complete disappointing waste of my time.

LAUREL, MARYLAND -- I bought an F-150 truck from them in 2015, the second day the alternator and battery died (that should have been a sign to return it, but by then I loved the truck). I PAID EXTRA for extended warranty b/c the truck was a little older. I've had nothing but PROBLEM After PROBLEM after PROBLEM with this truck. to name a few: two batteries replaced, two alternators replaced, a NEW TRANSMISSION ($3,000), AC broke, catalytic converter replaced, spark plugs and wires replaced, etc.

In August 2015 (two months after having truck) the AC broke, I brought it to their service department (my first mistake was taking it to them) and I complained about this "ticking" noise that I'm hearing. on the receipt it said, and I quote, "could not hear ticking noise b/c AC is broken." REALLY? didn't even bother to figure out what it was.

To make a long story short, it's the engine. I complained about that "ticking" noise and the fact it felt like it was going to conk out every time I brought the truck in. the last time I brought it there they said the spark plugs needed to be replaced. $500 later and the truck was WORST than when I brought it in. I called and complained and she said for me to bring it back (no thank you) and she had the nerve to tell me that, and I quote, "the spark plugs was a jumping off point." REALLY? Why don't you fix what's wrong with it instead of guessing?

My mechanic says there's NO WAY NO WAY they didn't know it was the engine. but now my warranty is expired and they're saying pretty much too bad, even though I complained about it several times under warranty. I also had to have the spark plugs replaced that they put in b/c they put the worst kind of spark plugs in my truck and I had them replaced the next day (more money). I will NEVER EVER EVER BUY ANOTHER CAR HERE! THEY ARE THE WORST! THE SERVICE DEPARTMENT IS INCOMPETENT, to say the least.

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA -- In early June 2018 the car was totaled. Nationwide Insurance Agency finally got a check to CarMax to pay off the vehicle in August 2018. CarMax began calling me in September 2018 stating that I was behind on my payments. I explained the situation and they stated that the check had been returned, not paid.

I contacted Emily ** at Nationwide and she provided CarMax with the cleared check. CarMax contacted me again in October, stating the same thing. I said the cleared check had been sent. They said it had not, though Nationwide showed me where it had. So I contacted Nationwide again, I also asked CarMax, while this is under investigation to not report this to the credit agencies as they over and over again said it looked like an issue on their end. Nationwide sent another cleared check and sent me a copy as well. The cleared check is quite obviously stating the bank has paid the amount in question. I had never missed a payment in 4 years. Not a single one late or short. In fact, I paid extra each payment. CarMax has since reported this, resulting in my credit dropping 77 points. It's 60 days overdue.

CarMax just keeps telling me every three days that they are 'looking into it'. They have made no resolution, yet keep reporting this to the credit agencies. I had to buy another car when that one was totaled, I am not able to make extra car payments until this is settled, since Nationwide has settled it. They have paid the car, the funds left their bank and CarMax is fighting and saying the check was returned, but has no proof of this. Meanwhile, Nationwide has a CLEARED check. We have both asked CarMax to provide documentation as to the 'returned' check, they will not do so.

LANGHORNE, NEW JERSEY -- Before making any type of purchase, I like to make sure I have weighed out all of my options. I tend to check out the dealerships, their cars and read all reviews because let's face it, not all reviews are valid. My wife and I went into one dealership and walked out completely annoyed. We were told we would get a call back and till this day, have not heard anything from them.

After that experience, my wife is talking to her best friend and was told to go to Carmax because they have some decent deals and the customer service was great. We did not read such great reviews about Carmax, but in all fairness all the reviews we did read were years old. Within that time, Carmax had enough time to clean up their act and really provide out of this world customer service.

So we look at their inventory and fell in love with a 2016 Ford Edge. It was everything we were looking for, including low mileage. We set up a transfer from MD to PA. Low and behold we go to PA to see if our vehicle arrived and it never even left the other dealership. So we decided to take a look at their inventory and saw a 2015 Jeep Cherokee with only 8K. The price tag was less than the Ford so we asked the sales representative to show us to the Cherokee.

As soon as he opened up the hatch the wreck of smoke smell was overwhelming. I was not about to have my infant son sit in that stench. So back to the drawing board. We go back and the sales representative found a Honda CRV with 11K. We asked to look at it and possibly test drive it. I told my wife we couldn't afford it. The sales representative told us that is was $6000 cheaper than the edge and $4000 than the Cherokee. So guess who left with the Honda??? Were also refunded our transfer fee since the vehicle never arrived to the dealership. We did not feel any pressure in the least to "make a purchase".

The whole attitude in that place was "we're here if you need us". No one rushed us, every single one of our questions were answered and we left with a payment and agreement we were very happy with. Our sales representative was top notch. Management team was with our representative every step of the way. We are working on getting our second car from them. I am expecting nothing less than perfect customer service. Keeping my fingers crossed.